Continuing The Journey...

Hello everyone! As you may know, I have spent the past 4 months in Garden Valley, Texas in a year long Christian internship program called the Honor Academy. In just these past 4 months, I have fallen in love with God and have seen His love and grace poured out to so many around me, including myself. Before I came to the Honor Academy, an aspect of God that I never understood was just how loving He really is. In these past 4 months, I have watched God lovingly pursue me in my moments of sadness, joy, pain, and the unknown. God has never failed, He has always been there to lovingly show me the next step.

While I have been at the Honor Academy, God has continued to shape the dream He has placed in my heart of one day getting to Brazil to do full time missionary work there. It is a hope of mine that I will one day live there full time to help do ministry work to the orphans in Brazil who don't have anywhere to go, no mother to love them, and no love and support. Sometimes I wish I could just jump right into Brazil! But God is teaching me that smaller steps come before the big ones! For me, my next step is continuing my growth at the Honor Academy and growing a stronger foundation in Him. These past 4 months have been incredible, so I can only imagine what the next 8 have in store!

Please continue to partner in prayer with me! The entire internship costs a total of $8,400 and by God's grace I have raised $3,690 already! The financial schedule is on a month by month basis, meaning I need to raise about 600-700 a month in order to stay at the internship. Right now I need almost a thousand dollars to be caught up with the current financial schedule. If my account stays in the negative too long, I will be unable to stay in the internship program. I know God will provide! Please be praying for me that God will continue to provide financially and emotionally as I continue this journey in my life! If YOU would like to partner with me financially, you can do so by going to www.honoracademy.com/donate and entering in my ID# which is 2677255. Thank YOU so much for the continued prayer and loving support you all have given me. I couldn't have made it at the Honor Academy this long without all of you. Merry Christmas!

Obedience: Not Just When It's Easy

To My Dear Friends and Family,

I know it has been awhile since I've really written a letter to really share anything that has been going on here at the Honor Academy. For that, I really do apologize. God has been taking me on quite the journey, but unfortunately, I have been being grown and stretched in so many new ways that I have not been keeping all of you involved! It is my hope that this letter would help that and by the time you are done reading it, you would have more of an idea of what I am doing here at the Honor Academy.

For some of you, it really must seem like I was randomly sucked up in some vortex and disappear from Colorado! I mean, really. In just a few short months God placed the Honor Academy on my heart and everything just really quickly changed from there! But it has been good. It has been really good. I have spent long hours thinking and trying to figure out what exactly I would share with you all about what God has been doing in my life. I decided to start with what God is currently teaching me. God is teaching me this little thing called obedience. For me, I have always been pretty strong willed, so always being obedient has not been my strong point. It is even harder to be obedient when you are sometimes out of your comfort zone, stretched, and growing in the way that I am. To be completely honest, the Honor Academy is hard. It's not all butterflies and rainbows. I get homesick, cry, and just have days that I want to go home. In fact, after Thanksgiving Break, I was very close to coming home for good at Christmas break. But I didn't. Why? God asked me to stay.

This letter must seem like a long list of ramblings by now, and if so, I am really sorry. What I'm trying to say is God has been teaching me that obedience isn't always about doing what He asks when it feels good, when it's fun, or when you are always comfortable. Being obedient to Him means listening to Him even when things get hard, even when I am homesick, and even when I want to go to college. I have been learning to trust God and to lean into Him in those times of fear and worry. He is faithful and I am witness to that. I know my God is a God of love and is a Provider. In trusting that, I am being obedient to Him by staying and continuing to press closer to Him and His love.

Please continue to keep me in your prayers as I continue to walk through this season of obedience in my life. Some days are a real struggle but the days of struggle are a reminder that I have a God who is bigger than my problems. If you would please keep me in prayer financially as well. My donation record was recently charged for this next month of January. Just to give an update on where I stand financially, I am $4,900 away from having my entire internship paid off, which is completely incredible. Thank you all so much for your support. As of right now, I need $1,150 to have my account caught up by January 18th. If you could financially support me at all, it would be greatly appreciated. Anything helps, even if it is $1 or $5. If you would like to financially support me, you can do so by going to www.honoracademy.com/donate and entering in my ID which is 2677255. Or you can also mail me a check made out to Teen Mania Ministries at my mailing address at the bottom. Either way, whether you can or cannot donate, I just want to thank all of you for your prayers and support. You all mean so much to me and I am about a week away from getting to see some of you at Christmas Break! I hope you all have a very happy holidays and I will look forward to updating you all soon!

With Love, Angelica

My Mailing Address for Letters: Angelica Shook PO Box 2000 CPO#604 Garden Valley, TX 75771