The time in between!

Oh yes the poetic title... the time in between...

Basically I'm saying that it's hard to write blogs sometimes because between Guinea and Jamaica (I leave for this trip in a week) so much happens but is any of it worth writing about? The answer of course is... YES!

But seek first His Kingdom and His righteousness! 

 In the midst of crazy it can be easy to loose the foundation and joy of life, which just happens to be knowing God! I've thrust myself back into my Summer challenge of reading the Bible in 90 days and I'm really enjoying it. I love the view from my front yard and I love just being with my Dad!

Great field trip with Asher before summer! Botanical Gardens!

I love playing football with my amazing boys! 

I didn't get to go but my wife got to enjoy watching our good friend Michal play her sport! 

Mothers day! I have the best wife! I really wanted to show how much I appreciate her this year. Breakfast in bed! 

Diane got to take Creed on his field trip. They went to an amusement park and his choir performed. 

This lady is so precious and dear to me. She is on my way to work after I drop my kids off at school. I see her out picking up trash and cleaning the neighborhood up. God tells me to stop and talk to her. She inspires me to start focusing on community service projects in my youth group. I see her again about a year later and God tells me to go and help her. I obey and help her rake up some leaves and sweep up her sidewalk. Encourage each other daily so that no one gets hardened. I learn a lot more about her and feel great compassion to help more. She is a Godly woman who does everything unto the Lord. Daily she gets up and cleans up the trash on her road for about 3 blocks. She tells me of the struggle and how God sustains her and how she can do it because she is doing it for Him. I'm so grateful to be able to help her! I come back and trim her trees for her with my friend Joel. I'm brought to tears by how God uses his people to love one another. Strangers loving strangers because they have the same amazing Father!

Second place in the Firetruck pull for Special Olympics. This was a great time. To get the video check out my Facebook. 

The Pool Opening was a great hit this year! It always takes me back to 2013 and the horrible back injury that I sustained as a result of this project and years of neglecting my back. It's bittersweet! I'm so grateful for a God who heals and provides. This fund raiser brought in a lot of money for our group! 

Sisters, sisters. There were never such devoted sisters :)

Bella and Ellie! Best friends! 

Diane went on a girls trip and enjoyed some much needed rest and time away! 

While she was gone the kids and I partied :). We enjoyed some fun El Salvadorian food after Church on Sunday. 

Ah yes and all the birthdays that happen this time of year! Yay for bounce houses. 

The summer is swinging away and we are enjoying it! The weather has been great and rainy and it is fun to have more time with my kids. I just finished a week of teaching amazing youth at Pioneer Bible Translator's Discovery week. We went through the first 4 chapters of the Pursuit of God. I love working with teens!

The week was capped off with a great joy for me! I got to baptize one of my teens! Jessica, I'm so proud of you!

Here is a link to some videos and pictures of that amazing time! Baptism

Wow this things is getting long :). Well I'll wrap up by saying that God is so good and faithful and sustains his Children... Matthew 14 has really inspired me lately! Jesus found rest in God and was sustained after the death of his cousin through relationship with His Father after a day of pouring Himself out. He found time with God to be more valuable than sleep and wasn't going to let a shortage of time keep Him from seeking His Father in the secret place. Then He walks on water and after practically no sleep again ministers all day to the the crowds. I want my hunger for my Father to be likewise... He is my strength and my joy and my sustenance. Not sleep, or Netflix, or my family or best friends.

2 Corinthians 6 has also really encouraged me lately! God is so amazing and we need to understand all that He has freely given us! 1 Cor 2:12.



Having nothing and yet possessing everything because we are made full in Christ! Col 2:9-12.

You all are such a joy to me! I love you so much! Thank you for supporting this work and being a part of the blessings that God is pouring out on all of us that He loves so dearly! I couldn't do this work without you!

Please praise God with me for His provision and for sending me more and more partners in this work! I was so blessed recently when a member of my youth group decided to become  a ministry partner! It amazes me how God provides in the most amazing and beautiful ways!

Please pray for my family as I leave them for 10 days to go to Jamaica! Also pray for the MK group as they go to serve! Let 2 Corinthians 6 inspire them! Weapons of righteousness!!!! Boom!!! I pray that we will crush the enemy and spread the Love... among other great things!

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. 

Chase QuickPay has changed some of their rules. If this option no longer works for you please let me know and I will work with you to find another solution. Thanks for hanging in there with me through all the annoying changes in how I can receive support! Your support means a great deal to me! 

Another 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 10, Asher 8, Liam 5, Echo already in heaven, Bella 3, and Serenity 1 year old.

