Update Letter

Hi All,



Many of you should be recieving this letter in the mail some time this week (if you don't think you are on our mailing list, send us your address and we will get you added!) However, I thought I'd go ahead and post it on the blog as well. It just is an update on our life in Colorado and our progress towards the Dominican Republic.



Dear Friends and Family,



As you read this, we have finished a two-week language acquisition course in Palmer Lake, CO, and are about to begin a three-week course on missionary training and cross-cultural sensitivity. In those first two weeks we were not learning Spanish (the language spoken in the Dominican Republic) but rather we were learning how to learn Spanish. So, we spent quite a bit of time working on linguistics and phonetics and working to learn how to recognize sounds that are outside of the 44 sounds of the English language. It was interesting, intense and very helpful! Perhaps though the best part about it was the encouragement that we received by spending so much time around all of the other missionaries that are being trained here. We have been very blessed by the rich conversations we’ve had with them about how they were called and how they’re responding. God is good all the time!



We wanted to send you an updated letter to answer three of the most common questions that we’ve been hearing. The first is “How is your fundraising going?” The short answer is outstanding! Your amazing response and generosity has provided us with a little over $13,500 upfront and $2133.33 per month in pledges. Praise God! Our current need is to raise an additional $367 per month to reach our goal of $2500 per month. As well, we need to raise an additional $900 in upfront costs to cover the immunizations and doctor’s consultations that we needed. We would appreciate your continued prayer for these funds and if you have any questions about how those funds are going to be used, please don’t hesitate to ask, as we’d love to share that with you.



Second, “When are you planning on leaving?” Our target date to leave the US for the Dominican Republic is the first week of November. Our plan as it stands right now is to go through three more weeks of training here in Colorado before heading back to Silverdale, WA, to train at the Children of the Nations headquarters for two weeks. Following that, we will spend a short time in Chicago with my parents and my sister Katie before flying from Chicago to the DR. However, we do know that the entire journey belongs to God and it will be in His timing that we leave. We are extremely excited to go though and for those of you who haven’t heard, my sister Shannon and her husband Brandon will be going with us. They will arrive in the Dominican a little after us and we will live and serve together. We are so thrilled to work alongside them in this great adventure!



Finally, “What can we pray for?” There are many things but a few big ones are:

1. Praise God for the encouragement and rejuvenation that we’ve received here at training.

2. Praise God for the funding that has already come in!

3. Petition God for the completion of our fundraising.

4. Ask God to continue to prepare our hearts for the work and life that we are about to begin in the Dominican Republic. Ask that He continue to give us a heart and a passion and humility for the road ahead.

5. Ask God to bless the efforts of COTN. October is a big month for the organization as we will be hosting a number of fundraising banquets to raise funds that will further this movement in each of the four countries that we serve in. The theme of the banquets is “Now I Can Dream” and they will be events for celebration and reflection and each event will welcome guests from Sierra Leone. (see www.cotni.org).

6. Ask God to comfort us as we say goodbye to all of you that we dearly love.



We are so thankful for all of your encouragement, love and support. We are constantly amazed and humbled by your amazing presence in our lives. Please keep us updated on your lives and stay updated on ours via our blog (on the site you can register your email address to receive an email each time it is updated.)



In Christ,

Scott and Kelly Hampton