Answering The Holy Spirit’s Call

Answering The Holy Spirit’s Call

In 2009, my wife and I took our first trip to Jamaica to serve with ACE. I recall our uncertainty on the long roller coaster ride from Montego Bay to Galina Breeze, survived only by the assistance of Dramamine. The main highway looks a lot better now than it did back then! We didn’t know what to expect or if we were even qualified to be there. We sat down by ourselves at a table in the corner – exhausted and questioning our sanity. A wide-eyed, recently married couple in our mid-twenties, we must have looked quite pitiful at our table surrounded by empty chairs.

A lady we did not know joined us. She sat down, introduced herself and we found ourselves having dinner with the founder of ACE. Through the course of our meal, we heard her origin story of how she found herself in Jamaica to begin with and how ACE had come to be. For some reason that I still don’t understand, at the end of our conversation I told her, “Well, we are in!”

Anyone who has served with ACE knows that there is a presence of the Holy Spirit there that is both palpable and beyond comprehension. Even though I didn’t entirely understand what I was saying in that moment, the Holy Spirit was pulling us in and making it clear that we were a part of this now. It took one meal and less than an hour.

Fast-forward to 2024 and we had the privilege of serving with ACE on a combined medical and dental team from February 3-10. The team consisted of doctors, nurses, dentists, hygienists, and servants from multiple states and even New Zealand.

Aches and pains, high blood pressure, diabetes, and dental abscesses were the primary diagnoses for the week and a multitude of patients were served with both medical but also spiritual care. In turn, the team was cared for with gratitude and the occasional gift of fruit from our patients. I always leave for home after a week in Jamaica feeling as though I had received much more than I could give.

However, the theme for the week was that of Hope, both present and future. I saw ACE staff that had grown and become leaders. I saw multiple generations of families serving together, including a dentist and her daughter, a physician and his family, a nurse with her son and a pastor from a church looking to establish a relationship with ACE for the first time.

I thought of Psalm 127: “Unless the Lord builds the house, its builders labor in vain.” ACE family, your labor has not been in vain. The Lord has built this house! He brought up the founding generation of ACE, and he is bringing up the next generation to carry the mission forward. If you find yourself alone at the dinner table surrounded by empty chairs and wondering where you fit in, this is your invitation. God wants you in as well!

Josh & Jess Klepinger

The Smith Family Next Door

The Smith Family Next Door

ACE hosts site trips, which invite leaders to experience what ACE does and our “why” in Jamaica. Our most recent site trip happened last October, where we met Jennifer and Mitchell Smith. They are just starting a much-needed ministry called Wet Feet. But in the process, ACE invited the Smiths and their family to spend six weeks with us at the Campus, where they could rest and prepare for their weekend retreats in the States. And did we mention they also helped ACE with the farm, as well as outreach at ACE?

While we really didn’t know the Smiths when they arrived, we officially consider them an extension to our ACE family as they head back to the States this week. 

To the Smith family, thank you for investing your time and talent with us and our National team. We will keep the lights on for you at the Campus, as we anticipate your return soon. 

If you would like to know more about Wet Feet Ministries, go to their website or contact the Smiths at jennifer@wetfeetministries.org. God continues to raise up families that love Him and loves others., and we are so thankful to witness it happening in and through ACE as well.

Many Hands Make Light Work

Many Hands Make Light Work

Many hands make light work

This old saying portrays a picture of what ACE has experienced this spring on the ground. For the first time in years, we have been blessed with many incredible volunteer teams in a row! Ranging from families, high school students, college teams, and a great mix of young adults, they came to help us get caught up on our many outreach programs. They worked tirelessly around St. Mary at the schools, on our farm, and even preparing for some new businesses and items coming online later this year. We’d love to highlight some of the many projects they worked on.

For those of you have contributed to many aspects of the Peace House, the update is that it’s almost complete! Yes, you have heard this before, but it’s true; we just had no idea how much back and forth it takes to complete a building like this. The final touch this week was the addition of the front doors. Thanks to some friends and donors of ACE, our doors were purchased and ready for painting. Granted, we still need a door opener and glass on the side, but just looking at these doors makes all of us swell with pride.

While all that was going on the Peace House, some of our volunteers focused on the Campus right next door, where our interns and long-term volunteers stay. It has been challenged for years with popping floor tiles and cracking in the main hall and the dining room. We decided to commission a group to chop it up and remove the tile, and what we found underneath was a beautiful terrazzo floor. It’s been there since the early 90s when the house was built. Anyone know how to make it come alive again? It’s dull but has potential. Every time we get this kind of help, we are pleasantly surprised at what our teams uncover. Thank you for making the old new again.