Guinea 2017

Perhaps you will get a kick out of this post... yeah!!! I sure did :).

It was really fun getting back to Guinea... it was not fun looking back on my old posts and seeing that my pictures all disappeared somewhere. Oh well... ups and downs :).

This time I'm just sharing a video that I put together.  That way you don't have to scroll through so many photos. I will just share my favorite photo!

Due to security reasons I have removed the video. 

So the following verse picture sums up my trip and since you have just watched the video... what else is there to say really?

You see, Guinea is HOT and not very pleasant. The people are amazing and the food is great... but the environment is a little rough at times. Now, I grew up in Africa and so anything Africa has a special place in my heart, but this trip was one that I knew could be a little rough. Any place you have to take malaria medicine to go to is a rough place. Last time I had to get like 9 shots. Any way, my expectations were low.  But God blessed me more than I could have ever imagined. I'm pumped to go back again if that should be a possibility! 

The days can drag when you are stuck in a gazebo in the middle of a field in the hot African sun! Well, the days didn't drag! The mornings flew by as we dedicated the majority of them to devotions and then talking about what God did during our time with Him. The teaching was able to be done in a nice room with fans and a t.v. for the powerpoints I created. That was a grace of God for sure! We got to go on three outings, and being able to go to the islands is a miraculous story all by itself. All the moving parts to make that happen just fell right into place in a way only God could work them. 

There are too many highlights to share. The kids were amazing! We all grew together as we lived in the truth that God shared with us that week.  I got a theme for these teaching from the kids and one of them is designing my camp shirt. Yeah!!!! Amazing!!! The theme is Surrender! "If you surrender to the wind, you can ride it" is one of the quotes from one of the lessons. 

I really enjoyed meeting with parents and other missionaries. It was great getting to know the branch better! I also really enjoyed getting to know the team that came and served the other parts of the program i.e. the younger kids and the adults. The mornings were great, sitting and enjoying coffee and baggets and good company. The evenings were lots of fun too, playing cards and eating fun snacks and visiting! 

The Lord gave us rain one night and I rejoiced in being able to dance in it! I had asked for the chance and the Lord was faithful to provide! 

Now I'm back! Tonight is the MK graduation and in a few short weeks we will be diving into our MK summer program. It's good to be home and back with family! I praise God that he took such good care of them while I was gone.  This is a busy couple of months coming up and I am excited to see all the cool things that God does during them! 

I'm so thankful for you and how you lift me and my family up.  You support us, you encourage us, you make this life possible and God is using you to touch so many and be a blessing! One of the kids made this card for me! 

They are thanking me and I'm thanking you! I couldn't go unless you sent me! I love you all so much! Thank you for being such an incredible blessing to me and those that God has put in my heart! 

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. 

Chase QuickPay has changed some of their rules. If this option no longer works for you please let me know and I will work with you to find another solution. Thanks for hanging in there with me through all the annoying changes in how I can receive support! Your support means a great deal to me! 

Another 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 10, Asher 7, Liam 5, Echo already in heaven, Bella almost 3, and Serenity 1 year old.

A trip a wedding and some other stuff :)

Diane and I are big into Spring cleaning! We organized our attic and found this amazing photo, which was taken at our rehearsal dinner in 2003. Amazing how things like this can hide away for so long and then just delight you when you unearth them. 

MK is going so well! This picture shows off the servant hearts of the Adult MK group and my group. We love to combine our efforts to bless our community! Helping people with their own Spring cleaning is one of my favorite things to do! I love landscaping and I love MK's and I really love combining the two! It's a wonderful family! 

I have the privilege of pouring into Josh Carlton! He is a leader in my MK ministry and has so much to offer. We like to spend Saturday afternoons at White Rhino and dig into the Word and spur each other on! I have begun to really enjoy mentoring him and other young men... so much so that I have gotten a "White Rhino" rewards card :). I get to try all kinds of fun new drinks.. like a 'warm hug' and 'a cold war'. It's good stuff. One truth that we all need to have solidly in our minds is that he Holy Spirit is first and foremost our councilor! He leads us into all truth and never leaves us. If we let ourselves be mentored by the Spirit (the most amazing gift, hands down, that anyone could ever receive! Thank you, Jesus!) then walking with someone else will become what God desires and not a twisted substitute for Him. And we get to have drinks like 'a little Sebastian' to boot :). 

Another thing I enjoy doing on Saturdays is hanging with my 'brother' Luke! I took him golfing for his birthday and here he is showing me a shot he has perfected called the 'around the tree onto the green' shot. It's so fun having him around after growing up together in Africa and then not living anywhere near each other for years, finally we are in the same town again. 

