Tico Tuesday, September 20th

I was going to write and tell you about the fun Independence Day celebrations here last week (195 years of independence!), but yesterday something quite newsworthy happened. Our local active volcano Turrialba decided to spew ash, rocks, etc. 4km (about 2.5 miles) into the air. From what I've heard, there hasn't been this big an eruption in some time and the ash fall last night was the worst in a long time. 

The back window of my car last night

I was on my way to visit a small group when all of a sudden I felt like I was driving through a fog. I couldn't tell if it was actually fog or if there was just some dust accumulated on my windshield. So, I cleaned my windshield and all of a sudden, I could see again. I was grateful for that, but was perplexed because I thought I hadn't driven through anywhere that was particularly dusty. Well, when I arrived to the small group they said Turrialba had erupted at various points during the day. I am clueless about the news because I'm terrible at following it and I'm intentionally spending less time on facebook, which is how I normally find out about significant (and not so significant) events. Visiting the small group was delightful and I think it's perhaps one of the better groups I've visited. By the time we finished, we went out and what they say about ash looking like snow on a car is not so far from the truth. It's just like fine, dirty snow. Thankfully, it rinses off pretty well, but my car still definitely needs a good bath. Please pray for it to rain soon to help clear out the air. We're in rainy season, but I don't think it has rained since Friday and it's supposed to rain hard at least for a bit every day! 

As far as I know, there hasn't been any damage or serious injurious due to the eruption. People know what precautions to take and the ash is more a pain to clean than anything else (unless you have a plane to catch, or asthma). I even saw one post on facebook commenting what a blessing it is that our pollution here is totally natural and will end up being good for the earth. Of course, Costa Rica isn't pollution free by any means, but I thought it was an interesting perspective to take on the heavy air pollution we got yesterday.  

Thank you so much for your faithful prayers for me and my wellbeing and protection. They really mean a lot to me!

May God protect you and keep you safe in all you do!
Carrie