Vision Casting Into Reality

Vision Casting Into Reality

November started with some spectacular visits to Jamaica by our ACE friends and new leaders. If you recall from our October Newsletter, ACE is literally “back to the future” with our outreach efforts. For the first time in years, two vision trips were scheduled for interested leaders who wanted to see what 2025 was shaping up to be for St. Mary and ACE.

The participants got to see and hear from our school principals and how hopeful and grateful they are that ACE is getting back into their schools and assisting with the needs of their teachers and leadership. Sponsored students are on the rise as the needs continue to grow. Our senior adults in the community were met with love, rubbing lotion on their arms, hands, legs, and feet, food, and even haircuts by Gary, the owner of Travis Salon in Atlanta. It was his first time visiting ACE, and we are sure it won’t be his last. 

Edgehill, the special needs school that ACE and Galina Breeze partner with, opened their doors for all of us to hear from the teachers what needs they have, as well as receive big hugs from our many students who love to sing, play, and learn. Laura, a pastor’s wife from Mississippi who happens to be an architect, met with the acting principal about designing a computer lab for the desktops they were given from E-learn, an NGO that focuses on teaching tools for the teachers to use.

At the end of the trip, everything was good. We dodged the rain from tropical storm Sara, and our spirits were warmed from meeting so many wonderful leaders who have a heart to grow with us. All of our staff at ACE, Galina Breeze, and Buccaneers smiled over the incredible generosity of these leaders. This is really encouraging and made a huge difference to all of us, considering how much we have grown since we were there last.

How do we move forward from here? The same way ACE has moved for years — from vision to reality. It all happens because of each of you who believe in the progress ACE has made over the decades. If you were not part of the vision trips this year, that’s okay. Call us and we will fit you into one of the 2025 trips we are preparing. 

A vision is just a vision unless we have the hands and feet on the ground to make it a reality. Thank you, leaders, for your time and commitment with your teammates.

We are forever grateful.

Marla’s Minute: Thankful for the Equipment!

Marla’s Minute: Thankful for the Equipment!

Being thankful comes in many forms this time of year. With the rains coming late to Jamaica, poor St. Mary was flooded with water. Too much water. Our creeks and rivers were bursting with fast-moving streams that caused bamboo and muck to collect and clog our bridges.

While the horses and donkeys seemed to like the ponds forming everywhere, the rest of us struggled to clean out the bridges where the overflow couldn’t get through. Then, my superheroes showed up and went to work cleaning out the debris under the bridges — my dad, Fred, and another friend, Tim, who are both from Bowling Green. Everyone knows my number one superhero is Allen, my incredible spouse, but these men pull in a strong second.

With bobcats, a tractor, and lots of mud, water was running again in just three days. In a place like Jamaica, modern equipment is a huge help at our farm. And did I mention there is no age limit to helping us at ACE? While Tim is a healthy something-year-old, Fred is just as strong in his 80s, and both men are as strong as most of our cattle. Thank you, friends, for taking time out of your life to free up the flow. We are extremely grateful here at ACE. 

Happy Thanksgiving! Come back anytime!
Marla

A Sponsor’s Story

A Sponsor’s Story

BY TINA STUBBS

In 2011 the school where I worked, Heritage Academy, began sponsoring Anthony, or Antonio as he was known then. He was ten years old, and we were told he was very shy and hesitant to speak. He was at Hampstead Primary School and eventually began attending Edgehill School for Special Needs.

When I first met Anthony in person, he was indeed quiet, but, when encouraged, his smile made my day! He thrived at Edgehill and grew in height A LOT! Each year when we visited the school, I would look for him. There he’d be, a head taller than most of the other students. I’d catch his eye and there would be a twinkle in it as he gave me a quick smile. When we got the chance, he’d give me a hug.

Along with academics, Anthony learned life skills at Edgehill, like carpentry and gardening skills to build garden boxes. In the fall of 2020, my current employer, Sugar Hill Christian Academy, my family, and another ACE sponsor began co-sponsoring Anthony. After graduating out of Edgehill a year later, Anthony became part of the ACE Apprenticeship program. He is learning farming skills, personal responsibility, and is being mentored by some of ACE’s best!

Over the years, we’ve been able to provide many necessities to him, but this past December, Amber, ACE’s Stateside Sponsorship Coordinator, reached out and shared Anthony’s Christmas wish. He asked for a bed. All his sponsors came together and provided the funds for a new bed. While in Jamaica this past June, Diana Kissing and I were able to visit Anthony at his home and give him a set of sheets provided by Diana!

What a joy it has been over the years to watch Anthony grow from that shy little boy to the confident young man he’s become!!

Marla’s Minute: Let’s Hear it for the Boys

Marla’s Minute: Let’s Hear it for the Boys

Let’s hear it for the Boys…….

Remember last month’s Marla Minute when I said I was getting old? Well, this proves it. One of my many favorite songs during the 1980s (and many of you weren’t born yet!) was a song called “Let’s Hear It For The Boy”. Since Father’s Day falls in the middle of this month, we want to reflect on ACE’s admiration for the men and boys that help us at ACE.

In Jamaica, as in the states, we know that if it were not for the strength of men who come down to serve, all of us on the ground at ACE would have a much more challenging time in completing our many tasks that spring up. Just ask Allen; he is the tractor driver, who not only repairs the tractor, the bobcat, and the billy goat (as we call our large grass cutter) but drives them all when no one is around to help out. He sees firsthand the work that gets done when a strong team is serving. During one of our June weeks, we had 25 boys-to-men coming with our friend Tina’s team. These men, along with others throughout the month, have helped our men at ACE and on the farm finish the many hard and heavy things we don’t have the hands or feet to do. 

