The First Few Days

We’ve been in South Africa for four days now, and it almost seems like I have been here forever. Everything is new and odd, and at the same time, rather familiar. The oddest thing of all is the sun and moon. Because it is Winter, the sun is low on the horizon as it moves across the sky, but it is low on the Northern horizon, not the Southern horizon, so I constantly have the odd feeling that the sun is rising in the West, and setting in the East.
Today I may have managed to orient myself slightly better, because I unconsciously pointing north when talking about the north instead of pointing towards one of the other cardinal points on the compass.

OAMC and Arise O Men just finished their third day of rehearsals, and it is amazing. Lou, OAMC's conductor, and Mokale, Arise O Man's (the chorus that we joined here in SA) conductor took turns conducting today, depending on what type of work the guys needed to do on the various pieces of music, and it was interesting observing how their styles differed.

But the music! I must rave over this. The ladies especially tend to be relatively busy while the men rehearse; running to and fro in meetings, preparing food, taking quick trips to the grocery store, sewing buttons back on, fetching water and cough drops for the singers, and much more. However, there are moments where everyone stops dead in their tracks because now the two choirs (plus our two guys who traveled down from Romania to join us: Allin and Dr Petrea) have suddenly begun to sing as one voice.

The different parts can clearly be heard, but all the voices--American, South Africa, Botswanian, and Romanian--are all singing in perfect sync, breathing pauses are perfectly timed, crescendos are breathtaking, and when Lou or Mokale's conducting becomes tiny and precise, all the 150 mens voices sink to barely above a whisper, and all the listeners hold their breath as each note is hit perfectly.

I got goosebumps so many times today, and not once was it from the weather. The most incredible song of the was when the entire choir stood in a circle around the inside of the church holding hands and sang Go My Children as their last song of the rehearsal, and all the ladies were sitting inside the circle, listening in utter rapture. 

Surround Sound has nothing on being inside a circle of OAMC and AOM men singing their hearts out. 

This is truly the single most inspiring and incredible trip that I have ever been on. As far as I know, not a person is here who wishes that they had remained at home. The only danger is that we'll arrive back home 50 pounds heavier, since we're eating about the same amount as usual, and sitting far, far more than--I, at least--am accustomed to.

And now, my least favorite part. Guys, we could really use some funding. Not only myself, but a lot of the South African guys are really, really struggling to get all the funds they need to travel. It will cost each of them about 5,000 rand to travel with us, which is about $700. Pray for us! Tell your churches, friends, and rich people looking for something to donate to that is tax deductible about this trip! It is SO worth supporting.

Checks can be mailed to:

OAMC
5575 Fruitvale RD NE
Salem, OR 97317-3334

with a little note that says "The OAMC member who asked me to make this donation is Sarah Herbert."

HOWEVER, there is an easier way to donate, and it's via debit or credit car. It is also probably the easiest and fastest way to make a donation. Here is the link for the instructions:

http://www.oamc.org/PayOnline.pdf

And here is the link to the page where you can make the donation:

https://www.wallawalla.edu/epayment/index.php/payment/

Thank you all so much! I'll update as often as I can, which may prove tricky, since we'll be traveling a lot, starting on Weds morning, and no idea when I'll be able to get online. Stay safe, and keep reading about my Africa adventures! :)

The OAMC official blog can be found at http://oamcnews.blogspot.com/

Nearly On My Way!

These last few days have been crazy. Packing, finding the last few things that I need, getting my mail held, giving away all my perishable foods, cleaning my apartment, THEN there was the Car Debacle yesterday.
That tale is as follows:
Oh yes. Long story forthcoming.

THE CAR DEBACLE

So Hannah (from now on known as Pixie) (my lil sis) needed to be driven to Idaho (4 hours away) where her next conservation-work session in the woods was starting. So I emailed her bf's aunt and uncle (who are in Romania currently) and asked if I could borrow one of their cars to take her. They said I could take their 1989 Subaru Justy but to be careful because they didn't know if it was really reliable or not, and the oil leaks.

No problem, thinks I, the oh so clever one. I'll just add coolant, and oil, and take some more with me, and all will be fine!
2 hours down the road (roughly 10am) and Pixie turns to me and says "Thanks SO much for driving m...." and trails off because suddenly the Justy makes a funny noise, like the gears aren't quite matching up anymore. Expert me on the stick shift lets off the gas and hits the clutch; noise quits. Release the clutch: AWFUL NOISE AND A BANG AND SMOKE APPEARS AND METAL FALLS OUT FROM UNDERNEATH THE CAR! D:

At this point I'm rapidly slowing down from 75 miles per hour, hitting my hazard lights on, pulling off the freeway and putting the car in neutral. We examined the car cautiously because all the oil was pouring out of the bottom of the engine block and it was spattering everywhere and it was HOT. We deduced that the engine block exploded. Asploded. I like the sound of that better.
IT ASPLODED EVERYWHERE.

