Green Chile Cheesburgers, Anyone?

A small group of us got together at the Associate Pastor's house for some grill action and since this is the Mecca for green chile everything we of course had to infuse our burgers as well. It was good. I'm liking the green chile. I need to figure out how to incorporate green chiles into my rib rub recipe

Sweet Times

Todd and Teri live very near where I am so they had the opp to share with their Church about their time in East Asia (which I was a part). So they invited me to come over to Albuquerque and be a part of the presentation with them. When we were overseas us three did lots of praise and worship together so it was so fun to relive those moments and sing some of the songs that became very dear to us in that season.



I took two kids from the youth group down there with me, Alex and Beth. They got a kick out of Teri and Todd's car. It's a 1978 (I think) Lincoln. Complete with Cartier clock and 8 track player. Oh, and suspension that we should all kill for. You don't feel the road under you at all in that car.

Bandelier National Monument

Robbie and his dad took me out to Bandelier to look at old Indian habitat and meeting areas. There was lots of cool stuff to see.
I'm down in this hole in the ground where they used to do something but I can't remember what they used the little rooms for. We actually climbed up a long ways on some wooden ladders to get up to where this was and then you could climb down into the little room to see what it was like. It was just real small.
While we were at the top this was the view over the whole canyon. It was pretty remarkable. It was over cast that day but it turned out to be a good thing because it would have been too hot otherwise.
Mr. Chalmers taught Robbie and I that Ponderosa Pines smell like vanilla if you get up close to them. I personally thought it was more of a Rum Vanilla but it was cool either way. And when it rains up here that smell gets all in the air. It's almost like there is a giant rum vanilla candle being burned somewhere near.
The sides of the mountains is where the Indians would build habitats and the large holes that are at the bottom of the mountain are where they would live. This whole mountain actually isn't a regular mountain. It was formed from ash that settled and compressed from a volcano that exploded in the area way long time ago. It's interesting because you can tell when you touch it and pound on it that its a totally different material that what you are used to a mountain being. It almost felt hollow. It was easy for them to carve out dwellings because this compressed ash was so soft but sturdy enough to support them. It didn't smell different though. It was just a diffirent feel to it.

Halo Tourney... More Fun Than I Want!

A bunch of the guys got together last night to blow each other to smithereens. Good guy fellowship. All in the name of the Lord, I'm sure.

New Friends

Most everyone knows how much I enjoy making new friends so I am totally in my element here in a town of total strangers but that has changed really quickly. It's been great fun.


This is the day we visited the Los Alamos museum so that I could learn about the history of how the government decided to move in here and build the lab and lots of interesting things about atomic science


This is Robbie. He's just kinda great.




This is Seth and Amanda. We met up downtown and didn't really take the atomic tour but we ust hung out by the sign.


This is my college that working with for the summer.

This is the road that leads into and out of the city. Can't be a timid driver to live up here cause this cliff road is kinda intimidating.



This is a view of the not so green side of the range. I should get some pics of the other side of the city.

Finally here

I'm here in Los Alamos and it's great so far. We have Vacation Bible School going on and that's always tiring but there are some stinkin cute kids here. They are having a ball too so I guess its all worth it.



I really like the staff that I'll be working with, they are very laid back and seem to enjoy laughing and jackin around as much as I do. It's kind of weird right now though because I just met them and so I don't want let my "hair" all the way down cause I want to appear professional too. Anyway, I've met several of the youth and I like them. On Tuesday nights I'll be leading a Bible study for the young adult group at home here in town. We had our first meeting last night and I absolutely love this group of kids. They all seem really special and likable in their own ways. I'm so looking forward to getting one on one with some of them and just loving on them and taking them deeper. It seems like most of them have a sincere desire to grow and engage the Word better so it's gonna be really cool to work with them. Hopefully they don't think I'm square. There are a couple of coffee shops in town here so I think I'll frequent those to hang out with people at because there is not many other options for that kind of thing.

The mountains and the views and the weather here is great so far. It gets chilly at night and the days are not that hot because there seems to be a pretty constant and reliable mountain breeze blowing. It's very dry here though so I'm using lots of lotion. We are about 7500 feet high so I've been trying to drink lots of water to deflect any health issues that could come up from transitioning to this altitude. No big problems so far but I've noticed a little difference in my breathing and then this afternoon I tried play some ridiculous Frisbee game with the youth group and dang near had a heart attack. So there is something to this altitude thing.

I think it's going to be a fun and challenging summer. I'll get to grow in some areas that I feel very weak in and also I'll get to do what I feel like I do best in meeting new people, building relationships and just loving on people. Stay tuned for more of the adventure...