Before you ask, we are not forgetting our strong committed girls and women who are the experts at supervision and clean up after these guys complete the heavy lifting… and even do some heavy lifting themselves! It takes the unique talents of many to finish a project, and to all of our volunteers who give up their vacations and time at home to do the hard work here in St. Mary, we are grateful!

I know, it doesn’t fit our time in history to make these statements on the specific talents and strengths of men versus women. The world seems dead set on erasing our differences, but we are reminded that, to honor God, we are not to conform to the things of this world, “but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” Romans 12:2

Thank you, Allen and all the men that choose to make a difference, at ACE and at home. We hope you had a wonderful Father’s Day!

30 Years of Growth

30 Years of Growth

“30 years of growth and some things never change”. That’s the thought I had this past week as I mixed concrete at GLLF with my team of 27. You may be thinking that I was bemoaning the opportunity that lay ahead of me, but I really wasn’t. I actually love cooking in the Jamaican sun while mixing concrete, by hand, surrounded by my family and team. It sure beats sitting in an office staring at a computer all day!

This summer was my 30th year serving with ACE, so I was very nostalgic all week long. I met Marla as a high school student back in 1994. She took me and a small team up around Mandeville to a place called Bethel. We spent ten days serving the local community in the same ways that many of you have since.

Some things have never changed: the heart and commitment that Allen, Marla and ACE have for the local community, a heart for service and compassion, which always finds creative ways to invest in those that need help but may feel uncomfortable asking for it.

For those of you that have been there, you know exactly what I am talking about. Many Jamaicans have a quiet need shrouded in pride that takes a bit of patience and perseverance to get to heart of, and ACE has that patience and perseverance.  

In 30 years, many other things haven’t changed as well but one that stands out to me year after year – and keeps me coming back, if I’m honest – is my team and the commitment that I have made to them.  

Team leaders, you will get this. Lean in with me for a minute and be encouraged. Our teams may change in number and gender. Our teams may change in skills and gifts. But the gift of exposing a new member to the ministry never changes. The joy of seeing a member return to that special island never changes. The awe of watching The Lord move among your group never changes, and feeling the weight, the good weight, of leadership never changes.

I’m always astonished at this universal truth; we go to Jamaica to help “Change Lives and Transform Communities”, but it somehow always ends of being my life that’s changed and my little community that’s transformed. “30 years of growth and some things never change.”

The Harvest is Great

The Harvest is Great

Before 2008, my perception of Jamaica was based on the cruise ship port in Ocho Rios and commercials for the huge all-inclusive resorts. All of that paints a picture of a thriving culture where everyone is living the dream life. It was not until June of 2008 that I really experienced the true heart and culture of Jamaica and its people.

In the beginning of 2008, Brandon, my son, who was 14 at the time, expressed an interest in going on a mission trip through our church. The idea of a teenage boy wanting to go on a mission trip to a strange new place, serving others and getting closer to God — who would say no? So, we started looking at the options, keeping in mind that my wife hates flying. We decided to investigate the trip to Jamaica, as it was the shortest flight option. After the first meeting with the trip leader, Teresa, we chose to take that leap of faith and sign up.

Fast forward to June of 2008, when we went down to Jamaica. Little did we know, our perspective of Jamaica was about to be radically changed for the better. Working with ACE, we all experienced the true heart and culture of the Jamaican people, from the schools to the infirmary and their homes. Being able to show God’s love to the Jamaican people and the joy they had was amazing.

Fast forward to today. It has been 17 years since our first trip to Jamaica with ACE. The work we did on that first trip touched our hearts in a way that kept us wanting to return, which led Brandon and myself to continue to do these trips. Over the years, we have gone with various size teams down to just ourselves and meeting up with other teams. The relationships we have created over the years with other US teams and more importantly the Jamaicans, has been a true spiritual blessing.

The experience ACE can show someone in the first year is eye opening on how God can work, but the true benefit comes from going back over the years to see how HE continues to use ACE. The work a team does in a week may not seem like much, but each week another team builds on your work and before you know it there is a house for someone to live in or a classroom for the children. Each year you see how that cornerstone that you put in is now a structure that God created through you. These trips not only allow us to bless the Jamaicans but also the people that go on them. My greatest experiences on these trips have been seeing Brandon getting baptized in the pool and because of doing these trips he was able to meet his now wife, Danielle. If we had not listened to God and did not take that first trip, I would not have a God-loving daughter-in-law and 3 beautiful grand babies.

As I look back over the 17 years at all the changes, I see how God has worked through us, a little bit at a time. It may be hot and the work hard, but it is well worth it for the spiritual reward you receive. I can testify that God is at work during that week because the things I am able to do could not be done without His power in me. The vision that Marla has for ACE has been amazing to watch blossom over the years. It has amazed me how God gives ACE the visions, and supplies them with the staff, volunteers and finances to carry out those visions. I also give a shout out to Allen. He has to be a godly man to support his wife, 1200 miles apart most of the year, for so many years.

The verse that came to me back in 2008 when this all started was Matthew 9:37: “The harvest is great, but the workers are few”. I have held this verse close to heart as I want to be a part of the harvest.