Dear Friends and Family,
This is my last update letter for my time at Honor Academy of The Ozarks. I decided to take advantage of the free use of the printer as an intern one last time and mail out these letters. As of August 10, 2014 I will not longer be an intern. I will have completed two years at HAO, and I am not staying a 3rd. It has been a crazy and amazing journey these past couple of years. I have done things I didn’t think I would ever do like climb a mountain, fast for 3 days, and finished CA Roads (I don’t really have the room in this to explain that, but it’s super intense and crazy and I learned more from this singular event than I did the other LTE’s. If you want to know more you can e-mail me and ask questions.) I have gained an amazing family here at the internship and Living Word Church and I have learned and grown so much.
My first year I learned and grew a lot and developed myself in Christ. As a second year I became the girl’s Core Advisor, the mentor/accountability/direct leadership for the undergrad girls. As most of you know leadership is very challenging. However, I loved it and I love my core. I am blessed to have a good relationship with Jesse, she is seriously like my little sister. Anyway, so the big things I learned my second year were how to be a leader. I learned what it takes to be a leader, how to properly lead someone, and how even when I feel like my whole world is falling apart I have to set that all aside and help them with whatever they’re going through and that requires a ton of leaning on and trusting in God. I also learned how to really love with the unconditional love of Christ for the first time. I mean yes I have my little sister and my parents but I can honestly say that outside of them I have never loved someone unconditionally (now maybe no one has ever reached the end of my conditions, but still) until I became CA. However, this year I learned what it means to lay my life down for someone else and to love them with the love of Christ no matter what’s going on in my own life or even what they may be doing to me or to others. I learned how to really be there for someone when they need me. I also discovered that a lot of the time real leadership is sitting on someone’s bedroom floor at 2 am instead of sleeping, or washing someone else’s dishes even when you haven’t actually cooked a meal in days. Leadership is in the little things and I have been honored and blessed to become a leader this year. It has been incredible.
I have learned and experienced so much more than this but, I don’t have enough room or time to type it all out. I just want to say that I have grown and learned so much in my two years here. I have amazing mentors and friends. Last year I was an intern with Chelsea, Breana, Grace, Kate (woo-hoo best friend gained!), Blanca (my CA), and David. This year I have been an intern with Jesse, Eric, Anthony, and David (we’re both suckers and stayed two years, ha-ha). I can honestly say that these people, especially this year’s interns, have become my family and some of my closest friends. I have found friendships that I didn’t know I would find, especially in Kate, Jesse, Eric, and Anthony, and I am so grateful for that. I wanted to say thank you to all of you as well. You prayed for me, encouraged me, and even supported me financially. I literally would not have been able to come here or stay here at it not been for you. As of now I only have $727.15 left to pay on my internship (so I mean hey if you want to help by all means…) but in reality compared to where I was when I started this is nothing to pay…and it’s because of you guys. All of you have been an amazing encouragement and support system as I have participated in this program. I have gained direction, spiritual maturity, and vision during my time spent here and you played a part in that, so thank you all!
I also want you to know what I’ll be doing now that I have graduated from the internship. First of all I will be staying in the Branson area. I will be moving into an apartment in Reeds Spring with one of my best friends, Brooke (I provided a lovely picture of the two of us just for you!) I have been offered, and I have accepted, a non-paid staff position (fancy way of saying volunteer) as the academic supervisor for Honor Academy of The Ozarks. I’ll be keeping track on intern classes and homework, grading papers, meeting one on one with interns about said papers, as well as tutoring interns. I will also continue to mentor Jesse and I will be given the opportunity to speak various intern events as well as teach a few classes. I will continue working my part time job as an administrative assistant at Christian Associates, hopefully that’ll become full time…who knows. On the weekends I have started working with Nightlight and I will be able to become much more involved with that organization. Nightlight is an anti-human trafficking group based in Branson/Springfield. They do strip club outreach, street ministry, as well as help with aftercare. Finally I will be working in the youth group at Living Word Church on a regular basis assisting Joe, HAO alumni/youth pastor/current male CA. I am excited and scared for the next step in life. I know that God is calling me to great things and I am ready for them. Once again thank you all for everything you’ve done for me the past two years!
Kaitlin Hicks
No comments:
Post a Comment