Villarrica Volcano erupts

Haha, this week has been LOCO.  

Tuesday morning Hna Espinoza and I went running in the morning along the coast, and we passed by a bunch of people taking pictures of the volcano, which looked a little different, but we didn't really pay much attention because we were half asleep and we see the volcano every day.  A little later in the morning we had a meeting with Presidente Obeso and the other missionaries in Villarrica and Pucón, and when we got there the Elders in our rama asked us if we'd heard about the volcano.  Haha, Hna Espinoza and I said, "well people have been talking about it a lot the past few weeks....." and then they told us, "No, it exploded last night!!"  Apparently while everyone in Villarrica and Pucón were watching the volcano and taking photos Hna Espinoza and I were happily sleeping in our house without the slightest idea of what was happening...... I was so sad that no one woke us up to see it :(  

The Elders y Hermanas in Pucón had to evacuate around 3:30 am and they couldn't go back to Pucón until the red alert changed to yellow alert, so for a few days Hermana Segura y Hermana Wyatt were living with us in our casa.  Haha, it was quite the fiesta in our house.  I haven't laughed as hard as I did this week in a long time.  Hna Segura and I were compañeras for the week, and Hna Espinoza and Hna Wyatt were compañeras for the week, and the four of us had a ton of fun.

My story of el volcán isn't too exciting, so I'll tell Hermana Segura's story instead because it's cooler.  Around 3:15 she heard her neighbors talking and saying "grab the backpacks", but she was too tired to see what was going on, but a few minutes later the elders called and said, "look at the volcano!"  She and her companion opened their front door (because they live 12 miles from the volcano) and saw it exploding, and she said it was like she was in a movie or something.  They had to pack their backpacks superfast and go to the house of a member who lived in a more secure part of the city until they could evacuate to Villarrica.  They said it was super crazy and pure adrenaline when they saw the volcano exploding. Loco!

Long story short it was a super fun, super crazy week, but I missed all the initial excitement.  We're all safe and the Hermanas de Pucón are back in Pucón.  

Keep on keeping on,

Hermana Coombs 

The following is the email we received from the Mission President Tuesday morning:

Dear family,

Overnight there was a volcano eruption of the Villarrica volcano in northern Chile.  All missionaries are accounted for and safe.  The missionaries who were serving in Pucon closest to the volcano have been pulled out to a safer location until further notice.  We are monitoring the situation.  Please rest assured that your missionaries are safe and protected.

Con las Hermanas de Pucón

El volcán after it exploded.  The black lines are where the lava was