Departure Date Confirmed!

Much has changed since I wrote the first blog. Details have come together, after quite an emotional week last week, I was informed of my arrival date in Tanzania today. I will be leaving Monday October 20, 2008 and will arrive in Dar es Salam to spend a week with Margaret who is staff of CRWRC. She will orient me to the culture and learn more about what the organization is doing in Tanzania right now. Then we will fly to Mwanza, which is where I will be volunteering and meet up with the partner, African Inland Church of Tanzania, to arrange accommodations and finalize details with my work permit.

After much prayer from family and friends, I begin to prepare with confidence in the Lord. I have three weeks to get final details accomplished and say good bye to close friends and family. The encouragement that I have received over the last few months has been overwhelming especially in relation to my support raising. I was blessed to have a job this summer and I got to know many of the staff and residents at the retirement home I worked at. The last week I was there, they had a raffle for my trip, raising several hundred dollars, Praise the Lord! One situation while I was working touched my heart and I will never forget it. There was a resident who had take a lot of time since he moved to Sunrise earlier in the year to become involved in a spiritual way. He was actively involved in the Bible Study and always interested in how people were doing. I shared my fundraising profile with another resident and she passed it on to this man. The Lord worked in an incredible way that just a day before this resident suffered massive haemorrhage in his brain, he donated to my trip. I was working over the weekend and we were supporting him through palliative care and comforting his family. I went home and received an email update on my funds and it showed that he donated. I was in shock to see his name on the list and that he gave, supporting my efforts in going overseas. He would never know how he affected my trip, what an inspiration he had been to so many people and now one more. I was able to say thank you to him in the last hours of his life as he passed away just a week after his stroke, and know that he is going to be watching over me and supporting me while I am gone. Thank you Jim.

This picture is of the sign that the staff at Sunrise created to raise funds for my trip. Thanks everyone!

Please continue to pray that the next several weeks will be filled with good memories, good conversation and good worship of the One who controls it all. The One who hears every prayer and every cry. Our Father who provides in every circumstance.

“I love the Lord because He hears my voice and my prayer for mercy. Because He bends down to listen, I will pray as long as I have breath ... And so I walk in the Lord’s presence as I live here on earth,” Psalm 116

Please email me or give me a call before I leave, I would love to connect with you. If you are available to come out we will be having a Farwell Party on Saturday October 11th, 2008 at 5pm in Markham at our new house. If you want more details and would like to come to send me off, please email me asap.

God bless and farewell.

Erin

First Blog

Hello Everyone,

My name is Erin Carter and this blog will take you through my upcoming trip to Tanzania as I volunteer in a mission hospital for 6 months. The adventure that many of you are joining with me on has begun, as I continue to prepare to leave for Tanzania in the next few months.

I just graduated from Nursing at Humber College and you can see an exciting picture of my boyfriend, Nishant and I as we celebrate such a special day. After four years of University I am excited to move on to the next stage in my life. I will be volunteering through the Christian Reformed World Relief Committee and will be partnering with an organization in Tanzania once I get there. The Lord continues to provide for me as I have had the opportunity to work full time this summer as a Nurse in a private retirement home. I have enjoyed my time, getting to know a wide range of staff members and residents. Along my path, I have met several people that have grown up in Tanzania, the city I am going to be moving to. Around the lunch table, they have been able to share stories of the beautiful country that Tanzania is and how I am going to have such a great time overseas. With all the blessings that I have received in the last few months, specifically financially I continue to pray that the Lord will provide a work permit. I have approximately $2000 more dollars to raise for my trip, which is a huge answer from the Lord as at the beginning of the summer that goal was much much higher.

At this time, I am requesting that all of you would join together with me in my fervent prayer for the country of Tanzania. Pray for those that I will meet, care for and build relationships with. Pray for the government as they process my work permit, that the process would be smooth, proceed quickly and that in due time I will receive notice back that it is clear. Pray that the next few months as I prepare to leave family and friends at home, I seek the Lord when I am face with fears of leaving. Pray that He will be my strength when I am weak.

I hope to updated this blog fairly often. When I am in the field I am not sure what my Internet connection will be like, but I will be aiming for at least every two weeks. I would love to receive emails or snail mail from all of you. My current email address is erin_carter88@hotmail.com and my mailing address will be CRWRC – Tanzania Old Bagamoyo Rd, Mikocheni B, Plot #62 P.O. Box 7615, Dar-es-Salam, Tanzania.

If you have any questions or would like to meet up before I leave, please don’t hesitate to drop me a line. I finish work on September 25th, 2008 and then will be making last minute arrangements before I leave. We are hoping to have a going away party on the weekend of Thanksgiving! Remember Saturday October 11th, 2008. More details to come!

Thank you again for joining with me. May the Lord continue to bless you.

“The faithful love of the Lord never ends! His mercies never cease. Great is His faithfulness; His mercies begin afresh each morning ... The Lord is good to those who depend on Him, to those who search for Him. So it is good to wait quietly for salvation from the Lord.” Lamentations 3:22-23, 25-26