Rachel Hampton

I love exploring April 26, 2009

A week ago tomorrow (in the Taiwan timezone) I had a day off. A few friends from the book-ex and I decided we were going to spend all day away from the ship and explore the city. And boy, did we. We did a lot of walking. It’s ok though, I definitely need the exercise. First, we took the Subway to a place called Lotus Pond. And by pond they mean huge lake. There are lots of traditional Chinese buildings and “towers” surrounding the area and they were just breath-taking to capture in photographs. You can see the few I took on my flickr link on the right. There were also tons of temples. That part was sad. It’s overwhelming to see the lostness of people around the world. As I’ve mentioned before, there are very few Christians in this country. 

We spent hours walking around and taking in the sights and sounds. Afterwards, we were completely worn out! So what’s the perfect solution for that? A movie! Oh my…America, take notes. The theatre we found had recliners as chairs. You got blankets to cover up with (I know my mom…who is always cold…would appreciate that) and they bring you food also. It was heaven. I’m not sure there could’ve been a more perfect end to the evening.

I’ve had two edays this past week. One consisted of a small group of us traveling about an hour and a half by train to lead a couple programs at a high school. Our train arrived late so our hosts were waiting expectantly for us to get there. They hurriedly took us to the main auditorium where we encountered about 300 high school students staring at us as we walked in silence up on the stage. Talk about intimidating. The kids were so cute and, bless their hearts, they acted like we were movie stars. The cheered, took photos with us, and asked us to sign anything they had that was signable. In fact, a couple kids handed us some kind of boards. I don’t know if they use these on the bus or train to do homework on or what but I couldn’t help but laugh. It was like, “excuse me, would you sign my piece of wood?” I love being able to go out into the community and meet people instead of staying on board. There’s just something more special about it. And the people of Taiwan are so hospitable. When we left, some of the teachers handed us a big box of sweet potatoes (something that city is apparently famous for).

My second eday was spent doing car deck ministry. We stayed on the ship and did dramas, sang, talked about the ship, and just interacted with people. One girl in particular I got to speak with for awhile. Please pray for Belinda. She is very interested in Jesus Christ but has not yet made a decision to follow Him. She commented how everyone on board seemed so happy. Of course we are not always sunshine and rainbows but I know the joy I have comes from the Lord. I told her this and encouraged her to seek for that joy in her own life as well. I pray that she does.

We only have a few more days left in Kaohsiung. Last night was International Night. There is one in each port and basically many songs, dances, and dramas are put on from the crew. James (Ireland), Tae (USA), and I planned to go and watch. Well, we got sidetracked…by TGI Fridays. Whoops. We were in the taxi on the way when we passed it. We still had about 45 min before it started so took a detour to “eat real quick”. Real quick ended up not being so quick. I wish I could say it was worth it but…well…let’s just say they didn’t understand our order too well, haha. Afterwards, we were going to be late so we just wandered around the area. We got some ice cream and chatted. They are both very cool guys and it’s funny how even though there is a great age difference with people on board, you usually don’t even notice it. I may have been able to babysit them years ago but now, they are just my friends. Tae is also from Virginia so we have created a VA gang sign. Without all the violence that usually goes along with that.  Wednesday we will sail to Hualien, Taiwan and I’ve already heard it’s going to be a rough voyage. I’ll keep you updated. Please pray for our safety…and that no one throws up on me. That is very important!