For much of my life, I was afraid of evangelism.  What does this word mean?  It's such a big, scary, church word that I never want to do it, is what I used to think.  See, I never used to be confident in what I heard God speak. I always thought "who am I supposed to talk to, Lord? Unless you give me the words to say and the confidence to do it, I will never evangelize to someone.  I mean it's not my responsibility, right?  Evangelism is for the crazies who stand on the street and preach repentance!" 

This is what I thought then....                  This is the Here and Now

So, for those of you who have met me after I did the World Race, you will never know the girl I was before the Race. I used to be plagued by lies, used to think that everyone was out to get me and ultimately, was bitter. While on the World Race, God really started to teach me about confidence and I started to see how I was made in His image and what it means to have identity in the Lord.  In the Philippines, I was asked to share a part of my testimony to youth and the whole time I was in the front, I was shaking. Oh, have so many things have changed! 

Within the last few months and the fact that Romania is now my home, I have started to walk in the giftings the Lord has given me. I really believe that God is creating me to be a discipler, but also an evangelist who can really get down the deep parts of someone's heart. I'm not sure where God will lead me, but I will tell you that there has been something on my heart. I first heard this on Saturday, as I was doing logistics for Raul Costea. 

Raul: "Rachel, did you know that the Balkan countries only have 500,000 Jesus followers in them?

Rachel: "No, but that seems like a lot, Raul..." (Me not thinking...)

Raul:"...no, this is out of 145 million, in which 1/2 of them are Muslims."

I don't know about you, but this is heartbreaking to me.  This means that 144,500,000 people currently are living lives apart from Jesus and are going to hell.  This is awful!  This is so sad that it just makes me wonder questions of "what if?" What if there were people to go to them? What if they knew Jesus and then lead others to Jesus?  What if they knew Jesus so intimately that the whole atmosphere changed, because someone told them about the true, real love of God and His Son, Jesus? I tell you the truth here...Raul, the head contact, is in the process of recruiting workers and missionaries to see more people come to Him. It is our (Hope Church's) desire to see more believers in these countries to equip the locals with the Gospel. We do have contacts in these countries, but they need encouragement to keep fighting the good fight.

Seriously, my heart is hurting and breaking.  I don't sleep at night, because I desire for these people to know Jesus.  God is working here, but I know there are more people to come here and work.  I don't mean for this to be a plea, but if you feel any sense of calling and desire to go internationally for ministry, please seek the Lord for your life and ask where you are to go. 

P.S. The Balkans include Turkey, Albania, Bosnia, Croatia, Montenegro, Serbia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Kosovo and Greece.