Rachel Hampton

Nomad: Party of 1 November 30, 2010

The month of December is going to be a crazy month. Take a look:

December Travels

Of course I’m living in Philippines and Thursday make a trip to Singapore. I return to Manila on the 6th. On the 8th, I fly into Vienna, Austria and take a bus into nearby Slovakia. I stay there for a few days recording part of a video shoot. Then on the 13th, I fly to Thailand to shoot the rest of the story (this is the second story for our video project). Then on the 18th, I fly back to Manila.

Just when you think I’m done….

On the 24th I fly back to Singapore for a yet unnamed number of days to spend the holidays with Clarence. I hope I remember to breathe somewhere in there. In case you think I’m complaining, I’m definitely not! I feel blessed to be able to see different parts of the world because of my job. I would appreciate your prayers as I am traveling. Pictures to come!!

Sharing stories November 26, 2010

I was explaining to someone last night about what it means to be a missionary whose job is in the communications field. I understand sometimes it’s hard to comprehend a missionary position outside of church planting or preaching. But honestly, there are so many important support roles that need to be filled.

I see one of my main tasks as sharing the stories of people in Asia-Pacific who cannot share it themselves. For the past few months I’ve been project manager of a video project highlighting how small churches around the world are getting involved in the Great Commission. It’s not just the job of the mega-churches in the west. We’ve all been called to do our part.

I cannot tell you how moved I’ve been to see sacrificial giving lived out before my eyes. The first story we gathered was here in the Philippines. I mentioned more about it in my most recent newsletter. Well, our partners at OMNIvision have finished the teaser for this piece and I wanted to share it with you.  Also encourage you if you know of other stories, to join our Vimeo group and share your own experiences. It’s through sharing our stories and those of others that we can be used by God to encourage people to do the same. Hope you enjoy the teaser!

This is Our Story: Philippines Teaser from Wycliffe International on Vimeo.

Have I got a story for you! November 20, 2010

Sometimes life is just entertaining.

Thursday was one of those days. It started innocently enough. Work. Lunch. Work. Then it came time to go home.

If I am lucky, I can find a taxi to take me home. Otherwise I pile into a FX that goes in the direction of my house. A FX is like a multi-person taxi. You can check out a description I gave of it here. This mode of transportation is cheaper, but also doesn’t go right to my building. I have to get out and walk a couple blocks. Well on Thursday it was time to descend from the vehicle and begin my trek home. I called “para po!” to the driver and he pulled the car to a quick stop. I glanced out the window to make sure no bikers were coming (something I was not totally thorough in) and then opened the door. This is where my day got reeeeeeal interesting.

As I opened the door, a man on a bicycle rode directly into it. That’s right. I just performed one-half of those scenes you only see in bad comedies. Best I can tell (this all happened pretty fast), the door hit the bike pedal and sent the bike and the man flying to the ground. He was going pretty fast. Not only that, but the sidewalk had a row of intimidating metal pole thingys which the bicycle rider flew into, head-first. Probably not the end to the day he was looking for.

I jumped out asking him if he was ok, telling him I was so sorry, and wondering what the heck I was supposed to do. It quickly drew a crowd. Passersby, fellow bikers, and even two traffic cops who were standing nearby. Oh boy. One man who materialized kept telling me I needed to give the biker money. Slow down there, pal.

The FX driver got out, as well as the other passengers. To add to my inconveniencing of others, they had to find other transportation. As everyone jammered on in Tagalog and I caught about 1 in every 50 words, I was totally lost. Then the driver said “come with me”. I responded with “where are we going?” Cause white girl ain’t no fool. My mom told me never to get in a car with strangers. As it turns out, they wanted to take the bicyclist to the hospital and needed me to go too, along with one of the traffic cops. So we all piled in and I immediately called one of my filipina friends and asked her to come help. I sure needed it.

