Hello friends and family!
I am currently attending the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, where I am pursuing a Communications degree. I just finished my sophomore year and have loved everything about life in Chattanooga. I have been involved with a ministry called Young Life and have been immensely blessed by a community of friends and believers that God has put in my life. I was working at an elementary school as an after school care teacher and as an intern for a photographer. God has revealed a lot to me and given me a lot of direction over the past semester and I would love to have the opportunity to share a little bit of that with you.
Over the past semester, I struggled with who Jesus created me to be and what His direction for my life was. I didn’t understand the difference between my dreams and God’s plans for my life. Through prayer and many conversations I had with close friends and family, God told me that I was supposed to apply for a program through Adventures in Missions called The World Race.
What is the World Race you might ask? Well, it is an 11 month mission trip to 11 different countries. I will be leaving for this journey in January of 2015. My squad and I will begin our journey in the Philippines and will continue onto Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Bulgaria, Ireland, Romania, and Moldova. Through the World Race, my team and I will serve in partnership with churches and ministries in local communities to preach the Gospel, plant churches, work in orphanages, minister to women and children trapped in prostitution as a result of human trafficking, and bring the restorative hope of the Father’s love to many tribes and nations.
I am so excited to be able to share this journey with you! The thing that I want to take away from this journey is to have a better understanding of who God is and that my life is not mine. This trip is not about me. It’s about spreading the Word to those who long for salvation. I began this journey praying, expecting that God would answer if I was supposed to answer His call to “Go!” God answered and I will continue to pray and believe with the expectancy that God is going to do GREAT and MIGHTY things! Jeremiah 33:3 says, “Call to me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know.”
These 11 months won’t be easy, but I have found great joy in depending on our God alone. I will face many challenges all throughout the World Race, but as I prepare for my departure, one of the greatest challenges I face is raising financial support. Like most other mission organizations, World Race participants are required to fundraise financial support. In order to leave fully funded in January, I need to raise $16,500. This money will cover all of my field expenses and supplies for the 11 months on the race.
How can you help? There are two ways.
~PRAY! You can pray for my team and I, and that the Lord will go ahead of us and prepare the way. Please also pray for the adults and children that we will meet and that the Lord will prepare their hearts and minds, as well as ours.
~Financial support: You can join with me in this amazing ministry by supporting me financially online or by writing a check. Any amount given would help tremendously and I would be extremely grateful for your prayers and financial support!
Options A: I have enclosed a response card which invites you to share in this ministry. Please make checks payable to Adventures in Missions. Including the enclosed card will provide Adventures In Missions (AIM) with all the necessary information. In turn, they will send you a receipt. AIM is registered with the Internal Revenue Service as a 501 (c) (3) non-profit organization. So gifts are tax deductible. Donors will receive receipts for their gifts with the understanding that the disbursement of those gifts lies completely at the discretion of Adventures In Missions and that the gifts are non-refundable and non-transferable, per IRS regulations.
Option B: My home church, Northside Baptist Church, has also set up a missions fund that allows you to write checks directly to Northside with “World Race” in the memo. These gifts are also tax deductible. The address to the church is
Northside Baptist Church 127 Theta Pike Columbia, TN 38401
Thank you so much for investing your time into my life and loving me so well. Your love and support is what is going to help me spread the love of God through the nations! I hope that you would prayerfully consider joining with me in this amazing ministry. I am so grateful to have friends and family like you to support me during this process. Thank you so much in advance!
In Him, Kara Gleaves
P.S.- To follow me during the race, visit my blog: karagleaves.theworldrace.org Through my blog, you can support me financially, email me, follow me before I leave, and also while I am on the mission field! I will try to post pictures and stories as often as possible.
“How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness, who publishes salvation, who says to Zion, “Your God reins!” ~Isaiah 52:7~
