outreach | American-Caribbean Experience

Marla’s Minute: A “Full Court Press”

by American-Caribbean Experience | Aug 27, 2024 | Book A Trip, Outreach

In high school, I was called “Roberta Rebound” by my basketball team. While I would have rather been called “Hanna Highpoint scorer” for my ability to put points on the board, I recognized I had a keen ability to retrieve the ball after a missed shot or a long-court steal…. and take our team all the way to state without scoring a single point for the team.

Being part of a group sport taught me many things in life. One of the biggest lessons I learned was that we all succeed when we have a team around us to pull for us, share with, and even contribute to our best so that others can do their part to score for the team. When our basketball team went to the playoffs at the end of a season almost every year, many times, the other teams were as good at the game as we were. In a close game where the last few points meant win or lose, our coach would call us to the bench on a time out, look us all in the eyes, and say… “Girls, it’s now time for a Full Court Press. Let’s get the job done and go home with the trophy.”

Next month, September 16th to be exact, is the beginning and the end of a big game for ACE in Jamaica. September marks the end of a five-year “Full Court Press” for purchasing the Legacy property for ACE called Green Life Farms.

God has allowed ACE to own an incredible 838 acres of prime farmland just outside of Port Maria for future micro-business and development focused on clean food and agriculture.

The final note on the property is due September 16th, and while we are still moving up the court, we could use your help to make the last point to win the game. We started with a sale price of $1.2m US and went 2 years without an income due to COVID. As we round the corner, ACE owes approximately $150,000 US. Only God can make this happen in this short of time.

Will you help us score here at the end of the game so next month we can say, “Paid in Full”? As a teammate and not the captain, I want to say thank you to all of ACE’s supporters and givers who have been a part of the team from the beginning. Thank you for the servers who have literally given physical and emotional power behind and within the game. And thank you in advance for some of you who are still waiting to get in the game in the last few minutes.

We need all of you to help us with a Full Court Press and celebrate what God has done with his little ACE team. Because we may be a little team, but we serve such a big God.

Much Love,
Roberta Rebound

Ready to join the Full Court Press and help us pay off the mortgage on the property?

Donate online through the link below. If you prefer wire transfer, please contact our Stateside Office at Office@acexperience.org or (770) 573-7024 for details.

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ACE is a 501c3 non-profit organization and all donations are 100% tax deductible. Annual giving statements are mailed out at the end of the year.

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Displays of Gratitude for Backpack Distribution Days

by American-Caribbean Experience | Aug 26, 2024 | Education, Outreach

Long-time volunteer Arlene is currently in Jamaica helping ACE with our annual Backpack Distribution Days as we kick off a new school year. The following article is Arlene’s recap of this year’s event.

If it’s mid-August, then it must be time for me to journey back to Jamaica for our annual Backpack Distribution Days. It’s that hectic, crazy, fun three days when we give our students their new backpacks, complete with school supplies, ready-made uniforms, and/or fabric for ones that need a seamstress. Despite the heat–and yes, it’s very hot this time of year–it is something I look forward to every year.

The process starts with the students expressing their gratitude to their sponsors. We alternate each year between having them make a Christmas gift and writing thank-you notes. Our primary students are given a card with a picture to color and then inside, they write their thank you note. Our Second Story students, high schoolers grades 7-11, write their thank you notes on a store-bought note card. When they have finished this, they go to the next station to have Mr. Gooden review our contract with their parents. This contract lists our requirements for the students in our program and helps hold them accountable.

The next stop in our Backpack Distribution Days event is always the childrens’ favorite part—getting their backpacks. (See below for a couple of photos showing the children’s delight when looking into the backpack.) Of course, my favorite part in all of this is that I get to interact with each of our students while I take pictures of them including full-body photos for their personal page in our database and head-shots for their sponsors’ Christmas gifts.

Out of 157 students, there are always those reluctant few who just won’t smile, no matter how hard I try! And on the other side of the spectrum, we always have those charmers who want to do some extra poses. But the most noticeable takeaway each year is how tall they’ve grown. Some of our young men are now so tall that I jokingly said I might need a stepladder next year to take their head shots.