I called my cousin & his (eight months adorably pregnant) wife who, luckily, live about 30 minutes from where we were and explained (asplained ) the situation, including that Pixie REALLY needed to be in Weiser, ID in only about 2 hours and the car ASPLODED.

He, being awesome and stuff, got out of bed (because he works the night shift as a train engineer) and came and found us about an hour later, and towed the Justy back to his house and his (8 months adorably pregnant) wife followed him in another (stick shift) car which Pixie and I promptly moved into, along with Katie, who came along for the ride, and rapidly drove to Weiser. We took a wrong turn twice and lost a half hour each time, because we had only slept 3 hours last night. So even though I've been there repeatedly, I took wrong turns. :(

We got to the campground only TWO hours late! :clap Her bosses didn't care much because it had been an emergency. Then I had the worst time trying to leave her, because I absolutely adore the program she's doing (have done it twice before) and if my back hadn't gotten messed up, I'd be 2 weeks into a session of my own right now. So I ran off and drove away before I could start crying in front of 40+ strangers, and nearly fell asleep at the wheel during the 30 minute drive to the nearest food place, where I eated. Then I took another wrong turn, lost an hour, and turned on my German-learning CD's for half the way back to my cousin's house.

Where my mom came with a dolly and gave me a ride back home along with the (most likely totaled) car.

I emailed the owners of the car (who are in Romania, recall) but no response yet. I'll see them on Weds in South Africa, and am a bit nervous. :look Even though it's not my fault that the car committed suicide.
So that was my day on Sunday. Quite stressful, and I barely got back in time to go take care of the livestock that some friends asked me to take care of while they were gone to the Oregon Campmeeting. 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Since last (maudlin) post I have raised (to my best estimate) roughly a quarter of the total amount that I need. Ergo: $500 out of $2,000 so far. It may be a bit higher or lower than that, but at least I have some of it.
I found out a few days ago that I don't have to have quite all of it raised before leaving; the amount I have may carry me through, but OAMC is dead broke right now and as much as I can raise will be gratefully accepted.
So thank you so, so, so much everyone who has already donated, prayed for me, and spread the word around; it is forever appreciated.

For everyone else: CHALLENGE.
I dare you to convince 5 friends to donate $10 each, and you yourself toss $10 in. Put it all in a check and make it payable to "OAMC. Then you can send it to:

OAMC
5575 Fruitvale RD NE
Salem, OR 97317-3334

with a little note that says "The OAMC member who asked me to make this donation is Sarah Herbert."

Seriously, it wouldn't take more than an hour of your time, it can go in over anytime in the next few months, and every single dollar raised counts tremendously.

A (Somewhat) Unexpected Devastation

I had secretly been expecting this, but had been so strongly hoping that this wouldn't be the case that it was still blindsiding. I leave for the Portland airport to go to South Africa (theoretically, now) on Monday night or Tuesday morning. That is five days away.
And today my invoice for the fundraising results came in and I found out the results of my tireless fundraising and 30+ letters I had sent out. $0. I raised $0 dollars so far. Truly, I know that OAMC is run by all volunteers, and that there was probably no way that I could have gotten this invoice before now, but still it would have been nice to know that I owed the the entire amount before now! This is crunch week. No idea how this will work out.
Thankfully I had the funds to buy my own plane ticket a few weeks ago, which means that I need to somehow come up with *only* $2,000 more in less than a week. This is the most stressed I have ever been in my life.
It is just incredibly depressing that somehow, even despite doing everything correctly, I've failed somehow. Right now it's impossible for me even to think of logical options. Choices. How can I do this?
The worst is knowing that somehow, this is failure.

Four weeks ago my plans for right now were to be working for a company called NorthWest Youth Corps (NYC) doing trail conservation work in a Wilderness area. It took a combination of realizing that my back was not well enough to do this, and feeling incredibly drawn to OAMC's (Oregon Adventist Mens Chorus) mission in Africa while helping the staff ladies at a rehearsal plan to change my plans. The sermon given that night at the rehearsal clicked for me. I thought to myself that I was being drawn to this for a reason. Things got even more amazing when I got a school grant that I was not expecting from last year's school that allowed me to buy a ticket without relying on fundraising for that.
Even more exciting was when I realized that I could visit a close friend in Germany on the way home with little to no extra expense and hassle.
It seemed like a supernatural thing,, how easily things were falling into place.

Except they didn't.

This is such a depressing post that I ought to delete it and write something peppy, uplifting, full of Bible verses and reasons why you guys ought to help me out, because, seriously, I have over 300 facebook friends. If each of them sent me $10, that would be more than enough. If all of you got a friend to send me $5, and you each sent me $5, that would also be more than enough! If half of you sent $20 each, I'd be covered with some extra to help someone else go.

This isn't eloquent, inspiring, or even fluent. But this is honest, true, and exactly how I feel right now. Helpless. My excited fundraising letter completely failed. This will now take a miracle to pull off and I don't know how to make it happen.