Nadia, another great leader in my group and good friend, made it possible for Diane and I to get out on a date before I headed off to Jamaica. It was so good to have some fun together without any distractions! Dating your wife is amazing. You get to take her home and stay with her and you are pretty much guaranteed a kiss at the end of the night! It's amazing and I recommend it! 

Time with family is so important and I'm traveling a lot this year (apparently 14% of the year...Diane did the math :) ) and so it's really great to sit around the table and enjoy each other. Diane went all out for the last meal before my trip and made ribs and potatoes and asparagus! Yeah it was very exciting... just check out the photo of Serenity. She was amazed and then passed out :). 

My baby is growing up and is nearly walking. I'm going to miss these days! She is so cute and gets herself into lots of interesting places :). 

It was so good to get back to Jamaica after 3 years away. I went a little selfie crazy when I got there! Here I am with Joel and McCoy England.  They are amazing! It was so nice to get to eat at Island Grill again. That place brings back good memories, especially when it is shared with good friends.

I was delighted to be able to visit my good friend Henry in the hospital. He had surgery on a hernia just recently. I'm praying for complete healing. Paula his sister is in the next picture. She is a missionary herself and is going to Guatemala this summer! 

This is the elevator at the hospital. No lights, lots of stops, pitch black! It was so funny, I felt like doing the elf thing and hitting all the buttons, but wanted to survive the ride :)

This picture makes me smile! What a cute puppy! 

We have some amazing jobs to do in Jamaica! First is Gwendolyn, she is 90 years old and caring for her son who is diabetic. Due to his illness he lost a leg and his eyesight. The one who takes care of both of them when they can is sleeping in the cars you see below. That's not okay! We are going to fix up a place for him and do some cleaning and painting. Maybe even dye the dog completely pink :).

In 2014, our last time in Jamaica as a group, we built a house for Clive. We are hoping to go back and hang some doors, paint and do some work on a bathroom. He has been preoccupied with Rhonda, seen directly below. She developed a strange illness that has left her mostly unable to move. We are praying fervently for her complete healing! We are hoping to give her a nicer room to spend her days in... days where she is not trapped on a bed! 

One year in Jamaica we went and painted Tony's house. We fell in love with his family and it was great going back and seeing his new baby! He often helps us do our building projects when we are there (he makes his living doing construction).

It was really nice getting away with Bob (my mentor and friend) and having him teach me how to carry on the good work that he's been doing in Jamaica. He doesn't know how much longer he will be able to keep doing this. I really enjoyed relaxing with him in the evenings! I even got to try fried ice cream for the very first time! Yeah who fries ice cream? People who know how to make unhealthy things even more unhealthy... and way more delicious :). But alas, all good things must come to an end... and much like that fried ice cream ended so did the trip. It's very good to be home...

The day after landing I had the joy of officiating my first wedding! Kevin and Lynda (my cousin) are now married and I couldn't be happier for them. The day was fantastic and as one person said... I tied the right knot :). 

The days are so busy! I leave again a week from Good Friday! I'm glad to be here to celebrate birthdays and Easter and such but I'm sad to be leaving again so soon. Last night we celebrated our seniors and took them out to dinner at Spring Creek. It was magical and amazing! What a wonderful group of kids! 

Then we had a great MK where we took our pain to the Cross (4th core lesson in Trauma Healing). It was the best experience through that lesson that I've ever had! It is so fantastic and incredible that Jesus not only pays for our sins but he takes our pain too! What a good God we have the joy of knowing and serving! So good! It is finished!!! Really it is! 

We went in singing how 'Your a good good Father it's who you are, it's who you are! and I'm loved by you, it's who I am, it's who I am'! So good and so true! Also, burning stuff is just so much fun! 

Please Pray 

For Clive and Rhonda and Gwendolyn and all those we go to serve in Jamaica! Please pray for us as we finish up planning and preparing to go! 

For my trip to Guinea and for my wife and children who I leave behind! 

PRAISE GOD! 

For you and your support that makes all this possible! I'm so thankful for you and so grateful that I get to do this because of you standing with me prayerfully and financially!

For a successful planning trip to Jamaica! 

God is amazing and I'm so thrilled to be His and so happy you are in the family too! This passage has been especially encouraging to me lately!  

Blessings on you my dear friends! I love you all so much! 

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. 

Chase QuickPay has changed some of their rules. If this option no longer works for you please let me know and I will work with you to find another solution. Thanks for hanging in there with me through all the annoying changes in how I can receive support! Your support means a great deal to me! 

Another 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 10, Asher 7, Liam 5, Echo already in heaven, Bella 2, and Serenity 11 months.