This year, in addition to the school supplies, each family went home with peanut butter, jelly, and two packs of fortified rice. We are so grateful to our friends in the States who purchase these rice packs for us. They are definitely a gift of mercy and love.

What stood out to me most this year was the overwhelming gratitude of our parents for our assistance in helping them care for and educate their children. One mother was so grateful that she had her child put on his school uniform to have us take and send pictures of him to his sponsors thanking them.

I am so thankful to God for the strength and stamina He has given me that makes it possible for me to return each August to be a part of Backpack Distribution Days!

Backpacks lines up for our Backpack Distribution Days

A Student in our ACE Child Sponsorship Program Receiving a Backpack

ACE student in our child sponsorship program

Student in our ACE Child Sponsorship Program

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30 Years of Growth

by American-Caribbean Experience | Jun 24, 2024 | Book A Trip, Community, Discipleship, Outreach

“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.”

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The Harvest is Great

by American-Caribbean Experience | Jun 24, 2024 | Book A Trip, Community, Discipleship, Education, Outreach

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.

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A Lent Devotional

by American-Caribbean Experience | Mar 11, 2024 | Book A Trip, Discipleship, Outreach

ACE volunteer Christina Kershaw came down on a mission trip with Bethel Baptist Church in 2018. As she was recently reflecting on her time in Jamaica, she wrote the following devotional. May her experience and reflection bless you during this Lent season!

READ: John 13:1-17

Story time: I had the amazing opportunity to spend a week on mission serving with ACE in Jamaica back in 2018. Prior to covid, the local infirmary was open for visitors to come hang out and minister to the residents. These residents consisted of mostly elderly men and women who had no family, were disabled, or just had no place in society outside of the infirmary walls… the “forgotten,” for lack of a better word.

We had the opportunity to sing songs, play games, paint their nails, and even apply lotion for them. I went ahead and grabbed a bottle of lotion and went around slathering everybody up! I thought, “This is nothing new. I’m in my comfort zone. I basically do this for a living working as a nurse at the hospital.” So great! Until…. one of the residents asked me to lotion up her feet. Her BARE FEET with my BARE HANDS. Up until this moment, everyone had been getting nice little hand and arm massages from me, but I didn’t dare go for anyone’s feet!

I was hesitant. I asked her to clarify it was in fact her feet she wanted me to lotion. She, of course, nodded yes. I started sweating (and it wasn’t because of the Jamaican sun). If anyone knows me personally, I can be quite the germaphobe, so the thought of me touching someone else’s feet (without gloves like in a hospital and ESPECIALLY someone I don’t know) freaked me out just a little bit.

I pumped a few squirts of Suave lotion, said my prayers, and went for it. She thanked me and I continued on to the next person.

WHY am I telling this story you ask?

Right before I decided to tend to her feet, I immediately thought of the story in John 13 where Jesus washed His disciples’ feet. Feet are one of the dirtiest parts of the body, especially the feet that walked the earth during ancient times. It was cultural for men to wear open sandals and sometimes even be barefoot. Imagine the dust, dirt, and grime that these disciples had hiding in between their toes! But, Jesus, the King of the cosmos, humbled Himself and washed their feet. Wow.

To put this into perspective, read how Jesus “knew his hour had come” and yet, He still ministered to His friends. He knew that He was about to be tortured in insufferable ways, die a horrible death, and ultimately be ripped apart from His Father in just the next few hours! Can you imagine all the agony He was feeling inside knowing these terrible events were happening, and happening soon?

And yet…

He served His disciples and washed their feet. Not only would He make one of the dirtiest parts of their bodies clean, but soon, completely and eternally cleanse them of the dirt in their hearts that separated them from the Father. Jesus, who rightfully deserves ALL glory and worship from us, humbled Himself to a man to serve us and die for us. How much more should we as His followers walk in His footsteps and love others just the same?.

The next time you are faced with an opportunity to minister to your neighbor, think of your Savior and don’t forget to WASH THEIR FEET!

PRAY: Thank You, Lord, for humbling Yourself and dying a criminal’s death so that I may live eternally with You. Thank you for washing away all my iniquities and making me a new creation. Help me to die to my flesh daily and serve those around me so that they may know and experience Your love for them. Amen.

John 13:14: “If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet.”

Happy Easter!