missions | American-Caribbean Experience

Prayer Works!

by American- Caribbean Experience | Jun 18, 2020 | Community, Discipleship, Outreach

As we watch the USA express their anger over injustice, Pastor Omar, our Pastor at Family Church on the Rock and always part of the ACE family, had some thoughts to share:

Shalom,

If there was ever a time we needed to pray, it is NOW!

Like many of you, I have had to process my anger and frustration in response to what happened to George Floyd in USA and many recent similar incidents in our own country. I have had to bring my heart to God and have Him minister to me. What happened is wrong and should never happen. If like me, you’re angry. I want to let you know, there’s nothing wrong with being angry. In fact, the Bible says, “Be angry…” but then it ends that sentence with, “…and sin not.”

God is ok with us being angry! Jesus expressed His anger when He cleared the temple of those who were using God’s House to profit instead of pray. So being mad is not bad. It’s what we do, what we write, what we say, and how we act when we are mad that makes it bad or a sin.

So when does my anger turn into sin? When I allow my anger to be expressed in ways that contradict God’s nature! Most of us are mad at the police when we need to be mad at the devil. Of course, we should hold the police and anyone else accountable who display injustice. However, Jesus said in John 8:44, “Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning.” Wow, murder started with the devil, not the police! The devil will use anybody he can! So, we need to get mad at the right source! We should fight for justice, equal rights, etc. but before you post, pray!

And, that’s what I want to encourage you to do this month – PRAY FIRST! Prayer shouldn’t be our last resort; it should be our first response.

Pray first when you feel angry because of racism.

Pray first when you feel confined because of social distancing.

Pray first when you feel annoyed because of your boss.

Pray first when you feel frustrated by your spouse.

Pray first!

We are still going through a pandemic, and, add to that, our own personal challenges. Listen, God is still in control and He still calls us to use our faith to overcome. 1 John 5:4 in the Amplified says, “For everyone born of God is victorious and overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has conquered and overcome the world—our [continuing, persistent] faith [in Jesus the Son of God].”

Did you catch that? Our continuing, persistent faith.

So, don’t allow all that’s happening in the world to overcome you. Let us pray first, and then we will be victorious and overcome the world by our faith.

Pastor Omar

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Peat and Repeat

by American- Caribbean Experience | May 22, 2020 | Community, Discipleship, Education, Outreach

The rhythm of life is different than this time last year. It’s humbling, frankly, to know that in a matter of days, everything we’ve done in the human realm can be wiped out … that is, if God wasn’t in charge.

We started this newsletter with the title “Peat and Repeat” because that’s exactly what this month looks like compared to last month.

Our volunteers are not in Jamaica.
Face masks are being washed out each night.
Sun is hot with no rain in sight right now.
We all continue to pray and grow stronger. We see less people getting sick and no more deaths other than the nine from last month. There have been many more recoveries and lots of answered prayers.

Repetition doesn’t need to be boring, when we look deep enough. There are some wonderful repeats happening in the ACE community during all this.

In the 33 years ACE has been in Jamaica, our Board of Directors have never had to write a request for help the way they did this month. When they sent out a letter to all our friends and family of ACE, the response was a faith builder. This past week, one of our dear friends, Tina Gerke, held a fundraiser for ACE, raising over $10,000! In addition, many of our spring and summer teams sent in funds even though they had to cancel their trips. All of these donations will enable our ministry to keep our employees working and keep our families fed. You never fail to come through for us – repeatedly! – and we are always grateful! Let us officially say THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!

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Last week, we made the rounds, meeting with staff at the farm, in the office, security, Jerk Centre – all the normal places staff is working. During this time, we began to notice a phenomenon that is being repeated everywhere with our staff and our friends in the community. Families are talking more, doing more reading and writing. Children are playing with siblings. Parents are spending time with their children, even grown children! And they are using their time wisely, learning and passing on life skills. From washing clothes, learning to cook, paint, garden, and farm, kids and adults are sharing chores and taking on new challenges, stepping out of their normal routines and having a great time doing it! And the more they repeat these new skills and personal connections with loved ones, the richer their lives will be!

In addition to all the new projects for our St. Mary families, our staff has continued to keep busy, too, on ACE-related work. Since the virus hit the island, no one has been allowed to enter the Infirmary, including us, and the Matron lost all her help with groundwork. If you recall from our social media posts, we went over last month to clean up the driveway outside the Infirmary fence. ACE did a repeat of this last week. We not only finished up the first part of the driveway we worked on in April, but we completed the task of cleaning it all to the end. We were able to see some of our residents as Richard, Norris, and Christine say their hellos through the fence. As usual, they keep asking if they can be on Ms. Marla’s list for the field trip. We are looking forward to the day (we hope soon!) that you, our volunteers, can make that dream come true!

