Dominican Republic 2026 Day Eight
We started the morning off bright and early at 5:30am for our team run, which one of us bloggers did not attend as she was still peacefully asleep in bed. While on our morning run a group of rabid dogs (cute newborn puppies that DO NOT have rabies) started running at and with us. We thought we were going to take them out as we came around for each lap. In our sake it was still pitch black outside so we couldn’t see. Taryn and I ended up running 5km but who knows how far our team Captain Luka ran. The Dominican heat really started to take us out. 7am comes around and Abby is finally awake and ready for devotionals, which went very well and was about worship today! It is very nice sitting up on the roof and spending time in a quiet focused environment with just Jesus.
Once we finished them up, we got ready for the day and enjoyed some cheese + pineapple. We all loaded up on the bus ready to have an AMAZING trip day. It was about a 3 hour drive with a pit stop midway to get snacks! Our bus ride included various rounds of stoning people (don’t worry it’s Pharisees which is a card game, so no harm was done). Upon arrival through the mountainous terrain of Banao we grabbed our stuff and started to make our way towards the water. WowWowZooyMamma (see pictures below). It was so gorgeous and peaceful, while also adventurous and exhilarating. It’s truly amazing how The Creator of all that beauty also cares so individually for all of us. We started off by eating our wonderfully made chicken pasta before heading into the water. The water was pretty clean and had a good current. It was also a little chilly but nice to cool off in. All battle scars, bumps, and bruises represent time well spent as we got carried away and down the river by the current. Lots of us went cliff jumping (Max 7ft), skipping rocks, and floating down the lazy river of life or sudden doom… however you wanna take it. In all seriousness it was fun going down the river as it filled with lots of new adventures and beautiful scenery and team bonding. Speaking of beautiful, we also found some treasure along the way. Julia found a 1918 vintage ring of some sorts. We then set sail across the road from our hiking spot and headed off to some super crazy suspension bridges over the river and some pretty massive boulders. Finally, after an extreme expedition we made it to our prized possession. The most eye opening, picture perfect waterfall we ever did see. Again another reminder of Gods amazing creation. After the water fall, we began to pack up our stuff and make the treacherous treck back up to the bus (it was an 8 minute walk up a sad incline), having to say goodbye to our new found friends the cow and snake. Our bus ride back consisted of more pharisees and lots of naps. Both Abby and I took some long nice naps. We were getting ready to drop Chris off when next thing you know we look out to oncoming traffic coming right at us. To the right we see the procession on the other side of the barrier (the right lane) which we might have supposed to be in but our bus driver did not like traffic. (Tymon here… the Lighthouse staff showed no concern and all cars coming towards us moved over safely, and we were going fairly slow, so don’t think of this in a Canadian context lol). Anyways, we made it back safe and sound to the compound ready to eat our next meal to be truly found (we got some poets on our hands)!
Dinner was great and afterwards a couple of us went with Chris to watch Felix cook up in some basketball! We gathered for our nightly devos by the pool which was a lovely way to wrap up our day. Just as we were getting started, I was finally able to see a slight sliver of the moon. It was an amazing orange colour for the first time it was out this trip! Tonight we talked about the virtue of love and disused some practical ways to show Gods love. Once we wrapped those up, we had more time to relax and rest. Lots of us went in the pool and played some very intense monkey in the middle and had to get all the extra energy out before bed. Here we are wrapping up our blog longing and yearning for the pillow! #bedtime
BUH BYE!
Liv and Abby
