Marla’s Minute: A Bittersweet Story

Marla’s Minute: A Bittersweet Story

We know you’ve likely experienced a bittersweet story of someone you love leaving to take the next step in life. This month, ACE has one of those stories to share. 

Our Child Sponsorship Coordinator D’Vaun has been with ACE for eight years and has made the painful decision to move on to a new chapter of life by “semi-departing” from ACE to be a Guidance Counselor at our very first sponsored school, Jackson Primary. We have watched him grow up, get married to our former Administrator Saskia, and welcome their beautiful baby boy to the world. 

With more mouths to feed in his family, we all saw it coming. It’s hard to compete with the benefits a government job offers, so we all held our breath until that announcement came. We are all very happy for D’Vaun’s family, but it’s still sad knowing that D’Vaun won’t be around as much.

You may be wondering what we meant when we said D’Vaun is “semi-departing” from ACE. Well, so far we have seen him almost every day, as usual. He shows up frequently at our Peace House supper on Thursday nights and in the late afternoons to continue giving advice to Jewel and other members of the staff.

That’s the sweet part! D’Vaun is and will always be part of the ACE family. He’s even offered to help us with our summer teams and spring break trips when he’s available. Will you get to see D’Vaun and his family when you come down next?! The answer is always a big YES!!! His family is an official sponsored family, and their little baby Markhus has a bunch of self-appointed “kin” to babysit, love on, and train him to be on staff when he grows up. We are confident he will inherit some great leadership genes!

We hope you’ll be happy for ACE and for D’Vaun’s family. We wish them all the best that God has to offer, and we look forward to visiting D’Vaun at Jackson Primary up in the hills soon.

The Mission & Vision of ACE

The Mission & Vision of ACE

We’ve just released our latest video detailing the mission and vision of ACE. Even after 35 years, we’ve remained focused on our four main impact areas — education, wellness, micro enterprise, and spiritual development. 

Please take a moment to watch the video below and discover what we’re currently doing to strengthen each of these impact areas.

Thank you for being a part of our mission and helping us meet the educational, physical, and spiritual needs of people in St. Mary, Jamaica. There’s always a way for you to be a part of what we’re doing at ACE. You can volunteer and plan a trip, sponsor a child, or show your support with a financial donation.

Peaceful Discussions at the Peace House

Peaceful Discussions at the Peace House

Thanks to so many donors and volunteers, we are enjoying our Thursday night dinners in our Peace House on the ACE Campus. For years, we’ve been planning and sending pictures of what we are doing to get this building ready for a weekly dinner and discussion with Pastor Omar, our employees, and our community. Now, we are fulfilling our promise, and the ACE Legacy has come full circle. Praise God!

So many of our wonderful staff at the farm, their families, as well as our child sponsorship families, are coming Thursday nights to socialize, play games like Dominos, Go Fish, and Ludo, and enjoy our usual supper — chicken, rice and peas, slaw, and a natural drink sourced from fruits and vegetables from our farm. No one ever complains about the food because Shardae, our hotel cook, finds so many delicious ways to prepare the chicken. 

An amazing couple with a heart to serve children secured ACE with a sponsorship from the Jamaica Child Evangelism Fellowship. This organization comes weekly to teach our children about how much they are loved and how important they are in God’s eyes. This is so important, since many children hardly ever hear a positive word directed at them. Thanks to the trust and relationships built through these lessons, laughter is another important and consistent element at our Peace House dinners.

Additionally, the adults who come have the opportunity to hear Pastor Omar speak. If you’ve ever attended Church On The Rock with us in Ocho Rios, you know what we mean when we say Pastor Omar has a way of filling his messages with personal stories that hit home for all of us.

This is such a huge blessing for us and our Peace House dinners, since his stories often lead to great discussions and curiosities that we’ve all heard before or have struggled with as it relates to God loving us. 

We heard questions such as, “If God made us all from one couple, then why are we different colors?”, “If God loves us all, then why does He allow so many to suffer?”, and “Why did Adam get the curse when Eve made him eat the fruit?” 