Finally, one of the most important blessings happening on the ground is that we were able to go out and buy enough food, mackerel, rice, flour, sugar to support every family in our program for one to two weeks depending on the size of the family. That is not only a repeat but a “Big Up” size repeat, thanks to your donations!

So many repeats of so many great things! We can’t wait for a repeat of our mission trips from past years, seeing some familiar faces ready to take on new challenges.

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Wellness Goes A Long Way

by American- Caribbean Experience | Mar 25, 2020 | Community, Discipleship, Outreach

As you can imagine, the first place to close down due to the virus was the infirmary. We hate it, but we understand. I was at the infirmary with some staff two weeks ago when the Matron came over and asked us politely to leave immediately. She had just received the word from the Ministry of Health and was acting quickly.

As we loaded up to leave, we smiled as Bo Bo asked when the next field trip was and would we put his name on the list. Then Christopher ran out to assist me in turning the key on the bus to start the engine and take us home. There was silence for a moment as we thought about those precious souls so thrilled to see us so often. ACE got the chance to say goodbye to our seniors from a good distance but reassured them that we will be back and, next time, with a big celebration with cake and music!

The Matron and her staff have been working countless hours providing comfort and protection to our friends at the infirmary who really don’t quite understand our absence. We give thanks for all of you who have continually supported the infirmary and the hundreds of you who have taken them out on mind stimulation trips. Everyone sends their love and thanks. And ACE is very grateful for the Depends. We have not only shared them with the infirmary but with Pastor Kermit who sends his love and is house bound, and Shirley, our GB cook, whose mother lives with her and needed them as well.

Thank you for allowing ACE to be your hands and feet on the ground. Good goes around.

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Our Children In St. Mary

by American- Caribbean Experience | Mar 25, 2020 | Community, Discipleship, Education, Outreach

With this “stay close to home” policy, how can we know if our children and their families are doing okay or have needs? After discussions with the Child Sponsorship team on how we can continue our impact and support from us and from you, their sponsors, we have a plan.

Beginning this week, we are calling all parents and guardians of children in our Sponsorship program to see how they are doing, where they are staying and how many are in the house – just a small survey in regards to health and welfare. With the cancellation of our teams, we decided that instead of holding a thrift sale this month (we normally hold three a year – March, July, and November), ACE would put an individual suitcase together for each child and other relatives living in the house. Next week, D’Vaun and Laneka will drive to the house and deliver the suitcase (in the yard, of course) and then sit outside to visit, encourage and, most of all, pray for the family. We will be delivering lots of soap, toiletries, and women’s personal products.

See how valuable your donations have become to those in need? We know you will be back soon, so please keep saving those toiletries, soaps, shampoos and ladies’ pads. Thank you, also, for so many books you’ve given us over the years. We are taking two age-appropriate books per child and reading them from the yard while visiting, then leaving them with the family along with some simple activities to enjoy while they are home.

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Marla’s Minute: Working and Sweating

by American- Caribbean Experience | Mar 25, 2020 | Community, Outreach

Normally, those two verbs are not something anyone would be attracted to unless you were an athlete. But here in St. Mary, we have lots and lots of hard manual outdoor work to do that keeps us busy for as many hours as a day can hold.

For the past two weeks, all our ACE and Green Life Farm staff have pulled together to work hard at doing grunt work. We are learning every day that this fantastic piece of land is bearing fruit and food everywhere. Last week, a small group of us headed out into the pastures and began picking guavas. Growing up in Miami as a child, I remember having guava trees in the yard. I hated them and would throw the fruit at my friends because they smelled and would squish easily.

Not now – I have a new appreciation for this fruit. It’s high in vitamin C and can be juiced and frozen for months and months… and, most of all, it can be made into jelly. If you have ever visited us at Galina Breeze, you know what guava jelly tastes like, and it’s good! We have close to 400 trees all over, and what we can’t pick quick enough, we go back and pick up the ones that have dropped to the ground and give to the pigs (did I mention we have a few?) as a treat! Pigs love fruit, especially guavas. The things you learn when you become a fruit picker! Last week, we filled up four freezers full of guava and began juicing them with ginger. We were able to give each employee their own bottle of guava juice to take home. As this newsletter is being sent, we are already scheduled to head out again for another 300 pounds of guava.

The farm is full of limes, ackee, citrus, and guavas. God is good as we are able to share all this with our staff and their families. And we can do all of this six feet apart…(smile). Social distancing is taking on a different role than just standing in line. It’s easy to stay apart when you are working and sweating as much as we do — body odor can be a great deterrent.