Dominican Republic 2025 Day Four

Welcome back! Sorry we’re a bit late. Today was our first day at the job site. We drove half an hour to the community of Villa Altagracia. The bus ride was mostly quiet (except for Olivia), and we even saw a horse crossing the street all by itself! Once we arrived at the job site, Christian showed us the ways the Lighthouse was working in the community with their water purification system, medical center and the new compound that will eventually look just like the one we are currently staying in. We started off by laying bricks to build a wall beside the baseball diamond that the Lighthouse had previously started. Most of us have never laid bricks before so it started off pretty rocky, SOME team members even had to re-lay bricks 6, 7 times, but… the amazing trio of Olivia, Gabe and Julia were absolutely killing it. Welllll other than when we had to be supervised. Brick laying was a chill task that left a lot of room for conversation. Our group loved being in fellowship with one another. Katie’s group, which included Keandra and Jacob, worked really well together, so much so that they even considered themselves the dream team. We reminisced on our memories from past mission trips we’ve been on together (Windsor and the DR), made ridiculous jokes, and had lots of fun. The other groups were having a blast as well. After this, we moved on to lunch! We had PB and jam, and ham and cheese sandwiches with cookies, coke, and bananas, and then to follow we had some time to chill before going back to work, except it wasn’t so chill because Gabe decided to grab the lizard from the window and passed it around in a little circle. While Anna had it, he asked for the lizard back but little did we know he was plotting something so much bigger. DUHN DUHN DUHNNNNN!!! Suddenly the scene flipped completely when the lizard was LAUNCHED fiercely though the air. How might you ask? GABE!!!! Who knew someone so sweet could be so astronomically villainy? And had the capability to throw a lizard at someone’s face. The victim you ask?? None other than Olivia (Allen) who still stands to tell the tale… well other than the fact that she caught rabies… just kidding!!! But she did get an awesome yet not awesome nickname of lizard face. On a much more tame note, after lunch we were so blessed to be able to connect with some kids in the community by dancing and playing with them. After our break we did some more brick laying and as we were cleaning up to head back to the compound we ran into the kids again and had a little dance party! During that time we found it incredibly inspiring to find out that they knew some of the worship songs we were playing. Despite the language barrier, we felt completely connected. Soon after we made our way back to the compound to have dinner!! Yay!! Man was it ever delish, and to follow we had a beautiful devotion that had many great points that reminded us of why we are here and what we are called to do through this mission. This sparked incredible God filled conversations. One of the points that stood out to us was the idea of love being a universal language. This was something that was especially evident during our dance party because people are more alike than their cultures and ultimately God unites His kingdom.

Sincerely,

Julia, Katie, and Olivia Allen