You can feel the Spirit of God resting at the table as we discuss hard topics like these and ask challenging questions about faith that many of us are afraid to ask. 

It truly is peaceful at the Peace House, and your support has helped make these moments possible by strengthening our spiritual development impact area at ACE. From the bottom of our hearts, we thank you for helping us make a difference in the lives of so many people as they encounter God and learn to trust Him.

If you would like to partner with us in strengthening our spiritual development impact area through the work we are doing at the Peace House, please consider making a donation and mentioning Peace House in the Donation Comments box

The common saying never fails — “God is good all the time, and all the time, God is good!”

Marla’s Minute: ACE Expands Another Notch

Marla’s Minute: ACE Expands Another Notch

We have been so blessed to see another generation of our ACE family coming into the world. Earlier this month, D’Vaun and Saskia gave birth to a healthy baby boy named Christovaun Azhani! D’Vaun already gave him a pet name, Markhus. Whichever name you decide to call him, he probably won’t respond for a few months.  

D’Vaun, as you all may know, came to ACE many years ago. We were officially his first job. He met Saskia who was our ACE Administrator at the time, and they soon fell in love. While ACE doesn’t claim to be in the match making business, we seem to be pretty good at introducing great people to each other. And we get to be a part of all the fun! In fact, just weeks ago, ACE provided the perfect spot for a baby shower at our lower ruins. 

We are so happy for Saskia and D’Vaun on this new adventure! Welcome Markhus, and know you have many godparents praying for you always!  

Children are a gift from the Lord. They are a reward from Him.” Psalm 127:3 

And They’re Off! 

And They’re Off! 

“And we’re off” is what we say at ACE when we get ready to drive out of the office to begin our day, but in this case, it’s the students who are off, heading back to class. We have a lot of little sayings around ACE, like the abbreviation “BBD” – that might not mean anything to you (maybe Big Bad Dog?), but to us, it means Book Bag Distribution.  

In Jamaica, classes begin on all different weeks and days in September, depending on the school. This may sound confusing, but for ACE, it gives us a chance to address the individual needs for each child being sponsored. This includes assessing items provided through regular sponsorship and team donations, and, if something else is needed, ACE adds to it. With our staff and Arlene being present this year, each day went very smoothly. After fifteen years of providing sponsorship for our children, perhaps we now have the system down, so the confusion stays at a minimum. 

Enjoy our collage of pictures of our students getting ready for their first day of the next grade. We wish we had a video to give you the sound and the laughter of the day, as we all came together to see each other and prepare for the new school year. 

Thank you all for supporting these students who are growing up fast! They are looking forward to seeing their friends again, prepared to read, write and learn with supplies in hand!  

A Word From Arlene – Gathering in Peace 

A Word From Arlene – Gathering in Peace 

Most of you know Arlene, whom we wrote about in last month’s newsletter. She is our long-time and frequent volunteer who always brings work ethic and words of wisdom with her on every trip. This was her take on our new happenings at the Peace House.   

I’ve been here in Jamaica to witness all the ups and downs that have occurred while trying to get our Peace House built. It hasn’t been easy, but Marla never faltered in her determination to bring the message of God’s love to people who often do not attend church. It was all in God’s hands and His timing is always perfect!   

Earlier this month, some of our sponsored families, farm staff, and ACE staff came together for our first Thursday gathering. It began with a time to get to know one another by playing games, engaging in ice-breaker conversations, and then to share a meal as families. After that, it was time to learn about God, by starting at the beginning of the Bible. Those present had many questions, and Pastor Omar was able to answer all of them with his usual good humor but, most importantly, with biblical truth. He never wavered in sharing what the Bible has to say in response to each question. Everyone is now looking forward to our weekly gatherings.  

I also want to thank the Byrns for providing not only the plates and cups for the Peace House dinners, but also the incredible books for our children when we conduct our reading “out loud” book time. Please pray that God will continue to be honored each week and that all will come to accept God’s gift of love — salvation through Christ’s death for their sins.