Jamaica | American-Caribbean Experience

Protecting Donor Gifts Amid USPS Issues

by American-Caribbean Experience | Apr 29, 2024 | Community

It is always ACE’s top priority to protect the gifts we receive from our donors. That’s why we want to make you aware of recent issues that we’ve experienced with the Atlanta USPS and offer alternatives to continue supporting ACE in timely and secure ways.

In recent months, we have seen two different issues with the Atlanta postal service. Donor checks are being returned to donors and never making it to our office, or ACE is receiving donor checks several months after they were sent in the mail.

For more information on the issues the Atlanta USPS is experiencing, you can read an article from 11Alive News here, or another article from American Thinker here.

In an effort to make sure that none of your gifts are ever lost in the system, we encourage you to send your gifts electronically if possible.

Here are your options for sending electronic donations:

Set up a recurring donation using a credit card via PayPal on our website here.
Send donations via Zelle, directed to accounting@acexperience.org.
Contact your bank directly to have them wire money directly to our account at Truist.

If you choose to wire money through your bank, you will need to provide them with the following information:

American Caribbean Experience

7507 Roswell Road #101

Sandy Springs, GA 30350

You will also need our routing number and account number, which we are happy to provide you via email at office@acexperience.org.

If you prefer to send a check, please use FedEx Ground or UPS.

If you have any questions or need further information, please email office@acexperience.org. We apologize for any inconvenience these issues have caused, and we appreciate your patience and continued support of our ministry.

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Marla’s Minute: Still Seeing God At Work 36 Years Later

by American-Caribbean Experience | Apr 29, 2024 | Book A Trip, Community

I’m Old….

That’s what I was thinking inside my head as I was standing beside a group of teenagers and college students this spring. We began the famous bucket brigade slinging gravel onto ACE’s greenhouse floor. The fact that ACE has aged about 36 years since the beginning shouldn’t impact me at all physically…or am I just off in my addition?

Either way, it’s still happening…those extra minutes of staying in bed before starting the day with pops and cracking in the joints. Getting to the work site only to see that our Jamaican ACE staff already got the volunteers briefed, lined up, and ready to go.

Watching the ACE staff take the lead and owning what used to be just a job is exciting and a promise coming true for me personally. More and more, I find I have time to read my emails, have conversations with the friends of ACE who come through our doors, and well, just savor the moments of a successful ministry that has grown in a direction no one could have foreseen.

Yes, I’m older; and perhaps to youth, I’m old. But most of all, I’m so proud of our national and U.S. staff that have played a vital part of ACE. The succession that ACE has planned for years is taking place, and I get to be a part of seeing God at work. It’s an answer to prayer.

My advice to you: don’t let time catch you waking up and wondering where all the time went. Rather, be intentional with your relationships, your goals, and your passions. Then, smile as God gives you the time to grow old alongside the new team that takes up the mantle and moves up front.

“Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” – Galatians 6:8-9

Those of you coming to serve with us in Jamaica this summer, get ready! Jamaicans are running ACE like never before. And I’m so excited for you to see what a great and exciting time it is for ACE, all thanks to the Lord.

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The Lord’s Garden

by American-Caribbean Experience | Apr 29, 2024 | Book A Trip, Discipleship

Former ACE iQuest intern Audrey Renner recently came back down to St. Mary, Jamaica, with her husband and father. After her trip, she headed back to the States and shared the following letter with our team.

I’ve always loved springtime in Ohio. Suddenly, after months of the cold, gray, desolation that is winter in the Midwest, the natural world springs back to life. Each spring, when I see the flowers springing up out of the cold ground, I can’t help but to remember the final verse of Isaiah 61:

“The Sovereign Lord will show His justice to the nations of the world. Everyone will praise Him! His righteousness will be like a garden in early spring, with plants springing up everywhere.” – Isaiah 61:11 NLT

My husband Ricky and I just recently visited ACE after being away for 6 years. The last time we visited was on a college service trip in March of 2018. I had given my life to Christ the summer prior, during my internship with ACE, and Ricky did the same on this very trip in 2018. If our faith was a plant in the Lord’s garden, it would have looked like a delicate baby sprout the last time we were in Jamaica.

Returning 6 years later, so many things had changed, both in our lives and at ACE. Our proverbial faith plant had grown, matured, and started producing fruit while we were away. Upon returning, we saw how God had used the past 6 years to grow the “gardens” at ACE, too. Projects that were once seeds waiting to be planted, are now a reality. I remember Marla talking about her dream for the Children’s Village and the Peace House and about buying the neighboring property to the campus (now Green Life Farms). God reminded me of His faithfulness as we got to see the smiling faces of Lotoya’s family at their new home in the Children’s Village, as we lifted His praises with neighbors at the Peace House fellowship night, and even as we sifted through countless suitcases of thrift donations at the ACE office on the new property.

