Rachel Hampton

Birthday in Manila February 15, 2010

Spending your birthday in another country is pretty cool. No, you don’t have your friends and family but you do have a new experience. That is just what this birthday was for me

A few friends decided we would go get dinner and a movie. Well, Julia, one girl who lives near where I am living now, decided we should ride together to meet Aileen at Mall of Asia (biggest mall in Asia!). But getting there was no small feat. First we took a jeepney to a local mall where we could pick up the MRT or train.  We waited at the platform but realized as the train pulled up that…oops…the train did not stop that far down. So we ran down the platform a bit to try to find a door we could fit in. There was quite a crowd so it wasn’t easy. We ended up pushing and shoving our way onto a car with little room. But we had made it! We rode to the end of the line where we had to pick up a taxi or jeepney to go the remainder of the distance. Well, where we got off there were jeepneys galore but no taxis in sight. After asking someone, they directed us to what jeepney could take us to Mall of Asia. Finally, one was coming. Unfortunately, it didn’t stop. We saw a bunch of people running to jump on so joined in the group. I doubted the chance of us getting on but Julia kept urging “run, run!” I had this vision of me falling and injuring myself as I grabbed the back and attempted to hoist myself into the moving jeepney. Thankfully another passenger grabbed my arm and helped pull me in.  I couldn’t help laughing and loving it. I can’t say that on any other birthday I ran down my transport. The traffic was absolutely INSANE. If you are ever in Manila and want to go to Mall of Asia, DO NOT go on a Sunday night. Or probably any weekend night for that matter. We actually got out and walked the rest of the way. So we were there, hallelujah. Unfortunately we had to get to the restaurant. And when I say this mall is enormous, I am not exaggerating! And the people traffic was possibly worse than car traffic. As we are hurrying along, weaving between people, we ended up walking along side a playing percussion/band. And watching Julia dramatically launch into a marching band walk was pretty entertaining. Then maybe 5-10 min later, miraculously, the restaurant came into view. One problem: the thousands of people between us and the door. Shoulder to shoulder…barely room to walk. I have never seen anything so crazy! I’m sure it didn’t help that it was Valentine’s Day and Chinese New Year. Everyone and their mother was out. We employed the buddy system and, though feeling like fish swimming upstream, eventually made it.  Poor Aileen ended up waiting on us for about an hour!

After our dinner we headed upstairs for a showing of Valentine’s Day. Since it was my birthday, we decided to splurge on the Director’s Cinema. A small theater with reclining leather armchairs! The $6 price also included popcorn and drinks. Living the high life, haha. It was a great night and I am so thankful for another year of celebrating my birthday in the Philippines! Last year we were in Cebu, Philippines…I think

Today I was able to celebrate my birthday even more with my new co-workers who kindly bought me cake and presents. We sat around and got to know each other some before Aileen and I headed out to shop for an apartment. We went to 14 today and I’ll see more tomorrow. Please pray for wisdom as I choose a place that will be my home for the next year. Also I’d encourage prayer for a good deal as they are a bit more than expensive than planned.

God is good; he has granted me another year to serve Him. Here’s hoping this next year is better than the last and they keep getting better from here

My new home… February 9, 2010

I’m here! Manila, Philippines. Even though I’ve spent the past year on a ship that has traveled all over Asia, right now I feel like a great adventurer. There was a certain cocoon-ness of ship-life. Yes, you are exploring cities around the world and are constantly in new environments, but when you go home, you go home to a ship that is in the harbor and somehow cut off from the city in which it’s berthed. You are never alone and there is never one city that actually becomes your home. Those days are behind me. I am a resident of Manila, Philippines. For the next year, this beautiful, friendly, foreign place will be my home. It’s hard to imagine a life where newness and travel are not a part of it. I’m of the rare breed that loves change. It can sometimes be nerve-wracking, but in an exciting way. And traveling allows me to see even more of the wonderful world that God has created. It blows my mind to see how different (but still sometimes the same) the world is. God formed the people here in their mother’s wombs and cares just as much about the details of their lives as He does mine. We may not all speak the same language, eat the same food (except for McDonalds which you cannot escape from no matter where in the world you are), or come from the same culture, but we have at least one thing connecting us: we were brought into existence by a vastly creative God.

In the past few days I’ve walked down the street, ridden in a jeepney, hailed a taxi, wandered a mall, all the while looking at the people around me in my new home and being overwhelmed by God’s love for them. I have a purpose here that surpasses working in an office for a great organization that I believe in. And my purpose doesn’t require a job description, office clothes, or a business savvy attitude.  It all boils down to one word. LOVE. God has really been working in my life recently on this issue. When we truly have love for others, it permeates everything else we do. Our own desires and list of priorities are torn down to the very basics; from what we want to what we need. If I truly love my brother down the street who is struggling to provide food for his family (which is much more a reality here), how easy it will be to give up something totally meaningless like cable TV in order to use that money for him? I want to be filled with a love and compassion for the people here as I know God is. The line of a famous praise song constantly comes to mind “Break my heart for what breaks yours.” I know God’s heart is broken for the lost people here who are destined to spend an eternity without him. Is mine to the same level? I’m not sure that I can honestly say it is. But I desire for it to be. The line of that song is certainly a cry of my heart. I yearn to be a light to the lost people around me. To be as effective a disciple of Christ as I can be. To be emptied of the ugly pride, selfishness, and sin that is in my heart. To fill that with the love of God. On my own, I am incapable of living out love with complete abandon. But-can I hear an amen-I belong to a super-powerful God who makes that possible. And through Him, even this sarcastic, self-centered, failure of a woman is capable of anything! And I’m looking forward to what “anything” will turn out to be this year.