In the last few busy months, it’s been fun to see how our Jamaican ACE staff pulled together in such a great way to work with them and each other. Ms. Foster, our Executive Director, has done an excellent job training, teaching, and coaching all of us to work as a team. Charity and Brian Zalk and family have continually increased their availability on the ground with the ACE crew. Things are going so smoothly that Allen and Marla sit back and smile, pleased at how everyone is beginning to own their own lane. Keep all of us in your prayers as everyone is learning how to operate as a team.

Teamwork makes the dream work, another old saying… and in this case, we are so grateful for such a successful and fun start to the year!

Marla’s Minute: The Widow, Flour & Oil

Marla’s Minute: The Widow, Flour & Oil

The other day I was reading a story in 1 Kings, Chapter 17, about the widow who, when the prophet Elijah asked her for a drink and a piece of bread during a severe drought and famine, her reply was “I don’t have any bread – only a handful of flour in a jar and a little oil in a jug. I’m gathering a few sticks to take home and make a meal for myself and my son, that we may eat it- and die.” The story goes on to say that Elijah asked her to take what she had for herself and make a small cake of bread for him to eat and then make something for herself and her son. Elijah then added this one sentence that changed the widow and her son’s situation instantly… “For this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: the jar of flour will not be used up and the jug of oil will not run dry until the day the Lord gives rain” on the land.

The widow went away and did as Elijah had told her. Sure enough, there was food every day for Elijah and for the woman and her family. The jar of flour was not used up and the jug of oil did not run dry, in keeping with the word of the Lord spoken by Elijah.

This past month, God sent us, figuratively speaking, a jar of flour and a jug of oil in the form of fifteen volunteers to supply us with encouragement, help, and unconditional love. In the midst of the “famine” of visitors we have been experiencing (thanks to Covid and the lining of fear in the mix), God sent us exactly what we needed, as ACE knows He always will.

On February 20th, these fifteen American friends (and new friends!) arrived into Galina Breeze Hotel with much excitement, big smiles, and lots of needed supplies for us and our many neighbors who were living on that last drop of oil and flour. They came to serve and not be served. And serve, they did! 

I often think about the widow story; to put it in real time, what if we believed ACE won’t make it through this famine and we were all going to die from Covid? Do we ignore God’s promises that He alone controls our future and is waiting for us to step out in faith and trust Him? It’s a challenge to overcome the fear of travel, the fear of stepping out and yet every time we “do it afraid”, as ACE says, we see a miracle happen right in front of us! The sheer joy of being part of that miracle God is working through us is exhilarating.  

That week, the last week of February, was normally our annual Men and Women’s Conference, where Jamaicans come to us for praise and fellowship. While it didn’t happen the way it has for decades and we upheld all the Covid rules it was exactly the way God set it up to happen this year. Take a few minutes to watch this incredible video made by our ACE friends when they returned to the U.S.

We hope this will encourage you to see all that needs to be done – and that CAN be done – and to get on a plane and get here! That oil and flour goes a long way, as one team builds on another and God always provides what we need when we need it. If you hear that call to come down, perhaps you are part of that miracle!

Thank you, friends and families, for the love!
Marla

(click image to scroll through gallery)

More Than A Vacation

More Than A Vacation

When ACE first came to St. Mary, we called it a Vacation with a Purpose. This was pre-Galina Breeze Hotel; we were staying in an older hotel across from the main road with a view of the beach and some garbage. We knew that when most people take a vacation from work, they want to sit and relax, but this was going to be different. It was a break from the everyday but with meaning… and a lot of work.

Speeding forward several decades, ACE has retooled. Due to the challenging times we live in, thanks to COVID, where organizations are not sending larger groups, we are taking this opportunity to step back and refocus on what individual volunteers can bring to the table. We are living out our saying of “Flexibility is the key to success” motto these days. Instead of us telling you what to do, you can tell us what fits best with your talents, skills and interests. We’ve created a new Impact Menu list for you to choose what projects and experiences suit you.

We still offer the opportunity for groups to come down together, but we know that there are many individuals who want to come and join up with other adventurous people to work together, serve the community and make a difference. We have several weeks set aside each month through March (with more to come the rest of the year) for you to choose what works for you.

Want to come on your own? Do you have a friend you think would be interested… or even your family or small group of friends? Check it out by clicking the button below. Consider it.  We can still change lives and transform communities – one volunteer at a time!