My brother fundraised enough to get himself to a mission trip in Alaska where he is right now. We did the exact same things. What went wrong for me? He's gotten the support of his community twice to go on different mission trips; the previous one was in Albania. My last mission trip to Mexico in 2008 actually went poorly also. My fundraising efforts then also failed, and I barely managed to scrape it all together by working several summer jobs at once, and borrowing some money which I paid back later that autumn. So I must assume that it's me; something I'm doing is wrong.

If you want an excited, happy reason why you should help contribute or donate somehow, the first post in this blog explains all that.

For all of you that prayed for me, can't afford to help, kept me in your thoughts, or told your friends about it, thank you so very much. Keep praying for me. But I could also use some fiscal support.

Early Monday Morning

It's 6:09am on Monday and I am wide awake. Not very odd, considering that last night I never went to bed. It was my full intention to crawl straight into bed after checking my email and reading a chapter of a book, but suddenly the 800 page book I was about 1/3 of the way through was entirely gone, another e-book of about a fourth of the length as the first was open on my laptop, then I was finishing said second book, and I glanced outside and scared myself.

There was sunshine! Light! What was this? It turns out that I still rather thought it was around midnight....when in fact it was a little bit before five. So I finished the last two chapters of still another book while eating my cheerios, and planned out my (very busy) day. So far my schedule is thus:

• Call Amtrak and find out how to refund the tickets that I'm not going to use to get to Eugene this weekend. (done!)
• Go to my mother's house and pick a few gallons of raspberries to turn into jam.
• Make said jam.
• Arrive at my boyfriend's house by noon to talk on Skype with his (foreign exchange student from 2010-2011 school year) sister in Germany.
• Make bread with the boyfriend's brother's girlfriend. (complicated, I know!)
• While the bread rises, print out and write up more fundraising letters, find addresses, address envelopes, and put all of the above in the mailbox.
• Print out information from my college to send off to financial aid.
• Go by my doctor's office, find out where my inhaler prescription went, and get a current order for physical therapy for my back.
• Before 5pm arrive at the post office and put the Amtrak tickets for refund and the college information in the mail on overnight shipping.
• Decide what to make/buy/send my sister & her boyfriend (who are both working in the woods for a conservation corps, on different crews) because the package needs to be sent Tuesday afternoon.
• Clean up my house before bed (bedtime will be no later than 10pm...since I didn't sleep at all last night.)

And I promise that at least three fourths of the things on this list will get done. Really. When I itemize things like this, I actually tend to get results. It is my current hypothesis that when I write out a list of things to do, as long as most of the items have a solid deadline of less than two days away, pretty much everything gets done.

That is why I can be so bad about making baby blankets for people and getting them out within a relatively short time of the baby being born, because the due date is so far away, that my brain thinks that I have plenty of time to complete the task, right up to a week before it needs to be there and my brain finally realizes that it's totally messed up and this project needs to be worked on right now.

So today will be a very full, long day in which crucial tasks to my trip to South Africa (from now on to be referred to affectionately as "Seffrica"). Still stressing me: I need a plane ticket in extremely short order, and have no idea where the cash is coming from. Hopefully the financial resources will show up soon! There's no way that I would have such a strong spiritual pull towards this trip if God wasn't planning on making sure I went on it.

Bless you all.
    Sarah Herbert








 Again, the link for my fundraising letter and donation form is right here. If you don't want or need a tax deduction, the donations can be sent directly to me, if you feel so led, at:


Sarah Herbert
2222 E Isaacs Ave
Appt G102
Walla Walla, WA
99362

Prep Work For Fundraising Letters

Two days after my first post I spent the entire day working extremely hard. My boyfriend's mom, Estée, gave me a copy of her fundraising letter, so I revised and edited it to be my own.
Well, actually I made two versions of it and am working on a third. I have divided all the people to whom it will be sent into one of three groups, and each group has a letter specifically tailored towards them, plus each letter is also personalized. It was an enormous amount of work, but that is not all I did.

Earlier in the week I had compiled a list of over 30 people to whom I wanted to send the letter. Since I don't even own a phone book--handwritten or official--I went to whitepages.com and started looking each individual up and copying their address down with a half-broken pen onto envelopes, writing my return address, and stamping them, then sorting the envelope into the right stack.

Needless to say, it was labor intensive. I hand addressed 35 envelopes, stamped them all, wrote up two versions of the letter, sorted everything, and headed over to the boyfriend's house to use their printer. That was fun. Kind of. I had to personalize every letter to the recipient before printing it out. I ended up printing out, folding, stuffing and mailing about 25 letters that day and still have not gotten around (5 days later) to printing out the 10 others, sending them, and finding addresses for the additional 20 people that I have on my list, but I will do that later today after I get some sleep, promise!

 In the meanwhile, I also helped a friend handwrite addresses onto dozens of envelopes for her wedding invitations, stuffed a few hundred fundraising letters for OAMC, and generally ran around busily. It has been a productive week! I even had time to make Banana-Raspberry bread & muffins. They were delicious.

My main stress right now is that I need to have about 2k raised within about a week in order to get a plane ticket in time. Scary!!!