First Impressions and Updates - Wisconsin

Greetings, Loved Ones!

I've lived in Madison for three and some weeks now, and I thought I'd share my first impressions, as I always do when I move to a new place!

First, living in the middle of downtown is simply inspiring. I can walk everywhere in 10 minutes or less.

Second, everyone is loud all night, until roughly 8 am. Last night, around 3 am, a fight broke out beneath my window between two highly intoxicated college males. While their vocabulary was colorful, somehow it only managed to emphasize their lack of intelligent conversation.

Third, the weather here is quite bipolar. It will be negative 20 F one day, and 40 F the next. Positively bizarre. On that same note, it's not just normal cold here- it's wet cold. The house I live in is closed in by two lakes on opposing sides of downtown- Mendota and Monona. This causes it to be humid cold, not dry cold. Basically, it feels like you're swimming through ice. Like that squirrel from Ice Age. I have newfound empathy for that fellow.

Fourth, everyone who inhabits downtown is either homeless or a college student. Let me rephrase that: everyone here is homeless. Or so it seems, as all I see throughout the night are wandering twenty-somethings asking for alcohol or cigarettes. But here's the bright side: this town caters to that, which means we have establishments like "Insomnia Cookie", which is a restaurant that delivers fresh baked cookies to your location until 3 am every night. Basically, my dream support system.

In other news, I'll tell you what I've been up to here: I am now co-leading a small group, open to the students of UW-Madison, I've started a "Communications" area for the PHOS house to improve publicity and public relations with the campus (as this is campus ministry and so far it seems we have next to no way of efficiently contacting the students), I cook for the base one night a week, and I clean the house once a week with a team of three other humans. I've also taken on planning some of the community meals for the students living in our house and I was just asked today to design a banner for the front of our building to promote our leasing/seeking boarders status. So that's what I've been up to while on staff here. I'm also doing online schooling, taking several courses in Psychology and the like.

I am so happy here. I respect Wheaton and the people there (even more now that I know some of the students were secretly raising chickens in Armerding), but my heart is so much more content here. The Lord has been so good to me. I will continue to follow Him through thick and thin, but right now, it seems my life is quite easy to live. I am happy, I love where I am, I am hopeful for the future, and I am all around pleased with current events. Thank you, Lord- I refuse to accept your blessings without acknowledging them.

Lastly, I have an appeal to you all. My human, Aaron Fischer, is here on a religious volunteering and tourism visa. This means he cannot legally work or study under any accredited organization. What I'm trying to tell you is that he is living off of support as a full time missionary. Here's the thing: he's a man who has to eat and pay rent on top of getting around from place to place via public transportation. It's amazing how these things add up after a time. He needs support. If you'd like to donate anything to his mission, his blog is aaronmichaelfischer.blogspot.com. He has his prayer requests there, as well as a button to donate if you feel so led. Thank you so much my friends. I so appreciate every one of you! I pray the Lord blesses each of you today with unexpected, delightful blessings. Just don't forget to acknowledge them! : )

With Love,
Anna