Vancouver man, son dusted by volcano’s ash

Vancouver’s Mark Havens and his 16-year-old son, Nicholas, were on a quick tour through Antigua for a more touristy stop to start their Guatemala mission trip when, on Sunday, a nearby volcano erupted, sending people scurrying indoors.

They were lucky, he said. Volcan de Fuego’s eruption Sunday killed 99 people and sent thousands into emergency shelters.

The brunt of the eruption’s destructive power hit the far side of the mountain relative to Antigua, Mark Havens said.

“We were eating lunch and people came up to us and told us ash was falling from the sky, and to put on our coats and try to not get any in our lungs or eyes as much as we could,” he said.

He described it as very surreal. The falling ash kept up for an hour, sending people inside like in a Northwest rainstorm, he said. Afterwards, everyone was back outside selling goods or sweeping up sidewalks.

“It felt like rain was falling, but when it hit you, it was ash,” Mark Havens said. “We had no idea how bad it was until later that night, when we started getting the news reports.”

They’re in Guatemala with the Clubhouse Guatemala mission group, and part of the work is doing vacation Bible school or Sunday school programs.

The work didn’t start until Monday, so they went to Antigua for a little sightseeing beforehand.

Their work area is many miles away, not in any physical danger, but closer to Volcan Pacaya, another one of Guatemala’s several active volcanoes.

Mark Havens said Monday evening he could see the glow from the mountain’s summit.

“I’m looking up at it right now and I see spurts of lava coming out of the top, but that’s kind of par for the course,” he said. “It’s one thing to live near Mount St. Helens, and it’s another thing to see what it’s like living among five active volcanoes, and how it affects people’s lives.”

Still, the weather’s nice, the country is beautiful and they’re looking forward to the work, he said.