Here’s the thing about spring flowers. You never know when or where they will decide to pop up. Only the Lord knows what is happening beneath the surface of the soil. Our trip to ACE reminded me of this.

Since I gave my life to Christ, I have been praying that both my parents would grow in relationship with Him. After years of seemingly no progress, I grew tired and weary waiting for a sign this prayer would come true.

When Ricky and I felt the Lord calling us back to Jamaica in 2024, we also felt His call to invite our families to join us. Incredibly, my dad immediately jumped on the invitation. This was it, finally! I could see the “soil” start bumping up, preparing for his little faith plant to break the surface.

While my dad did not give his life to Christ on this trip, his presence on our trip gives me a steadfast confidence that the Lord is moving in his heart. He got to experience the Lord’s presence in the very place that both Ricky and I had poured our hearts out to Him years ago, desperately searching for answers as we stumbled through our own spiritual journeys.

Don’t give up, dear reader, on the seeds that you have planted. Even if you can’t see them, know that they are growing under the surface of the soil. Remember the Lord’s promise in Isaiah 61. You’ll never know when or where, but just as the plants come back every spring, He will bring your people, your faith, your peace, and your joy back to life, too. Keep planting, keep watering, and don’t give up!

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Marla’s Minute: Reaping A Harvest

by American-Caribbean Experience | Mar 25, 2024 | Book A Trip, Discipleship

The manual for life, The Bible, continually says that sooner or later, whatever choices we make in our lives, we will see the results of these choices come to light in our lives or the lives of others.

“Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” – Galatians 6:8-9

Let’s look at an example of what has been going on in Jamaica for the past few years, which happened again this month through an I-Quest intern alumni, Gentry. Many years ago, ACE had a season with Gentry in Jamaica where we got to share with her all the things God was removing and adding to her “spiritual toolbox” for life.

Through our relationship, Gentry introduced us to the rest of her family, and we quickly learned she doesn’t fall too far from the tree. Yes, Gentry, like her sisters, comes from good stock. And after all these years, she came back to ACE to serve with her father and older sister. Earlier this month, David, her father who is a carpenter, helped Allen build a larger and better tool closet for all the tools that have often been easily misplaced over the years.

What most I-Quest interns don’t realize is the gift they give to us personally. That gift is the opportunity to catch up with their fast-paced life and see how they have chased after God with all that they do. And Gentry is just one example. Audrey, another intern who is now married, also brought her father down to ACE recently to volunteer in helping lead our spring break teams. Who knows, we might just get another family involved the way Gentry did.

We want to give a huge and sincere thank you to Gentry and her family for the many years they have given their treasures and time to ACE. And even beyond just Gentry’s family, we are reaping so many years of faithful friends and family at ACE in Jamaica. Thank you for your continued love and support!

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We Are Warriors

by American-Caribbean Experience | Mar 25, 2024 | Book A Trip, Discipleship

Tina Gerke has been volunteering and leading trips with ACE for 23 years now. After her latest trip in March, she shared the following story with our team.

My recent two weeks in Jamaica were another amazing time of watching God work. I never cease to be amazed at how He chooses the right people at the right time and weaves our stories together for a week or two.

I had the opportunity to work alongside the elite eight! A small group from Grand Valley only 2.5 hours from my house! We became fast friends through buckets, shovels, and rocks. It’s amazing how a good ole bucket line brings people together!

We talked about life, Jesus, and just about everything in between.

We had the chance to take the Edgehill students to the farm and had an awesome time watching their excitement as they got to hold and pet the baby pigs, and then walk up to the Great House! There, our staff set up several areas where everyone could just enjoy God‘s nature, realizing that we are all created by Him!

There was one particular moment that struck me, and made me stand in awe of what God wants to speak to all of us about. My friend, Kelley, was painting a warrior mask on a young man’s face and she looked at him and said, “God may ask you to do hard things but now you’re a warrior, and you’re gonna be able to say yes!”

He walked away saying, “I’m a warrior!”

Such a precious innocent kid spouting powerful words! It was amazing!

And the same week, I walked out of the lunch area and saw a white flower tucked into the arms of a cactus-like plant. A light bulb moment happened, and I realized that all of us have the same chance to declare that we are warriors, too! Our life may look a lot like the prickly pieces of a cactus, but with Jesus, we have the ultimate honor to bloom right there in the middle of it all! Declaring for everyone that HE is Lord and through Him all things are possible!

Tina Gerke