Help Comes in Large Packages

Help Comes in Large Packages

Our dear friends from Rebel Ministries arrived this month to help us out with clearing our coconut trees of bush and debris, all the while assisting a sponsored family with pouring a floor for their new home. While we have been so grateful over the past year and a half for the individuals and friends who have joined us to volunteer their time and talents, we haven’t had a team of friends this size in a long time… and it’s true, many hands make light work! Thank you, Rebel, for accepting the challenge to serve!

ACE in 2021 is looking different and younger. When we say younger, we mean, don’t wait until you are an adult to come volunteer. We need adult volunteers, for sure, but bring the young ones with you!

 Our iQuest program this year is a perfect example of what young people can do. If you, as a teenager or young adult in your 20s, need to “sort out” what’s been going on in your life, why not consider a season in Jamaica with ACE? ACE has many programs available for students as well as homeschool families that would like to help in a new way and yet continue academically through our “living classroom”. 

Start becoming a global volunteer early while learning about world views, clean eating through healthy farming, and see what God is doing in Jamaica.

You might even pick up some secret outstanding coconut dessert recipes to take home.

(click to scroll through image gallery)

VBS in July!

VBS in July!

It’s true – the first VBS for the ACE students and community since 2019 is going to happen. Just a few days ago, the Government of Jamaica opened up the country to allow up to 100 people to be part of an outdoor gathering and lifted the curfew to more reasonable and normal hours. ACE is not only thrilled this is happening but excited that we will get to hold VBS at the new farm and school area at Buccaneers.

Are you a VBS leader? Do you love working with children?  Want to be part of this exciting outreach? If so, please contact our office and get the details. We already have the curriculum and a college group helping us facilitate, and we’d love to have your helping hand and expertise! It’s three days of wonderful fun and blitz. Having experienced leaders helping our local staff would be an additional gift. Consider coming down and contributing to this post-Covid activity!

(click to scroll through image gallery)

Little Faith, Big Faith

Little Faith, Big Faith

Everyone seems to know what the word “faith” means. In daily conversations, some say, “keep the faith,” others say, “just have faith,” and, during the last 15 months, many have used the phrase, “I’m losing faith.”

Often, we highlight what our child sponsors have done to help their students and families in Jamaica during the past year and a half, from donating beds, mattresses, refrigerators, rooms, food, clothing to sending encouraging notes and letters. This is faith in action. And sometimes, the story of how God works through faith is even deeper…

During this time of high unemployment, Romeo, the father of triplets, and his wife made the decision to start building a home for their family.  By working every little job that came available and through the help of family and friends, Romeo was able to put money aside to build the “block” house for his children to grow up in and to pass down through the generations. Building a block house is not a cheap or easy thing to do. The land he was building on was family land, passed down to him. The cost of the block, steel, cement, sand, stone can add up, but, even more than that, it’s a lot of work for one man!

Little by little, day by day, the children would help their daddy build one row of block at a time. When the funds ran out, they would wait, praying for increase in work and income. It came, little by little… one day here, one week there, but it came, as they, even the children, knew it would. Little moments of faith in action.

He needed hands-on help. This month, one of our dear friends and her team of volunteers committed to helping Romeo and the family complete the first two rooms for them to move into by the end of July. When the Walkers found out that their project was the one this team wanted to help with, they all smiled, knowing that prayers were being answered. Little moments of faith confirmed.

Once we knew the project timeline was accelerated, thanks to the extra help of the team on the way, our ACE office reached out to the family who sponsors the triplets and asked if they could help with some supplies, as the Walkers were tapped out of funds. Miraculously, they were able to donate most but not all the funds to pour the floor. Little moments of faith continued.

The project began, but unfortunately, the funds ran out. There was not enough there to complete the project. We just needed a little bit more, but we all had faith that God would provide!

Then, unexpectedly, while the team was still working, a donation came from someone separate from the team, this project, or the Walker family. This donor, who had never given prior to this, felt called at this moment to give a gift that coincidently covered the exact amount needed for the Walker family to complete the floor. The cost was covered, the job was completed with many helping hands, and the family was on their way to having a place to call “home”. This is Big Faith at work.

And that’s how you see God working at ACE, in the Walker family, and in the lives of all of you who have invested into Kingdom things through sponsorship and volunteering.  Those little moments of faith turn into Big Faith moments every time when God is in it.

(click to scroll through image gallery)
Our Patrene Exits, Stage Right

Our Patrene Exits, Stage Right

Patrene, our wonderful administrator for ACE, is leaving for a season to take a position in the work-abroad program that the Jamaican Government offers adults to work in the states.

Patrene will be gone for at least six months. We gave her a party at our own bamboo oasis by the river. We wish her well and she promises to stay in touch. In the meantime, we all will be handling her admin work one topic at a time! She leaves big shoes to fill! All the best, Patrene!

 

(click image to scroll through gallery)

A Silver Lining For Our Families During COVID

A Silver Lining For Our Families During COVID

Every once in a while you read something or see something on TV about how COVID actually helped someone in a way totally unexpected. This is exactly what has happened not just once, not just twice, but several times with our sponsors helping their sponsored children and their families. The children have not been in school, and most of the families, as you can well imagine, have suffered loss of income and many times have nothing to offer their children. Thanks to so many sponsors, ACE has been consistent in supplying food staples to the many families who have nothing to eat.

In addition, some of you, since you could not come in person, elected to send the funds you’d normally spend to come down to Jamaica directly to us to help these families! Beds, refrigerators, tables, mattresses, more food and a lot of love has been coming down this past month. Take a look at the smiles! We cannot thank you enough, and neither can your sponsored children and their families. 

While COVID may have changed how you’ve helped ACE from afar this past year, we still want to see your smiling faces in Jamaica soon! We may have some friends who want to say thank you in person!

(click image to scroll through gallery)

Marla’s Minute – Mother’s Day in Jamaica

Marla’s Minute – Mother’s Day in Jamaica

Mother’s Day always comes in May, right? Except this year… my Mother’s Day came early. My mother (Mommy) and Fred (my dad) and five friends landed in Jamaica a few weeks ago to lend us all at ACE a hand on the ground. I love that my mom is still very much alive and well; so many of my friends have had their moms transition out of this life. Knowing we are all not going to live forever, I cherish every moment I have with her.

When people give me the excuse they are too old to do this kind of work, I smile and think they have no idea how much fun they are missing with friends and family. For example, the ladies were inspired to complete the three tables left over for tiling by the team who came down in February (remember last month’s newsletter article?). Of course, they had to have a little competition to add to the fun! What a great job they did!

After the tables were completed, we ladies made plantain pies with Sue, followed by lots of hikes and laughter. Meanwhile, the men couldn’t resist working the Bobcat and the John Deere tractor. A new water pond was designed and implemented by my dad, Fred, who came with tools in hand. Fred, at one point, looked like he was in time-out sitting on a bench doing the math for a natural gutter drain. At the end of the week, gutters were made, ponds created, and field lines to drain off water were once again working.

So, while May is a wonderful time to remember your mother, anytime is good! If it’s not possible to spend time together, find a neighbor or a friend to enjoy the day! We are never too old to honor our parents or to create lasting memories when the opportunity arises!

(click image to scroll through gallery)