This Fargo winter everyone told me about has not really shown itself to me! We have had some cold days, like the -19 degree nights a few weeks back. But there has been little snow fall and the temperatures have stayed above zero, something that is rare for this area in January!!! Below is a picture of the frozen fog we had for 3 days! It made a very beautiful site!
I have been back in Fargo for about a month now after a nice time back home in New Jersey. Thanks to all who gave me words of encouragement and gifts, they were all greatly appreciated!!! As soon as I arrived in Fargo I moved into my new apartment!!! The room they had been preparing for me was finally a liveable space! It is a nice space for me and I am settling into it well!
One of my first tasks when I returned was the coordination of volunteers for the Emergency Homeless Shelter in town. Because of the cold of winter in Fargo, it is deadly for anyone to sleep outside. So, the area churches have opened their doors to help shelter the area’s homeless each night. One church was looking for volunteers so United Campus Ministry decided to lend a hand. I got the word out to students that we needed people to stay up all night and provide hospitality to the guests who would be staying at the church. We were given a night and asked to fill it with volunteers from our student congregation. I immediately heard back from a few students, some who were not really connected to the ministry but had interest in helping. While staying up all night can get boring, the students who helped found it to be a rewarding and uplifting experience. Their service helped provide shelter for many people on a deadly cold night.
Another area of service I have been able to plug students into is helping with the food pantry at Churches United for the Homeless. I have been asked to have a greater role with this area of the shelter to help free up time for other staff to help the residents there. So, on Tuesday afternoons I take students over to CUFH and we help struggling members of the community get the food they need for their families.
There are more service opportunities I am looking to coordinate this semester and I would love to see more students become involved with community service throughout the semester!
Besides working, I have also found time to do some site seeing! I visited the Hjemkomst Center over in Moorhead, MN. It houses a recreated Viking ship built by a man from Minnesota who wanted to build and sail a Viking ship from the US over to Norway. The ship successfully sailed across the Atlantic in 1982. I also got my picture taken with some trolls! (FYI Ashley is not one of the trolls)
I also got to explore the city of Minneapolis, MN! People here will tell you that it’s only a 4 hour drive down to “the cities” (Minneapolis/St. Paul) Just 4 hours!?!?! Another example of the different perspective I deal with here in Fargo. The city was nice, I spent an entire day exploring the Mall of America. It is as big as advertised! But there was no escape from the cold. It was zero degrees the one night with a -20 windchill!!! I will have to return in the summer when it will be more bearable to do outdoor activities. But I did get a discount on my ice cream because of the cold!!!
fargobro 