Laanjak: A trip to Wangen

Last Tuesday, we went to the city of Wangen to try to visit some of our less-active members. Wangen is a fairly common name, so here it is actually "Wangen im Allgäu" meaning that it is in the Allgäu area of Germany, known for it's hilly terrain with pastureland and dairy (not as much crop farming). The German word Wangen, actually means "cheeks," and I have no idea why places are named that way.

On our way to Wangen, we stopped by one of our sisters who lives in a care center in Waldburg, Sister Freund, who is 91. We sang to her and gave her the sacrament. She is quite active, actually, and we have a good conversation with her.

In Wangen we found everyone home and had visits with all, though some were short visits at the door. We also looked up some previous contacts in the missionaries' lists. That is where post of the Wangen pictures come from.

On our way home from Wangen, we saw a beautiful sunset and got a few good pictures (one at the end of this post).

Elders George and Thompson in the back seat.

A small store in Wangen - Brugger's gift shop. I took this picture thinking of my grandfather's sister's family. Great-aunt Carrie Myrl married Archie Brugger. I see the Brugger name a lot around here.

The elders and Sister B after trying to contact a potential investigator.

The signpost shows the way to the mini-golf area to the left and pathways 3, 4, 5 and 6 to the right. Straight ahead goes under the highway into the center of Wangen's inner-city.

Sister B on a train in a play area near the wall of the city.

This is a statue of St. Gallus and a bear. Legend has that St. Gallus came from Ireland into this area and into Switzerland about 800 AD and trained a bear to help him get wood and build a cabin. This statue along the road in Wangen actually looks like he is trying to kill the bear with a knife. For a long time I just thought it was a mountain man attacking a bear