Rachel Hampton

9 months…really? November 7, 2009

“Hi, my name is Rachel, I’m from the USA and I’ve been on the ship for…..9 months?!”

This was my intro at a recent program at a church in Malaysia. I was surprised as I announced it. Just a few days ago I hit my 9 month mark of being on the ship. Unbelievable. That means only 3 more months to go! It’s so amazing how fast time flies. It does not seem like I’ve been living this crazy, world-traveling life for that long. It’s been such an exciting ride.

Last you heard I was in Pasir Gudang, Malaysia. After a few weeks of great ministry there, we headed to Singapore. The ship was only open for five days but we tried to use the time as best as possible. I also used the time to do some sightseeing. Having never been to Singapore, I was determined to see as much as possible. Luckily one of my good friends, Clarence, who used to be a stepper on board, lives there and was kind enough to show us around.

After a quick five days, the ship moved into dry dock. Every year it has to go through routine maintenance out of the water. During this time, half the crew is sent on land teams to Malaysia, Singapore, and Indonesia to do ministry and help in these areas. For the first two weeks I was in Bandung, Indonesia, near Jakarta. I went with an amazing team! One of my roommates, who was more than happy to go back to her home country, my previous roommate, Fumie from Japan, and one of my dear friends, Jennifer from USA. We worked with a local church doing youth programs, bible studies, as well as traveling to schools and sharing about the work that Doulos does. The two weeks absolutely flew by! Our hosts were so gracious and kind and made sure we saw alot of the area. There were also three young people who worked/went to the church who befriended us and made us feel like we were just hanging out with friends.

After that, all teams met back in Singapore for three days of debrief and preparation for PHASE 2. My second phase brought us back to Malaysia, closer to Kuala Lumpur. There’s me, Natalja from Russia, Tseko from Mongolia, Soomin from South Korea, and Minhae from South Korea. Again, our hosts are WONDERFUL. We’re staying at a youth house the church just opened recently for local students. Their desire is to have a place for the young people to study because many of their homes do not have a good environment for this. Next week we’ll be busy painting the inside and working on putting the logo I designed on their wall. In the meantime we’ve been spending time with the youth, local churches, and hosting ladies meetings while also seeing a lot of the surrounding area. We were scheduled to be here for two weeks but just found out the ship is not going to be ready to sail on time so we are staying here for another week. But hopefully the 23rd we’ll sail from Singapore and head to the middle east! I’m excited to see this part of the world and serve them in God’s name. Because this is a sensitive area, all of the ladies on board will have to adjust our wardrobe (hello ankle length skirts!) and be sensitive in what we say and do. If you’d like to hear more about how God has been working in my life, feel free to send me an email. I’d love to share. Thanks for your continued prayers. God is good…all the time. Everyday I see that this is true!