It was an interesting sight, I am sure, to see this white girl following a limping, sore Filipino in need of assistance. As we stood around waiting for my friend and for the guy to see a doctor, one of the security guards came up to talk to me. He was very nice and tried to put me at ease. I was feeling pretty terrible. Then he stated a question that was so important for the situation: “are you single?” Then he proceeded to say “Because he’s single; and him too!” I looked to one of the other guards he pointed to who broke into a wide grin; a wide gummy grin. Dude had no teeth. Despite the humor in the situation, I really was concerned about the guy, and also did not want to be taken advantage of because I was a foreigner. I had already been asked a couple times for money which I subtly dodged. Once my friend arrived and was able to translate for me, I agreed to help pay a portion of the medical bill (which was very cheap) and also my friend said it would be nice to give the injured a small amount to help cover his pain medicine. I agreed, we paid, I said again how sorry I was, and we left. Quite an eventful night. Don’t think I’ll be repeating that anytime soon. I’ll be the Über-sensitive  girl who checks about 10 times before she opens the car door.

God protected everyone and taught me a valuable lesson in the process: if things ever go south with Clarence, there’s always two security guards available at Rizal Medical Center.

The big time! November 18, 2010

I am on iTunes! You weren’t aware that I am now a popular recording artist? Oh yes. My music is all the rage here in the Philippines. Like a cross between Kelly Clarkson and Anberlin. Quite a unique sound. Oops, there I go again, meshing my dream world with reality. I’d say it won’t happen again but we all know that’s probably not true.

What is true? My voice is actually on iTunes. Over the past few months, we have been creating a podcast here in our office. The purpose is to show what Wycliffe is doing in Asia-Pacific, the area where I work. It was designed to play like a radio show and I am one of the hosts! I greatly enjoyed partnering with a local radio DJ to lead the program. We had a great time goofing off and having fun (and of course being serious sometimes too). Well, the first episode of the podcast is now on iTunes. You can listen by clicking here. It’s a free download and I encourage you to share it with whoever is interested in what is being done for God in this area. There are three more episodes almost complete and will be coming out soon. Please let me know what you think, we’d love your feedback. This is experimental and we want to improve it however we can. Thanks.

Here is a promo video to give you more information about the podcast! Enjoy.

Jesus loves you November 6, 2010

It is such a simple truth but so true.

I have been sitting here rereading Crazy Love by Francis Chan. I’m overwhelmed. I know you won’t be blown away by this revelation but bear with me: God is HUGE! Look at this photo:

Photo courtesy of universenews.net

Take a second to try to comprehend the magnitude of the universe. It’s not possible. We simply cannot do it. How do we then expect to comprehend the God who created it? And yet, He understands and cares about each and every once of us…LOVES us. Despite anything we may have done or will do, He loves us. Wow. Undeserving girl, party of one please!

Francis talked briefly in the book about the brevity of life. He mentioned the story of a man who was preaching a funeral, emphasizing that no one knows when they will die and then he proceeded to sit down and die. I thought for a minute. What if I were to pass away while sitting here on my bed and then I was face to face with God? I was overcome with a holy terror. GOD. Me facing Him? That terrified me. Not because I’m unsure of my eternal destiny, but just because of my unworthiness to stand before Him and look into his face. Me. Dirty, filthy, sinful Rachel Hampton standing before the incomparable, awe-inspiring, incomprehensible Creator of the universe. Cue chills. Then I thought “What would have been my last statement to the world? Oh….a blog about bugs, great.”

When was the last time on here I really stated boldly about God’s love for you? I don’t know who you are, where you’re reading this from, or what your opinion is on God, but please listen when I tell you this: HE LOVES YOU! Exactly as you are. And He so desperately wants a relationship with you. Not because He needs you or can’t live without you but because He desires it. He loves you. I beg of you, don’t miss Him! Nothing in this whole world can substitute or fill the void that you have for Him. I wish I could completely convey how fulfilling, joyful, and peaceful a life filled with Christ is. No, it’s not perfect or overflowing with sunshine, grandma, and midgets (sorry, Happy Gilmore’s happy place creeped in there), but it is the only hope I have in this world. I know, absolutely, that if I were to die tonight or tomorrow or next week, I would start an eternity of fellowship with God. I can only hope and pray that you have the same assurance. Don’t click out of this window if you don’t. Feel that tugging? The unsettled curiosity or desire? That’s God speaking to you. Don’t ignore Him. Please. Just talk to Him. He’s always listening and I’m sure there are other people who love Him that would be equally willing to help you answer questions you may have. I’m one of them. I have a contact email you know. Feel free to use it.

