Hello! My name is Jacqueline Wallace. I was born and raised in Michigan but I’ve lived in many places around the country, and even Canada.
When I was fifteen years old I was diagnosed with Myasthenia Gravis (MG), a serious and often life-threatening muscle weakness. I didn’t think much about it, being a kid. I was too busy living life, even with severe physical limitations. But I didn’t like falling and when I slipped and fell one snowy day outside the college cafeteria, I decided to go to a warmer climate, one with no snow and ice.
I traveled south to the only warm state I was familiar with to attend Trinity Bible College of Florida. There I met a young man, Randy Wallace, who became my husband. We’ve now been happily married for over forty-five years.
After he graduated from Bible college, we moved to northern Ontario, Canada (you read that right, Florida to Canada!). We lived there for three years while Randy pastored a small church in Elliot Lake. During that time I was a pastor’s wife and mother of two little boys. I was kept busy, needless to say.
Although we loved the gorgeous countryside and the special friends we made there, it was too cold for my health so we moved on to California, another (mostly) warm climate state. Our two boys spent their growing up years in Pasadena where Randy and I were on staff at the U.S. Center for World Mission, now Frontier Ventures.
When the time came to follow God’s prompting to start a ministry to the needy, we founded Mustard Seeds and Mountains, Inc. After three years of preparation in Georgia (making many friends while there), we finally moved to our ministry destination, McDowell County, West Virginia. At that time it was the seventh poorest county in the country. We moved in May, one of our favorite months in that beautiful Appalachian mountain state.
At age fifty-seven, busy serving alongside Randy in West Virginia, I was diagnosed with breast cancer and went through a year and a half of treatment. During that time I lived with one of our sons and his family in California so had opportunities to be with our sons and their wives and our little grandchildren. A year and a half later I went back home to West Virginia and to this day remain cancer free, thank God.
After twenty plus years of serving the people of McDowell County, West Virginia, we were surprised at God’s answer to our prayers to be closer to our children and grandchildren, and out of the snow and ice again, by sending us to Bakersfield in central California. Surprised because both our sons and their families live in southern California.
But I am so happy God led us to Bakersfield! We met more wonderful people and formed many friendships. When I am able, I still drive the three hours to visit, counting it a privilege to have opportunities to both serve the ladies and serve with the ladies of The Bridge Bible Church, our former church home in Bakersfield.
We are now living in southern California as near to our children and grandchildren as we can get, trusting God that this last one was our final move! We are active members of Centerpoint Church in Colton, CA, the same church attended by our sons, their wives, and our five grandchildren. Along with our amazing kids and grandkids who bring us joy, our black cat, Columbia keeps us smiling at her antics.