Caleb & Karly Holschen Newsletter (Winter 2026)

Happy New Year from the Holschen’s!

Thank you for taking the time to read about what God is doing in and through our lives and ministry with Teen Missions.

Esther is reaching a new growth milestones all the time. She is now a one-year-old and well on her way to toddlerhood with her new ability to walk! She is still working on standing up without a wall or person to help her, but once she is up she will walk all over the place. Crawling is still her preferred method until she can walk stably and quickly enough to justify walking. There are also now six teeth in her little smile that brighten my day every time I see them. Unfortunately, biting has become a game for her so we are working on fixing that issue…

I (Caleb) was blessed to go back to Australia in December to help with their Boot Camp. Much like in the States, the Teen Missions base in Australia runs summer mission trip programs for Australian teens. Unlike the States, there are only a handful of staff to run the program. I made my journey back to the Land Down Under on December 11 to volunteer and provide a much-needed helping hand to their staff. Since the Northern and Southern Hemispheres have swapped seasons, I left Florida in 50 degrees and landed in Australia in 80! The climate and time change took some adjusting to, but I got into the swing of things pretty quickly. Their teams this year had a total of 26 team members among three teams to Zambia, Cambodia, and Vanuatu. I was very encouraged to see the youth of Australia so on fire for Jesus as they trained and prepared for their mission. It was such a blessing for me to see so many old friends from across the world and participate in the work that they are doing.

After my return, we took a family trip to northern Kentucky. I arrived back home on December 23 and spent Christmas with our little family in Florida. I could not get too comfortable, though, as we then took off on December 26 bound for the Cincinnati airport(which is not in Ohio, curiously enough). The Holschen side of the family lives in Williamstown, Kentucky, which is where we spent the rest of 2025 and the start of 2026. The weather on arrival (60 degrees) was disappointing for me, but delightful for Karly until two days later when it dropped below freezing and stayed there for the rest of our time. We were able to celebrate the last of the holidays with family, see the Creation Museum and Ark Encounter, and take a much-needed reprieve from the stresses of everyday life.

The Lord provided our need in the midst of it. One of the stresses of our life during this time was the finances to pay for my Australia trip. I was a late addition to the Australia envoy, so the budget Teen Missions had in place for sending staff had already been depleted and I would have to pay for my own ticket in full. Karly and I knew this before I went and decided that we would trust that God would provide if we obeyed His calling. Paying for the ticket was a thought in the back of our mind through the Christmas season until we returned home in January. When we got home, we found that a supporter of ours had given us a large donation that covered the cost of the trip! It was an incredible answer to our prayers and confirmation that we are doing what God wants us to.

The next few months will be a nice, restful time. I am working to learn more about web design and acting as the point person for a sort of intern that is working with us to redesign and improve our website. Karly is continuing to raise Esther and work on preparations for the Tough Gator 5K Mud Run this coming May. The month of May will be a busy month as we have two weddings we are going to in Washington and Texas after the Mud Run. It is an exciting time of growth for Teen Missions as we accept more and more team members and prepare for our summer program.

Some things to pray for:

Praises:

• Esther is growing up strong and healthy.

• The team members who are coming on teams this summer.

• God provided for our need with the Australia tickets.

Prayer Requests:

• That Karly and I would stay rested and be able to do our tasks throughout the day.

• For wisdom as we raise Esther in the Lord.

• Smooth preparation and execution of our summer mission trips.

• That we would raise more financial partners for our family.

Thank you again for your prayers! None of what we do would be possible without them.

Praying for you as you for us,

Caleb, Karly, and Esther Holschen

2 Corinthians 12:9