Off to New Mexico

I've been given an opportunity to serve at a church in northern New Mexico for the Summer. I'll be in Los Alamos which is right outside of Santa Fe. My major responsibility seems to be to minister to young adults who work at the national science lab there and college students who are home for the summer. I'll be doing several other things from administration to a little children's ministry. It should be a pretty eventful summer. When I set out on the way to LA, I had to go through San Antonio to be a part of Jonny Collins' wedding. After that I left San Antonio at 3:30am to get to Albuquerque in time to spend a couple hours with my buddy Todd and his wife who live there then LA would be about another hour and a half north of them. I took pictures along the way to chronicle my solo road trip so that I could share the experience with you. Hopefully since I'm blogging again, I'll post lots of pictures and share this whole summer with you.

Even though I knew I wasn't going all the way to El Paso, this still let me know that I had a lot of interstate ahead of me.

this was by far the coolest thing that I saw on the trip over. I was driving along and all of a sudden I see these windmill farms all along the right side of the interstate for miles and miles. I'm not sure who they produce electricity for but it cool. If you didn't know, when you see eighteen wheelers carrying really long, really huge white things that look like gigantic airplane propel ors, those are the blades for these windmills.

After my little detour to help the stranded mariachi band, I was finally headed north and this was the road that would lead on into my destination.

However, there was lots of nothingness to cross over before I would get anywhere. It was kind of weird to be literally in no man's land like that for hours. I wasn't worried about gas cause I'd been warned to get gas before I needed it and I had a jug of water in case anything decided to overheat.



Finally in New Mexico but still in the desert.

I knew I was getting closer to Albuquerque because I was finally seeing mountains in the distance.

As I came into the Sandia range, things began to get remarkably greener.

I always find it difficult and unsafe to drive through the mountains because I want to look around and check things out. I'm sure it's not comforting to you that I've been snapping pictures while driving during this entire trip.

WELCOME TO LOS ALAMOS, NEW MEXICO!!!!!! And a big congratulations to me for finishing the longest road trip I've ever attempted alone. It really wasn't as horrible as I thought it might be. There was plenty of boring moments but it was ok. FYI, there's not much cell phone service along Hwy 285. Just in case you ever need to know that.

For those of you that don't know, the bread butter of Los Alamos is a very large Government established science lab. It was originally secretly created in 1946 (I think) to research and design the first atomic bomb. They were obviously successful. Now they still conduct tons of research and development but things are more advanced now just about everything they're working on has to do with Homeland security. It's a very interesting place. There are about 10,000 people that live at the top of the mountain where I am and then about another 7,000 that live about halfway down the mountain. The lab employs around 12,000 people so about 99% of the town works at the lab doing something. I'll have more on that later.

Road Trip 2008

I am going to work at a church in New Mexico for the summer. But before you hear more about that, let me tell you about the crazy ride there. I left from San Antonio because Jonny Collins got married last weekend and I got to sing in his wedding. Oh and just for an aside here, Ryan Odonnel is a flippin stud musician instrumentally and vocally. I absolutely loved getting to sing with him and totally look forward to the next time we can jam together. OK, back to the story.

So I left at 3:30am and drove up I-10 for a long time and was going to turn North when I got to Fort Stockton. Well as I am driving past these really really cool windmill farms in west Texas that create electricity I come within about 30 miles of Fort Stockton and then I see two older Hispanic men on the side of the street and its obvious that they've have a flat or blowout. As I approach them they are practically jumping into the freeway to flag someone down for help. So being the good guy I am I think real quick if I should stop or not and I think about how we are in the middle of no where and these old guys need some help and it's daylight now, it's actually 7:45 in the morning.

So I stop and quickly find out that they don't speak much English at all. Actually only one of them could speak any English at all so I could make out that he wanted me to take one of them into Fort Stockton to get their blown out tire fixed. They had a spare on the van but it was flat too. So I think about it and it seems fine that I'm going through Fort Stockton anyway so I tell ok, I'll take him in. So they throw the dirty blown out tire on top of all my stuff that's packed into my trunk and we were on our way. It wasn't until we got a few miles down the road that I have the thought about how this guy's gonna get back to his van on the freeway. I guess he could hitchhike back but we'll cross that bridge later. Well we had a bit of a drive ahead of us and apparently my little friend who didn't speak a word of English was a bit tired cause I looked over and he was conked out next to me.

