by Hampton | Oct 10, 2013 | Uncategorized |
I’m not sure I ever realized how vast the learning curve is in life. That no matter how old you get, if you bet everything on the reality of Jesus, you actually are amazed like a child over and over, and in awe of the hearts of the people he draws into your life. As we wander into the unknown waters of fundraising, and preparing to leave the U.S. in 9 months, it’s safe to say the most uncertain of times has been the richest. In this place of humility and surrender, Jesus is carrying us every step, and we see with clearer eyes, and hear his words with different ears. And we fall deeper in love every day. Rarely in my life have I experienced a lack of words, although there have been a few. Sitting in a room in Africa, listening to a girl rescued from sex trafficking do her best to tell her story, experiencing the courage of a special needs kid in Costa Rica, or the moment I embraced a witch doctor after they had just heard about a man named Jesus. These moments when emotions are new, foreign, and full of the Spirit of God, and you know that nothing you say will fully represent the experience. While these happen every day, all around us, I don’t always see it. This season for us, brings us again to places of seeing God work in mighty ways and we are surprised, overwhelmed, and filled with a gratitude that an ocean could not contain. But words are so hard to find. This is true with our...
by Hampton | Oct 4, 2013 | Uncategorized |
Yes, we’re still here! This has been a season of new experiences! We’ve enjoyed laughs, cries, talks and LOTS of coffee with many of you and it’s been one of the richest seasons of our lives. His story is weaving us together, and while our goal is still set to leave June 2014, we are enjoying this season of “lasts” in many things we do. The last first day of American school, the last Mothers day here, the last birthday in America, and really, it’s difficult but meaningful at the same time. Now, as we head into colder weather and the ‘last’ American holiday season it feels closer than ever that the way we know life is all about to change. As we do our best to be connected to our future home in Costa Rica, we get to hear stories from time to time about all God’s doing there now. As we hear the heart of our new friends there, we are filled with an eagerness to join them, stepping into what we feel called to do, now more than ever. Stories like the second mega club in Alajuela, for the West Side, and how almost 350 young people from all different barrios were mixed together and were able to share, play, and hear about Jesus, in spite of all the rain and mud! We are blessed by the emails we get from staff currently there asking us to pray for each unique kid, from different nationalities within the international schools by name. Whether they are Dutch, Irish, Korean, American, Costa Rican, or any other homeland you can...
by Hampton | Aug 28, 2013 | Uncategorized |
Hello Friends & Family, The new school year is here! Those of you with kids, we hope your kids had a wonderful first day, and your family is getting into the new routine. As wonderful as our summer was, there’s so much ahead of us as we spend this next ten (10) months preparing to leave, that we welcome the schedule of school. We’ve been getting questions regarding our timing, our funding, and the specifics of giving. We hope this newsletter clarifies some of your questions. We want you to be part of our sending team, whether it’s financial, prayer and/or visiting and serving alongside us once we arrive! Our time left here is short, and our goal date of June 2014 to leave is quickly approaching. We are stepping out on faith that God provides the means for us to get there, and we’re asking you to pray about joining our team. It’s going to be an incredible journey! We have 32 people that have joined us, and we’re looking for 68 more. Will you consider being one of these people? We are thankful for how God is working and leading many of you to give and be part of His journey for us. It’s overwhelming, really. He is using you to make this happen, and each week we are surprised, moved, and blown away by how He’s working. HOW TO GIVE: You can give an annual one time gift or give monthly. Online: visit the GIVING LINK and give to Area X8196 – Hampton Costa Rica or Mail: Send a check payable to YOUNG LIFE – to...
by Hampton | Jun 18, 2013 | Uncategorized |
We gathered in our den last night for our first gathering to share the vision, answer questions and got some great feedback from some of our friends on how to deliver the message and vision more clearly, and we felt so loved and supported! Both those that showed up last night and all of the people reaching out and telling us they are praying for us. It’s incredibly humbling. If you haven’t yet seen it, watch the short video we put together for YL Costa Rica. YL Costa Rica VIDEO We think it lays out the different things happening there currently, and lets each of you see the kids’ faces in Costa Rica. We spent some time with these kids on our last advance trip, and we were so blessed by meeting them and some of their...
by Hampton | May 30, 2013 | Uncategorized |
WOW. Today is May 30. We are excited to have launched the site. We are off and running. We now officially have a prayer team. We have a committee and we are blessed to be 4% funded. God is good. We are working on planning a meeting to share more about joining our team and will have some dates soon. We really would love to get coffee with you! If you know you want to be a part of what God is doing through us in CR reach out to Jeannie or I, because we know the Spirit is leading and putting it on people’s hearts and now is the time. Please be in prayer for our presentations with two churches this Sunday as we tell the great story God is writing. Thank you Jimmy and Jeannie Emails: jimmy@3rc.com jeannie@hamptonworks.com ...
by Hampton | Apr 11, 2013 | Uncategorized |
Hello Friends! We had a great advance trip to Costa Rica. We saw many things, schools, various parts of San Jose, and met many people. Thank you so much for notes and great sendoffs as we were leaving, and thank you for praying! There is so much ahead of us! We met some great people there, and learned a lot about what’s already happening in Costa Rica. We were blessed to meet with pastors, supporters of Young Life, leaders, Interns, staff, moms of YL kids, and met with a few families there that were wonderful and offered to help us find a place to live once we get there. We spoke with them about schools, transitions for themselves and their kids, and we really think they will be great friends and support once we arrive. We met up with the International Schools team, which isn’t big, two staff people, and 3 interns. We heard about how they came to Costa Rica, what they enjoyed about the internship, what could be better, and then we got a chance to share our story, and some of what we hoped to do during our time there. I especially liked this time b/c we’ll be working closely with interns once we get there helping to refine what internships will look like going forward. It was so great to get a front row seat into their world, and hear about the many needs they have. We visited many international schools while there, and got a great sense of schools and community for both the West and East sides of San Jose. One of my...
