The Tension of Floor To Tesla
Last week, we served with Mission Challenge and Christian Veterinary Mission’s on a 7-day trip. We loved leading worship, having conversations with the beautiful team, sharing meals, and making practical improvements in the community building where the rural animal clinic was held.
Clementine had recently bought a used camera and took over 1300 pictures. See her recap video here.
In the sweltering Sarapiqui Valley (where my parents were missionaries in the 60s), I was texting a friend in Texas while making logistical preparations for my trip there to serve a church’s worship ministry. He generously offered to rent a vehicle for me using airline miles. When I got the confirmation, I about rolled off my mattress in shock - he rented me a Tesla!
Now you have to understand. Well, here’s a picture of where I was when I received the email:
Yep, it wouldn’t have been a long fall from the mattress to the floor. We were staying in an unfinished upper room of a community center. And in a couple of months, I’d be in Texas driving a Tesla. (How do you even charge those things? I guess they have manuals, right?)
It feels like what is happening this Wednesday.
Our whole family is flying to Pennsylvania for three weeks to visit! We’re grateful for the generosity of an acquaintance, himself a grandpa, who thought our parents would like to see their grandkids. <3
Two years ago, on our family's trip to the USA, we were stunned by the sheer luxury when we landed in the US. When we returned, we were equally struck by how poor and small things felt in our beautiful Costa Rica. But this is nothing new. The reality of culture shock has long accosted missionaries.
We feel the same way upon entering Lancaster County’s rolling hills and Amish farms as you might upon bumping down narrow, mountainous roads between coffee fields in Costa Rica.
The transition will begin when we wait for the flight crew to first give instructions in English, followed by Spanish. But it’s English only once we are on our Orlando to Baltimore leg. ¡Que extraño!
Then comes the whole “throwing toilet paper into the toilet instead of the trash can.” (And don’t think we haven’t “rescued” some that our kids threw into the trash can and put them appropriately in the American toilet!)
When we hit up the local Giant grocery store, we’ll only find a small part of the aisle filled with tuna options. (In Costa Rica, there’s usually a whole aisle.) In addition to an about five-times-more-than-imaginable assortment of…well, everything, we’ll see the world’s largest pretzel selection.
Maybe I’m sharing this to help myself prepare for the transition. I’m even typing this in a Starbucks while I wait for our teens who attend and help as student-leaders (Aspen and Clementine) in the international youth group, AMCA.
We hope to see you at either ACTS Wheatland on August 4 or 11 or at a drop-in at Heather’s parent’s house (559 Overlys Grove Road, New Holland) on August 18 from 4 to 9 PM.
As always, we covet your prayers and value your support. Ask the Lord how you can pray for us and how he might be inviting you to give toward His work in and through our family. ❤️
Love,
Dave, Heather, Aspen, Clementine, Louis, Juliana, Huxley, and Caspian Helmuth
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