Yes, I am alive and well and back from an amazing time where God drew me deeper into his love! Thank you for your prayers and encouragement and support during my time in Malaysia. God is good and faithful and does the impossible. There is a beautiful picture of a mountain that I got to see every morning while I was in Sabah. It's humbling to be surrounded by such beauty and majesty that is just a pale reflection of what is found on the throne before which we will all kneel one glorious day and declare that Jesus Christ is Lord!
Here are some fun pictures of our trip there. I really enjoyed my traveling companions! I delighted in getting to know Rodney better, and it was so cool having all that time with Mandy. Shari and Joyce were good traveling companions too! As was Linda once we picked her up in L.A. The rest of our team was waiting for us in K.K. They greeted us warmly at the hotel when we arrived and took us around the next morning before we headed up to the retreat center.
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| A delicious breakfast buffet that I enjoyed for an hour :) |
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| It was Shari's birthday on the trip and we found a cheesecake to celebrate! |
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| Our driver on the way up was a wonderful Godly man! |
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| That was about what we ate for every meal for a week... soooo good ;) |
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| What a cool bird nest! |
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| Morning devotions/breakfast spot! |
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| Dry land leeches!!!! Awesome!!! |
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| That beauty feasted on Linda for a while... poor thing. |
What an epic last meal at the resort!
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| Yes this is how I shop... by not doing it :) |
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| Yes we did eat at KFC in Malaysia... it is one of the most popular restaurants there... go figure :). |
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| Perhaps the coolest coffee house I've been in, anywhere in the world! |
So we got a little bored in China waiting for our next plane to take off and some of us (Rodney) slept, but Mandy and I explored the costume area... or just put hats on and walked around and were goofy! It was a great time! Mandy is a wonderful person to kill time with if you are ever in China with her.
You can't sum up a trip like this and a blog is too short to write it all out. God blew my mind with how well he took care of us! Our team was like the navy seals of mission trip teams, they dealt with every issue perfectly and so there was very little that I needed to do. It was very restful being there and having such a blessed experience my first time leading a trip like this. No one got sick and all our flights there were smooth. We had some adventures coming home, but nothing that we couldn't handle. Now we are just trying to get in the correct time zone.
I am so grateful for the friends that I made over there. It is inspiring being around people who sacrifice so much and lean in so hard to follow God. It spurs you on to do the same, as you see them feasting on His love it makes you eager to experience more of it yourself! Relationships also grew with my team! I am so glad to know them better and I'm eager to see what God has in store for us in the future.
Ah but now, to recover a bit and ease back in to life in Dallas. My kids just started back at school but before they did I tried to squeeze in as much fun as I could for them. Sunday we went to Hawaiian Falls and Tuesday went to 6 Flags over Texas. That will also make you feel like jelly if jet lag wasn't enough. I came from rain in the mountains at a sweet 70 degrees to this amazing thing called Texas heat of death. Wow!
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| Their first roller coaster! |
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| Killing time in line :) |
That was a very fun couple of days... and then we had the first day of school... it's nice to be getting back into the routine of things!
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| Creed 4th and Asher 2nd |
One of the big things that God taught me while I was away, was that he provides for and protects my family and loves them so much and loves me so much. God is trustworthy and he is good, but that takes faith to hold onto. Because sometimes things go wrong and break and people get sick and stuff just happens, it takes a heart of faith in the midst of all that to hold onto the fact that God is good and it working in the midst of it all.
While I was on the phone with my wife our AC had big issues and it made me stressed and feel sick and wonder what God was doing. I had a choice at that moment, to believe in Gods goodness or to withdraw from him in anger. I struggled, but finally was able to draw close to Him during the difficult time and be present where I was, half way across the world, and with eyes of faith believe that God was going to do something amazing, I just needed to wait patiently for it. I told Diane who she could call and what I thought the issue was and just about two hours later everything was resolved. It then occured to me that it was Gods working and his grace that I was on the phone with her when things went awry. That because of that I was able to be used by him to help her. It was so beautiful to see our community come around her and support her and help with the situation! It was so sweet to be able to encourage her during the crisis. I felt led to just keep texting her encouragement. But, really after it was all said and done I'm so grateful that I fought to respond in love and confidence in who God is. The A.C. would have been fixed regardless, but the time wasted could have been spent so much worse. It's true that God is good, in spite of what we see. I don't know that Satan really does anything to ruin air conditioners, I think entropy might have that covered, but I do know that when he has a chance to hurt my relationship with God and others he will use any circumstance to his advantage. He will try to get you afraid and angry and stressed and to believe all sorts of lies. But, if you hold on in faith to the truth that God is good and he loves you, that He who is in you is greater, then you will start to see what God is doing and you will hear him lead you beside those peaceful waters and into those green pastures. The amazing thing to me about the story of Jesus calming the storm was not Jesus controlling the weather (although I will admit that is miraculous) but that he had to be woken up to do it. Jesus was able to sleep during it and would have slept through it. That is amazing. Something God is teaching me is that we as children can have peace in any crisis just as Jesus could be at peace and rest through the storm.
You are a joy in my life and you are the community that God uses to provide and show love for and support for me. Words fail to express how grateful I am for you and how much you mean to me. I love you and I pray for you often! You are the reason that I can do the things that God calls me to do! Thanks for standing by me and with my precious family in prayer and financially!
Blessings,
Caleb
If you want to support what I do a little or a lot, on a one time basis or a recurring basis, click on the tab "Supporting the Work" at the top of the page and sign up for Chase Quickpay. You can then send your donation to HCLC - Caleb Robbins Ministry using my e-mail address caleb_robbins@sil.org. If you would like further instructions on setting that up please click on the link at the top right of the page called How to give.
The other way to donate to my ministry is via check. If you write a check to "Holy Cross Lutheran Church" and put "Caleb Robbins Ministry" in the memo line it will get deposited into my ministry account.
The address is:
Holy Cross Lutheran Church
4400 W Arkansas Ln, Arlington, TX 76016
Diane is my beautiful wife and the mother of my precious children Creed 9, Asher 7, Liam 4, Echo already in heaven, Bella 2, and Serenity.
