Birdwatching Adventures with ACE

Birdwatching Adventures with ACE

At ACE, we love welcoming teams with all kinds of talents and interests to visit us in Jamaica. Recently, we had the privilege of hosting a group of passionate birdwatchers who experienced firsthand the island’s beautiful wildlife.

Led by local eco-certified guide Dwayne Swaby, Greg, Sarah, Matthew, and Will set out on an early morning expedition, eager to explore ACE’s different properties. Greg mentioned they were “all ‘in it, to win it,’ excited to see what birdlife and nature [they] would see,” despite the muddy trails and intermittent rain they encountered. 

The team enjoyed spotting roughly 45 incredible bird species, including the Jamaican Tody, the Jamaican Woodpecker, and the Red-billed Streamertail—Jamaica’s national bird. The national bird is a hummingbird and, as Greg put it, “unbelievably stunning with its long trailing tail feathers and green body with black and purple on its head.” Greg also mentioned that “God had a sense of beautiful humor when he designed birds.” We have to agree, but more so with all of His creation, including His people.

Our staff at ACE loves connecting people with communities in meaningful ways. Whether through education, healthcare, microbusiness, or even birding, we believe every visitor has something valuable to contribute to our community in St. Mary.

If you have a passion, skill, or hobby you’d love to share, we’d love to host you! We still have a couple of open weeks at the end of July, so gather your team and come experience Jamaica with us. Whether you’re a birdwatcher, a medical professional, a teacher, or someone who just wants to make a difference wherever you can, there’s a place for you at ACE. Email Susan, our Stateside Director, at office@acexperience.org or call 877-500-5768 for more information.

Paying off the Farm

Paying off the Farm

Remember the ask ACE made to all of you the last quarter of 2021 to help us pay off the Green Life Llanrumney Farm? As you know, the farm is the place where all our micro-businesses will flourish to keep us hiring more and more Nationals. We want to keep you posted on how we are doing in raising the $700k needed by 2024.

Take a look at the graph to see how it’s going. Pretty impressive, we think. It’s also a faith-builder for ACE and, hopefully, for all of you who gave the funding to help us reach these goals. So far, with the help of many generous sponsors, we went over the $100k mark in 2021. Thank you!

If you are led to help us get to the $350k mark by summer and $500k by December, we would be grateful. After all, seeing is believing – and seeing is always a confirmation that it was completed in the supernatural world before it became visible in the natural.

Just watch what God will do this year… and it’s all good!

And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to his purpose. Romans 8:28

Marla’s Minute – How many “i’s” in Mississippi?

Marla’s Minute – How many “i’s” in Mississippi?

For the first time in years, Allen and I did something we wished we would have done before now: travel by car to see friends of ACE who have been MIA since the COVID pandemic hit.

We started out in Ringgold, Georgia, where we spent the night with some friends who, incidentally, are way ahead of us in the farming business. Chicken, horses, cows, fish, flowers, and plants… you name it and that’s what you get when you show up at the Greg and Sheila’s home!

From there we went to Cullman, Alabama, and were treated like family by our next host and hostess. If you ever wondered what a tool barn should look like, just ask David and Valery; they have everything you could imagine to “get ‘er fixed” on the farm. We moved on to Mississippi, where we saw our friends from Tupelo, Madison, and Columbus.

One of our personal highlights was in Louisiana with a friend’s mom and dad who, for many years, ran the Bauxite plant in Manchester, Jamaica, when ACE was very young. Sitting in their living room enjoying lemon cake and coffee, seeing all the Jamaican art and Jamaican décor, brought home the fact that, while life and people move on, God always brings up another generation to carry on the work behind the faithful ones who have served well. Thank you, Zack and Carolyn, for being a living reminder of this.

While we had wanted to stop and visit other friends of ACE in Louisiana, we found it just didn’t work out for one reason or another. We did, however, get to spend the evening with friends in Baton Rouge before heading home via Columbus. Believe it or not, we still stay in contact with the very first Intern ACE ever had: Laura Ladd. She is now fully grown (not old) with three almost-grown kids and a great husband, Breck, who is Senior Pastor of a Baptist church in Columbus. Did I mention Laura is an architect? She sure is, and she is designing our (soon to be released) plan for our Green Life Village homes.

We are back in Jamaica, feeling fresh and looking forward to what God has in store for us and our community. We know, after experiencing such hospitality, that we never have to worry… just enjoy the ride and know that God is in control. Thank you, friends, for reminding us that we are not in this alone, but we have lots of company on the bus called ACE.

Grateful for you all,

Marla, Allen and the ACE team

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