We finally pull up into Fort Stockton and I quickly realize that because it's Sunday morning and it's not even 9am, we're gonna have a hard time finding a tire place but I drive through town a little ways anyway with hopes. I eventually turn around and head back towards the interstate and stop to ask for advice from the locals. They tell us of a place called "Johnny's" behind some gas station across the interstate so we set out over there and find it. We get there and I ask the lady behind the counter if they speak Spanish and she says yes so I let my little buddy talk to her about his needs and then a random guy that was in there chimed in and started talking to us too. I leave those three to talk it out and I go use the restroom. By the time I return it appears that things have been worked out and we are ready to go get the tire fixed at this place behind this gas station. So me the Mexican man walk back towards my car which is parked right in front of the tire garage and then I see that random guy from inside walk out with a women toward us. I naturally assume they are coming to unlock the tire shop and fix us up. Well they get to my car and begin to pile in the backseat and so I asked where we goin? And this guy wants to go back to the van on the interstate with us with a can of FIX-A-FLAT. Apparently they don't have a car but wanted to help out. So we all set back out on I-10 going back the direction I've already come from by about 30 miles. So I'm thinking about the time I'm losing because I decided to be nice and stop, so I'm driving like 90mph in hopes to speed this ordeal up. The lady is chain smoking in the back seat and looking through all my seat pockets and whatever she can find. I'm thinkin, why in the world did I ever stop. This is a classic Curtis scenario here. We finally arrive at the busted van and we pile out and this lady's gotta go to the bathroom. So she sets off a little ways up the interstate to do her business and her husband starts pumpin the FIX-A-FLAT into the flat spare tire on the van. When the lady returns she strikes up a random conversation about her two daughters and starts telling me that one of them looks like Madonna and the other looks like Christina Aguilara and they both sing real good and that they get it from her cause she goes around and sing Amy Grant gospel sometimes. Then she tells me about a black girl in town that she thinks I'd like. (Why do people do that?)

Well the flat fixer stuff didn't work because the seal on the rim was broken so they wanted to get more FIX-A-FLAT from another gas station that was just a couple miles away and of course that didn't ever work so guess what... All five of us are out on I-10 with the busted van (Did I tell you earlier that the two Mexican men were a Mariachi band traveling from San Antonio to who knows where)


So now the tire guy wants to send me back to Fort Stockton with the tire and the Mexican guy and his wife. His wife gets in the front seat and says "I'm gonna sit in the front seat cause my legs are long and I can't be crawl in the back seat... (pause, as she looks out the window at her husband) "I don't trust this situation, I used to be a 'Military Marine' and if anyone can handle this kinda stuff it's me." So she starts getting out of the car and then I tell the guy that we should probably take the flat spare into his tire shop and just fix it. So they get the spare of the van and get it in my trunk and now the original riders pile back into my little cougar already packed down with all my stuff for the summer and we're back on the road to Fort Stockton. I had the windows rolled down because the combination of smells need to be aired out of my car but then on the second trip back into Fort Stockton, it began to get hot so I turned on the AC but then the tire guy/husband lights up a cigarette and the lady says "can you crack the window just a lil..little bit, we're kinda smokers." They'd been like ultra chain smoking since we met.

I figure that since these peeps are in my car and some of them can understand English, I could go ahead and share the good news with them. So I begin telling them about JC and then the lady chimes in with "oh yesss, I believe God is all around us and He's in me and all around like the sun....You know I'm in my second life now... When I walked off that balcony in Beaumont I felt like a cloud caught me and I knew it was God...It was like His hand just reached down and caught me...I thought it was weird that when I came back, I came back to the same family... I used to be Martinez and then I was in a Martinez family..."
By this point I kinda felt like I wasn't gettin too far with my gospel presentation so we just rode along until we got back into town. The tire directs me to a different place this time and we role up to a different tire shop. He jumps out of the car and raises the garage door on this shop and starts fixing on this tire and I just about lost it. I was thinking, why in the world didn't we just come here in the first place two and a half hours ago. This was a real tire shop that had everything he needed to fix any kind of tire problem. So I say, are you all good here? I've gotta get back on the road? The tire guy says, "yeah you've done enough, we can find a way to get him back to his van." And even though I was a little worried about my little Mexican mariachi friend, I didn't care enough to stick around any longer. He Mariachi guy gave me 20 bucks for my time and I was on my way, not fully believing that I'd burned up two and a half hours of my road trip on this craziness. So the moral of the story is to not pick up stranded people, I guess. Or not if your name is Curt Hampton anyway.

He's Alive!!!!

Hey friends!! It's been forever since I lasted blogged. Not forever but like seriously over a year which in blogging years, that's forever. I just wanted to update you on what's going on with me cause some people may not know. I've just completed my first year of Seminary at Southwestern in Fort Worth where I'm studying Christian Counseling. It was a good year but like every transition, it took some getting used to. The biggest part of the transition was figuring out how to do community at that school. You would think that among a bunch of people that are studying to be better ministers and equipping themselves to love on people in some capacity it would be easy to meet people and build community. I was mistaken. I never seen so many tight lipped, socially awkward people congregated in one place. It was tough at first because I didn't feel like burning a ton of energy to bust grown ups out of their shells so that I could have conversations with them. Then by the time the second semester rolled around I finally busted out and started making people talk to me. God is good and I love the community I have there now. I've been blessed with a great group of brothers and sisters who are so fun to just chill with and to be deep with too. The program that I'm in is going pretty well. I've learned that I need to get a little more interested in the academic side of seminary life. I'm working part time for a Laundry Company that provides service to TCU which is right down the street from where I live. I basically transport laundry to and from a plant and provide customer service to the students that we serve. It's a very flexible job and allows me to study while I work most days so it's been a huge blessing. That's all I've got to say about that.