Monday, March 17, 2008

My Mentor

After all these years of wanting to do a humanitarian mission of some sort, but not knowing where to begin, it was Karen Boothe, an EMT at MV Hospital, who pointed me in the right direction. Karen, who has been to Africa on four missions has been so helpful and sort of a mentor for me. Karen who was born in Australia, went to boarding school in New Zealand and college in Hawaii has seen the world on many occasions. Karen, has also done several "Iron Man" competitions, need less to say she is in great shape. She is also sharing a huge amount of knowledge with me about the mission plus, climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro, which she has done twice. With her advice in preparing I, and a partner most often Buck, and last weekend Tiff, are climbing a mountain around Goshen once a week. I can now go like hell up the mountain, but I walk like an old lady coming down. Buck keeps telling me I can't just hike to the top of Mt Kilimanjaro and then call him to come get me down, so I'll keep at it. Hiking is something I have found a new love for and I really enjoy it, although I not sure if my poor partners love it.