New post from missionary Erin Mackenzie

Posted: 19 Oct 2019 01:48 PM PDT

The 2 1/2 hour drive to Santo Domingo is becoming a well-beaten path for my little white Cantus. Last week, I did it twice in a 7-day span, escorting new missionaries as they checked off a critical step in obtaining temporary Dominican residency.

Both road trips were filled with things to be thankful for:

Safe travel
Minimal delays/waiting at the lawyer’s office & clinic
Good conversation with friends that made time in the car go by quickly

On the way back from trip #2, I finally made a pit-stop I’ve heard much about and even tried to stop at before only to be deterred by rain: Los Tres Ojos. Each “Ojo” is an underground lake, and the name of the park is a misnomer as there are actually cuatro.

I was looking around for the entrance without even realizing it was THIS!

Lakes aside, the most impressive part in my opinion was trees with roots like these.

Courtney, me, and Kate.

At Kate’s urging, we took this boat, maneuvered by a manual pulley system, to the fourth lake…

…and were so glad we did.

Fish!

And more tree roots reminiscent of Psalm 1, Jeremiah 17, etc. Look them up 🙂

You can walk around the entirety of the fourth lake above ground.

Our lawyer mentioned that she may try and time Courtney and Kate’s next appointment with my impending renewal. I’m not sure how much control we really have over that, but we’ll have to come up with another adventure if that’s the case.

Until next time, blessings!