Rachel Hampton

No, I’m not dead May 15, 2009

I know it’s been awhile and I’m sorry. You’ve missed a whole port. We just sailed from Hualien, Taiwan to Keelung, Taiwan. Let me just say…I love Hualien! It is one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever been. There are huge mountains on one side and the bluest ocean I’ve ever seen on the other.

Shortly after we got into Hualien, I had an eday at a nearby church. I was helping lead a Sunday school class during both services. The first one was disabled children but we didn’t know that until we got there. I think people who work with kids with disabilities have a special gift from God. While I don’t feel that I do, I thoroughly enjoyed my time there. Those kids were filled with so much joy. They weren’t complaining about their circumstances but readily gave hugs and open-mouth kisses. It encouraged me so much to be around them. The second Sunday school class was about 30 7-9 year olds. They were a blast! I had so much fun playing games with them and just talking to them. I’d always rather play with kids than speak in a main service!

That afternoon we helped at Open Day for the ship. I was first assigned to the “practice speaking English” table. I had some great talks about Jesus with the people who stopped by. The people of Taiwan are genuinely interested in what we have to say, though many of them are not quite ready to accept. Two teenagers, I found out, didn’t have a Bible so I used the ship Bible fund to buy them a few from the bookshop. They promised they would read them. I’ve come to realize that our minstry with the ship is a lot more about seed-planting than actual harvesting. And that’s ok. Many Christians make the mistake of pushing to get a conversion when the person is not ready and then leaving them with no idea what to do with this new-found faith. I’d rather talk to someone and really explain what it means to have a relationship with Jesus Christ and let them seek that out on their own. God says that if you seek Him you will find Him and I pray that the many people we come in contact with will do just that.

Bookshop is going well. I love the people that I work with. They can handle randomness which…if you know me…you know it’s important. Like just last week Carola and I thought up this question. What if you were on a first date with someone that you really liked. They said something funny and when you laughed, something flew out of your nose and into their dinner. They didn’t see it. What would you do? Would you leave it there for them to eat or would you risk serious embarassment to rescue them from digesting such a disgusting “treat”? Gross question but it brought a lot of laughs. One guy even suggested that he would sacrifice himself, ask for a bite, and eat a forkful that contained his…gift. That’s dedication.

I mentioned Hualien’s mountains. Well, about 10 of us decided we wanted to use the beauty of them to do something fun like…paragliding. So on our day off, we contacted a local company and set up a time to come paragliding there. Well, language barriers always bring difficulties. There was miscommunication and after a few phone calls we found out they weren’t sending a car for us afterall, but he did have a friend in the area who would take us. Too bad this friend’s car was not fit to hold 10 people. But we squeezed in.  Four in the back, four in the middle, and two up front. Man, it was cozy. The paragliding place was about 40 min away and was gorgeous! The first five of us piled in another van and rode it to the top of the mountain to jump first. Jennifer (USA) was the first to go…and the last. After she jumped, it started raining and continued all day. This prevented the rest of us from going. But we ended up still having an amazing day. The guy who owned the place felt bad and took us to a local restaurant to eat lunch. We all sat on the floor around a huge table and tried our best to eat with chopsticks. I’m actually the only one who really had to try. Everyone else is pretty good at it. I’ll get there eventually. Then they drove us to a nearby lake where we rented paddleboats and took off across the lake. The boats held four people and were shaped like dragons and lions and other animals. Paddleboats are a lot more fun on the shore. Once you’re out on the water for awhile you forget why you wanted to do it in the first place. So no paragliding but still a great day!

I’ve saved the best for last. When we saw the gorgeous surroundings we were in, some of us decided it would be so nice to go camping. Well, we had the worst luck ever! For a week I would call campgrounds and find out if they had tents to rent (since we didn’t have one) or little huts that you could sleep in. Those that did, didn’t allow you to build a fire which is half the fun of camping! Then we decided to do one night in a hotel and one night in a campground but all the hotels we called were booked. Problem after problem. Then God smiled on us A local volunteer told me he had a friend who had a tent and said we could borrow it. And there is a local park called Taroko National Park where you can camp for free. So we were set! We rented a car (which was one of the best decisions ever) and after work on Saturday, set out. We drove first to the park to set up our tent. Driving in at nighttime was still amazing. The road is in a gorge between mountains and we were astounded at the size of the shadows towering above us. We just knew it was going to be a great trip. After our tent was all set up (though we didn’t do the best job ever), we drove back to the ship to pick up one of the other guys who had to work at the International Night. We got back to the campsite about 1am and sat around the fire making s’mores and talking. It was so nice! The next morning I woke up early with the sun and walked a distance to do my quiet time and listen to music. There is something about sitting in nature that makes me feel so close to God. To see the hugeness of mountains and then understand the same God who made those in all their majesty also made me and cares for me…wow. So humbling. We hung out at the campsite for a few hours before piling in the car and driving through the park. I will try to put photos on flickr as soon as possible. Then we decided to drive a few hours south to a sugar factory that is famous for their ice cream. And yes, it was delicious! We kept driving to Butterfly Valley Resort where we heard there was a beautiful spa and hot springs. For a small fee we were able to relax and enjoy the hot springs for hours. They had different pools at different temperatures and then one big pool that had different massaging “stations”. Like you would lay in the water almost like a bed and push a button and jets would massage under you. Or you could sit on a ledge and push a button and jets would massage your back and legs. OR there were big poles that you turned on and high-pressured water massaged your back. Oh man, it was Heaven. The others also enjoyed the sauna and steam room. I’m not a fan of sweating and struggling to breathe so I chose instead to take a nap by the pool. At one point I woke up in the perfect weather with a slight breeze and thought “I am so happy right now” and proptly fell back asleep. It was such bliss. We had no problem falling back asleep in the campsite that night (though we did have an improptu dance party outside the car on one of the bridges in the park). We didn’t want to go back to the ship the next morning but begrudginly packed up the car and made our way back. On the way, we were able to spot the ocean which was sooooo blue. We all screamed in delight and jumped out to stand in the water. My camera died but one of the guys that went took photos and I will try and get them to post. I’m sure it won’t do our weekend justice but it’ll have to sufice.

We are now in Keelung and in a few days I will be leaving the ship for 2 weeks to go on A-Team. A-Team is basically a small group of people from the ship (there’s 6 people in my team) who leave the ship for two weeks and do specialized ministry in the community. So you may not hear from me for awhile. I’m not exactly sure what we’ll be doing but I heard something about rice paddy farming, learning to tie ropes, fix bikes, and rock climb. So it should be an adventure. Please continue your prayers, they are much appreciated!