Friend of a friend ... how I decided to do this!!

You know how you just run across those people in life and you have no idea why they feel so "comfortable" to you...as if you've known them forever...there's just something that draws you near them and want to be life long friends forever even though you just met???? Well, that is exactly what happened to me and that is how I am here today, leaving for Africa in 40 days for a trip that will change my life...all because of an encounter with one of those people -- that instant friend for life! 

Kim & I hiking Ecola in Oregon

Her name is Kim and the little that I've learned and gotten to know about her is amazing! We met last December, 2012 when she was out here in Maui visiting a friend of ours from a previous medical mission trip! Eric met her first and told me that when I met her, I would just love her && that is exactly how it happened! We met and chatted about all kinds of things and I felt like she was a friend from back home that I have had for years and being all the way out here, that feeling is quite special and when it happens you don't want them to leave! But we managed to hang out again while she was visiting and got to talking. I found out she is a Physician Assistant and she has been going on medical mission trips since 2011. AND it was then & there, she put that spark and that interest back in me to join onto a trip and travel to a third world country for the better good!  She has been to Bolivia THREE times, twice to the Philippines, once to Peru and is coming with me to Kenya this year along with the Dominican Republic in 2014 and another trip back to Peru.  HOW inspiring and amazing she is! From what I have learned and from what I can tell, she loves to selflessly help others.  Kim has a huge heart that I don't even know the half of yet I am sure.  We have since spent another vacation of hers here to Maui together and when Eric & I traveled to Portland this past fall, the two of them surprisingly set up a surprise dinner together! We got to talk more about what the trips are like, what to expect and how it will change you.  She came all the way from Eugene with her dog to Cannon Beach and got herself a condo for the night just to have dinner and a hike in the morning with us....instantly friends forever & we haven't even ventured on this journey yet! 

Hiking with Kim & Beau her awesome dog in Oregon

Because of Kim I decided to check out the Project Helping Hands Organization that she spoke so highly of and signed up for my very first trip! I had been begging her and asking her to come with me to Kenya (especially since she had never been either) but she ensured me that there was no way she could swing it with all her trips she had committed to.  And so, I decided regardless of her going or not, Kenya was where I wanted to go and so I set out and applied thinking it would be me and 16 strangers.  Little did I know, she was surprising me and had signed up for this trip as well! Eric & Kim knew a week before I even knew that I was accepted...THOSE two little liars!!! And the day I found out that I was chosen for Kenya I immediately texted her all of my excitement about being accepted and yet I wished she was going.  Her reply back was "Yeah, I knew you were going last week because I AM GOING WITH YOU!!!!" I was literally jumping up and down when she broke this amazing news to me!!! It will be like traveling with a forever life long friend yet, we hardly know anything life long about one another! But it's one of those connections...one of those "weird ways a person becomes a part of your life" and I cannot wait to experience this trip together!!

She has been my GO-TO person these days when talking about what to pack, what to expect.  I have been texting her non-stop with so many questions and she is so awesome with all he answers and advice.  ME: how much travel toilet paper do I need, what is a solar shower, do you really need a bug net......At one point I said "I am so sorry if I am being annoying with all my questions you don't have to talk to me right now" and her heart felt reply was how eager and excited she is to have a "newbie" to be excited for and she can't wait for me to experience this! I mean, talk about someone truly being excited for someone else...it must feel like christmas morning for her! I cannot thank that one encounter that brought me Kim & put that spark in me to do good for others and put our gift of caring and loving strangers to some serious use!  
This is one of those "People come into your life for a reason, a season or a lifetime.
When you figure out which one it is, you will know what to do for each person." 

I look forward to catching up with her on our 60 some hours of travels and our time in Portland together and invading each others personal space at an ultimate personal level and have our lives changed together! And for all of this I thank her and for our paths crossing! A true showing of people come into your life for some sort of reason!