Rachel Carpenter

Former SMOi missionary in Ukraine June-July 2008
SWO summer staff 2005, 2006, 2007
Birthday: February 22

History:

Rachel grew up in a Christian home where she regularly saw her parents reading the Bible. She was always at church, and she can't remember a time when she didn't believe that Jesus Christ was Lord, even with a child-like faith. Rachel prayed to receive Christ when she was in the first grade, and in her mind it was just the next logical step, something she knew she needed to do. Rachel wasn't baptized until age 10 because she was afraid of getting up in front of all those people. Up until middle school her faith had always been childlike, but when she started going to the youth group at her church, God revealed more and more what it meant for her to be surrendered to Him.

When she was thirteen Rachel went to camp with her youth group at Snowbird Wilderness Outfitters. While there, it was as if everything she had been learning came together like puzzle pieces and culminated with her full surrender to God. A passion for reading the Bible quickly followed, and throughout high school she was heavily involved with the youth group at her church.

Rachel chose to go to North Greenville University (then college) with the expectation of learning from life in a Christian community, but her first year of college was a little rough. She lived in a small dorm on the edge of campus and really only got to know a small group of girls during her first year. However, God used that time to teach her through His word and her small group of friends.

During the summers of 2005-2007 Rachel worked at Snowbird Wilderness Outfitters and continued to learn about community both at camp and at school. She's always loved to travel and felt led to be involved in foreign missions in some capacity. One of the coolest things North Greenville does is World Missions Week. During this week, missionaries from all over the world fly in to share about their countries and specific ministries and help students get involved.

When a missionary from Ukraine came to Rachel's literature class and talked about the English language clubs his family facilitates for Ukrainian college students, Rachel's interest was immediately sparked. As she prayed about God's plans for her for that summer, she felt compelled to go to Ukraine with the International Mission Board.

Contact info:

Strategy:

Rachel graduate from North Greenville on May 1, 2007 and headed out to Ukraine within the following weeks. Throughout the summer she worked with Ukrainian church planters and other volunteers from the US to minister to people in their communities through the English language and sports camps as well as other ministries. She also be worked with Ukrainian university students in the capital city of Kiev through English and coffee shop ministry. Rachel tried to build some consistent relationships with college students during the three months that she was in Kiev.