Dominican Republic 2025 Day Nine
WE HAD SUNNY SIDE UP EGGS THIS MORNING! Before that we started up on the roof with morning devos where we talked about our 360 moment and how to talk to others about our experience here. The 360 moment is where The 360 moment is when we choose one moment this week where we pause and do a 360 to take in everything around us by using all five senses to help us remember the moment and to see more clearly how God is working through everyone on the team and all those around us.
On the bus we played Exploding Kittens and Katie popped off by winning her first game ever. Once we arrived, we got ready to do gravel and paint the inside of the water treatment facility in Villa Altagracia. We split in to two groups, one to shovel and move gravel, and the other to paint the walls and floor within the facility. Most of us swapped jobs throughout the day so that we didn’t get too tired shovelling, or didn’t get fumigated while painting… but for those of us who got stuck with one job all day… RIP (just kidding… parents don’t worry). When we stopped for lunch, and everyone quickly fell asleep on the concrete pads… aka the comfiest thing around. Later on, we went on a community walk through the village and we were moved by how much joy we saw in the people we passed considering the conditions that some of these folks are living in. Towards the end of the walk, we stopped at a church in the village and were asked if the team wanted to continue working or if they wanted to wrap things up and head back to the compound. The majority of the team wanted to stay to help serve however we can, and so we moved a lot more gravel around the church property to help with flooding for the rain season. This was a lot of work and took a full team effort, but the team absolutely rocked it!
Dinner was delicious as always, followed by devos which was focused on the virtue of love in Matthew 22:37-40. Most of the team ended up in the pool afterwards and somehow Anna got a lesson from Jacob on how to interlock your own toes. Right after, while Tymon was telling a funny story, Jacob comes swimming behind him and grabs him, spins him around like a human shield to block the attack coming from Abby’s feet. For more context, Taryn picked up Abby in the pool and started chasing Jacob with Abby’s feet and everyone was dying laughing while Tymon and Jacob were screaming and running/swimming for their lives.
To wrap up our final day, we checked in for our flight, packed most of our stuff, finished the puzzle, and went to bed really really early 😉
By: Katie, Anna, and Tymon