I was not intending this to be a goodbye blog of the morbid variety, but just in case it is I want you to know, everyone to know, how much God loves you. Today and forever. Talk to Him today. He’s waiting for you.

Mrs. Dolittle November 5, 2010

Bugs, rodents, and reptiles love me. And no, I am not bragging. It has been awhile since I have given you an entertaining glimpse into my life in the Philippines and the creatures it is home to. Therefore the creatures my apartment is home to.

*gathers strength*

Ask my family and they will tell you, I am no fan of bugs. Many a time I have summoned my dad from whatever sports event he happened to be watching on TV to kill a bee, spider, wasp, or other creepy crawly that had invaded my room. And all the while he muttered under his breath. I get no credit for helping him cement his manly status or designation in life. Ingratitude…

I won’t lie, I have said many times that one good purpose for a husband is to kill bugs. I think God created men for this reason. I sincerely wish I had my boyfriend in my apartment when a big, nasty cockroach appears. Stupid tropical climate.

The other night I was taking my dinner dishes into the kitchen to wash when I see a nasty cockroach on the floor. I whine and then start looking around for a shoe. Here’s the deal though…I don’t want to get too close. In fact, this night I did not even want to get close enough to squish it. So instead I climbed up on my counter (on the dining room side, further away from the kitchen the cockroach had infiltrated) and decided I would throw my shoe down on top of it to kill it. Attempt 1=miss. A tiny scurry from the cockroach, a small squeal from me. (very similar to the “One step for man, one giant leap for mankind” quote, only much less ground-breaking) Attempt 2=fail. It only proceeded to send the cockroach over by my front door, and I assumed, underneath it and out. We shall return to him later.

The next day was a national holiday so I was at home. At lunchtime I went to the kitchen and see a big lizard in my sink. Dang it. I don’t want to kill it, who knows what kind of mess that will leave or how difficult the task itself would be. So instead I try to scare it into scurrying off wherever it came from. I start by kicking the cabinet underneath. This does nothing to shake the nerves of steel the lizard possesses. My second technique involved throwing small objects into the sink to try to scare it into running away. What was close at hand? Coins. Throw 1 encouraged a slight move of the lizard further into the sink. Throw 2=no reaction. Throw 3 & 4=nothing. Obviously this is not working. Time to pull out the big guns. My neighbor. A quick text confirmed for me that he was out of the building but would be back in 30 min and would check with me then. So I willingly played the waiting game. This was much preferred than my previous failed efforts.

As promised, he arrived 30 min later. I hurried to get the front door while first kicking away my attempted murder weapon from the night before: my flip flop. As I moved it out of the way I made a horrifying discovery–the cockroach has NOT scurried under the door, rather it took up residence under my overturned shoe and waited out the storm. As I had suddenly moved his rubber bunker, he frantically started running around again. Only this time, it was me he was coming after. I ran away from the entry way, looking behind me while shriekingly noticing that he was chasing me. Thankfully, my rescuer bounded into action. With a slap of his shoe, the cockroach’s attack came to an end. Then we only had the lizard to deal with. At first my neighbor tried shooing him away, but I insisted that I’d rather not have him running about in my apt and asked politely if he could capture him and deposit him outside. Something I was too much of a wuss to accomplish. It took all of two seconds for him to grab a paper towel and take the reptile to a safe distance. Sigh of relief. He is my Mother Theresa. I think she’d be rather offended at the comparison, but he should be eligible for sainthood in my eyes. Or at least a really shiny gold star.

And lest I think my days with tiny crawling things is over…I came into the office yesterday to find a mouse running around. Does the excitement/terror never end?

For all you extremely intelligent and dexterous bugs out there who are reading this and think I am Mrs. Dolittle…I am not! Please leave me alone. I have my neighbor on speed dial and I am not afraid to use him. Let this be a warning…tell your friends.