In Willemstad, Curacao

We are currently living in Curacao (the "C" of the ABC islands in the Caribbean). We are awaiting the approval of our residency visa for Aruba. It has been good to spend time getting acquainted with the leadership of the Assemblies of God in the Netherlands Antilles. Note the beautiful Dutch architecture of the buildings along the harbor of the capital city of Willemstad.

Meet the newest additions to the Hampton family!

Blake Michael Hampton

Born: October 5, 2009 in Morgantown, WV

Weight: 7 lb

Isabella ("Bella") Marie Hampton

Born: October 6, 2009 in Killeen, TX

Weight: 7 lb. 8 oz.

GRADUATION FROM LANGUAGE SCHOOL!!

After 12 months of language studies, Debbie and I graduated from CINCEL today with our companeros. Tomorrow we will leave Costa Rica and go to Pennsylvania to spend some time with our kids and also get some legal issues worked out for our residency in the Netherlands Antilles. Thanks to all of you for your prayers, support and encouragement. We could not have done it without you!

Pictures from Costa Rica

Here we are at the ruins of a Catholic church in Cartago.

Easter Sunday Dinner 2009 at CINCEL

First Sermon in Spanish!

A Day of Celebration
Debbie here . . . just wanted to share with all of you that Mike did a wonderful job preaching today, in Spanish, for the first time. I am so very proud of him! It is amazing what God has done for us in the last 11 months of intense language study. Mike’s message was “Who Can Separate Us from the Love of Christ?” "¿Quién Nos Apartará del Amor de Cristo?"

Our time here in Costa Rica has been challenging . . . and I know we will face more challenges in the next 30 days . . . but what a privilege! The name of our school, “CINCEL” means chisel – and we have been chiseled profoundly during our studies. So many of you have sacrificed so much to allow us to fulfill the vision God has given us.
We will head to Aruba after graduation. Please continue to pray that God will open doors for ministry and that we will have favor as we attempt to reach the Spanish community on the island.
Thank you to ALL of you for your prayers, your sacrifices and your faithfulness.
Together for the harvest . . .

Katie in Costa Rica

The past several weeks here in Costa Rica have been filled with projects and assignments, homework and exams. We just concluded our second trimester of studies at CINCEL. Now... just one more trimester to go! We are scheduled to graduate August 14.

Last week, 12 missionaries graduated from CINCEL ... dear friends who are now headed off to the fields of their calling.

Mike was honored to be asked to pray (in Spanish) the opening prayer of the celebration service . After 8 months of study, you would think it would come easy, but there was a bit of nervousness. Later in the trimester, he will preach (for the first time) in Spanish.

Our daughter Katie was able to visit us for a few days. it was so good to see her and to spend time with her. She joined us for the graduation service and afterward we spent a day or so at Jaco Beach on the Pacific coast. On the way we stopped at a bridge where we saw about 20 crocodiles (from a safe distance). Jaco is a beautiful black-sand beach. Upon returning to San Jose, we did some souvenir shopping in the Central Market.

We are looking forward as we are now heading into the "home stretch" of our language study experience. We ask for your prayers for this very intense time of studies. Also we will need to be finalizing details of our move to the Netherlands Antilles (Aruba) - including finding a home, securing residency visas and establishing relationships with the people and leadership of the church in Aruba.

Thank you so much for your prayers and your confidence in us!

CONGRATULATIONS TO US!

We wanted to send an announcement to all our friends and family to let you all know that we are going to be grandparents ... AGAIN!

Over the last few days we have received phone calls from both our daughters-in-law, that they are expecting!

Ryan and Meghaan are due September 30th and Christopher and Cynthia are due October 10!

Katie is very excited to be an aunt again. We ask you to keep our family in prayer. We are G-R-O-W-I-N-G!

Trip to David, Panama

Debbie and I just returned from a 4-day "visa trip" to David, Panama. Since we have tourist visas during our stay in Costa Rica, we are required to leave the country every 90 days in order to renew our visas. It is a 10-hour bus trip to the
"frontera" (border) and then on to the city of David. The bus was full with about 45 missionaries and their children. We did have a great time together. We stayed at a nice hotel, did some shopping (the prices for EVERYTHING are so-o-o-o inexpensive there - especially compared to the prices in Costa Rica). We enjoyed walking through downtown David - relaxing by the pool, reading and just spending time with our missionary friends. One of the highlights of the trip was for us all to get together at the TGI Friday's in David. Great food and wonderful fellowship. (During our visa trip in November 2008, we all shared our Thanksgiving meal at the same Friday's!) We will surely miss the camaraderie when we leave CINCEL!

Poasito Earthquake Pictures

A 6.2 earthquake struck Costa Rica on January 8. Several missionaries and one of our professors from CINCEL (our language school in San Jose) traveled to Poasito, a community near the epicenter to distribute new clothing and coats. The town is in the mountains and it has been unusually there cold in the days following the earthquake. It was so sad to see the devastation of the homes and the conditions the people are living in.

Members of our team surveying some of the damage

A home hanging over the edge of a hillslide.

The home where a 1 1/2 year old girl was killed

Members of our group distributing clothing

A little boy in Poasito with a new coat

Please pray for Christopher.

We are asking that all of our friends pray for our son Christopher and his family. He will be leaving to return to Iraq on Thursday, January 22. He is scheduled to be there until May or June. He is leaving behind his lovely wife Cynthia and two beautiful sons - Adam (almost 5) and Brandon (almost 2). Pray that the Lord would keep him safe as he serves his country and that he will return sound and healthy to his family.

EARTHQUAKE!

Over the holidays, Debbie and I were able to spend a few days with our families in the States. On Thursday, January 8, two hours before our plane landed in Costa Rica, the country was struck by a 6.2 magnitude earthquake. We noticed a lot of unusual activity at the airport when our plane arrived. However, we didn't understand exactly what had happened until our taxi driver began to tell us. The earthquake caused a lot of structural and infra-structural damage. A number of people were killed and as of this writing, several are still missing. Please see the following website for additional photos: http://www.ticotimes.net/photoreports/photos.cfm?paid=66#26

Also, the English newspaper in Costa Rica is carrying up-to-date reports: www.ticotimes.net. We are safe and the students and the school are safe, although everyone was pretty shaken. Most of the damage occurred north and west of the city of San Jose. Please pray for the families who were affected by this disaster.