Liechtenstein and Apartment Inspections

One of our duties is to inspect 7 missionary apartments in the area. One of them is in our own town, one in Dornbirn, Austria, one in Konstanz, Germany and the rest are in Switzerland. We are suppose to do this every 6 weeks and this was the week for that. After visiting Dornbirn yesterday, we were headed to our Zone Training meeting in St. Gallen, Switzerland. It seemed that the route between Dornbirn and St. Gallen could be stretched a little to take us through the top portion of Liechtenstein. The sun was out that day and we got some very good pictures.

1. approaching the Liechtenstein alps from Dornbirn

2. Entering the Principality(Fürstentum) of Liechtenstein, crossing the Rhein River.

3. Yours truly in Ruggell, Liechtenstein. 

4. More of the surrounding mountains

 5. and more

6. and more

7. Heading across Lake Constance (Bodensee) - Swiss alps in the distance

 8. An interesting building in Konstanz

 9. On the road to Wetzikon.

10. Entering Wetzikon. 

 11, 12, 13, 14. scenes along to way to Ebnat.

Our Branch

Ravensburg Branch has a southern boundary on the Switzerland border and runs about 25 miles north to south and 40 miles east to west. This is roughly the same as slightly larger than Salt Lake County, e.g. Lehi to Centerville and Tooele to Park City. The city of Ravensburg has about 50000 people and is  roughly in the center of the branch. Friedrichshafen on the south, on Lake Konstanz (Bodensee) has about 60000 people, Wangen im Allgäu on the east end has about 30000 people and there are hundreds of towns and little tiny villages throughout. The map here is not really readable, but shows where most of the members live (blue pointers).

Here is picture of our church building. The church is on the top floor of an office building. It is really quite a nice, modern building. Can you tell that the address is 5?

This is the front door, then the hallway towards the chapel, with small rooms on the sides.

This is the chapel.

There is an interesting elevator in the center of the building.

Our branch is supported mainly by the diligent efforts of about 10 people who hold most of the callings. There is no Aaronic Priesthood program and only one young woman and one in Primary. The branch does have the largest family history center in the whole St. Gallen Stake. It is open every Thursday and the microfilm readers and usually constantly busy when it is open. People order films from Salt Lake and do their searching here.

We have two elders here besides the two of us. They are very diligent and are enjoyable to work with. We have gone out with them once doing door-to-door contacting, though that is not generally our assignment. We attend a number of their teaching appointments and that is a great experience.

Ferry to Switzerland, apartment, more pictures

Here are some more pictures.

First showing the inside of our apartment.

As you can see, the living/dining room is quite spacious. On the bottom picture, you can see into the small kitchen and the ajar door leads (right) into the hall with the two bedrooms, bath and toilet.

We went up to the hilltop behind our apartment. This is the view to the south towards Bodensee (Lake Konstanz) and the alps.

These two are of our ferry ride across Bodensee to Konstanz on our way to interviews with the mission president in Winterthur, Switzerland. Above is Elder Pop and Elder Hyatt (l to r). Below is Sister B and Elder Pope watching a seagull gliding along with the ferry boat.

We had a nice dinner with a couple in the branch. The road here is called Panorama Street. You can see the alps in the distance (a plowed field on the right, the homes on the left).

Trip to Munich, getting to know people, etc.

We have been busy getting to know people, setting things up, etc. Earlier this week we needed to go to Munch to get our visa (permission to live in Germany) finalized.

It is interesting. It seems that we have been the exception, rather than the norm in most everything since before we even got here. Our call was long in coming, but we ended up coming to Germany rather quickly once we received our call. Our start here in Germany was a bit unusual. We lived in Munich for a few days and then started our work in Ravensburg (couples are usually sent the same day to their assignment). Our Visa papers usually take 4-6 weeks to complete. Ours came in less than 3 weeks (hence the quick trip to Munich). I received my call as branch president after being here barely one week. We feel that things are being directed to happen in unexpected ways. Most are small issues, but taken together, I believe that we see the Hand of God in it all.

We are really loving the experience of getting to know the people. Everyone is so kind-hearted. We have met some good sisters who are in care centers who cannot get about. They have such wonderful spirits and live the Gospel as best they can being confined. We have had meals with a number of people. We have had everything from a home-cooked Philippine meal, to a lavish German dinner, to lunchs at Subway with our Nigerian young man (new convert), to Burger King and McDonalds, to a bratwurst place in a mall run by Chinese restaurant people. The shopping is interesting. All milk comes in smaller containers than we are used to, 1 liter cartons. They have regular (fresh) milk and shelf storable "haltbar" milk that lasts weeks without refrigeration (and tastes that way as well) but you cannot buy sour cream. Bread is wonderful and bakeries are everywhere. Baking powder only comes in very small packets (about 2 tablespoons per) and baking soda is unheard of (except for chemist supplies).

Last Sunday there were only 12 people at church, including the 4 of us missionaries. We hope things will improve as well visit some of those who do not attend. We have been well-received.

I will post some more pictures in the next blog.

Huzzah! We are online!

As of about 30 minutes ago, we successfully established internet access to our apartment! We should now be able to respond in a more timely manner. Also --  drum roll -- we can Skype!

Now what...

It has been so long, I am trying to remember what we did ...

Around Town

Now you will be able to see a little bit of our area. It is definitely winter here as you can see. Here are some pictures!

This is a picture of me standing in front of our apartment building. We are on the top floor in the opposite corner from what you see here.

This is the back of the building. Our "penthouse" apartment is in the upper left of the picture, on that corner. We have a very nice view of the canyon that leads into the city.

Here is Sister B in front of our garage, the last one of the line of garages. It is a narrow affair and I have only hit the left side mirror twice backing out. We have to some of the snow clearing duties as well (I did take my turn).

This is a pathway we take (a shortcut) to get to the city from our apartment.

Here is the Obertor, the gate at the top part of the city. We go past that every time we walk into the city. Only cars (single file) can go through the Tor, pedestrians have to walk around the tower.

They have a lot of statues throughout the city. Here is Sister B standing next to one showing several people in a circle. Someone put a red knit band on one of the girls of the statue.

Here I am standing by a local tavern, called "Wild Man." Behind me is an old church that was built in the 1300's. Most of the city was undamaged through the wars. This is about as wild as I get.

We are now well established

I can with fair certainty say that we will be here for our entire 23 months. Our first seven days here were a mix of being busy about business and being without much to do. Sister B bought a nice Ravensburg jigsaw puzzle and has been working on it as I work on learning about the branch. We finally got our bank account and are closer to the internet installation in the apartment. We usually visit the branch president's office once a day to do email, etc.

It seems that the Lord doesn't leave us idle for long, though. Last Thursday evening, as we were relaxing and playing a hand of Canasta, I got a phone call from the stake president, from St. Gallen. On Friday, we traveled to St. Gallen, Switzerland for a visit with him.It was our first experience being in Austria and Switzerland (we had to drive through Bregenz, Austria to get to St. Gallen, Switz). Then, yesterday (Sunday) I was sustained and set apart as the Branch President of the Ravensburg Branch (Zweig). What a humbling experience! The stake president and high council were concerned about what to do with the branch. The former president had been serving for 5 years (he only expected to be doing it for one year) and he lives in a town south of St. Gallen. He was at one time the stake president. It was a great blessing to speak to the congregation and bear testimony, all in German, and feel the love and support of the people.

Sister B and I traveled with the Elders Sunday afternoon and visited some members who live in care centers. We met some wonderful and faithful older sisters, one who could barely talk and the other who did very well at speaking, though it was very heavy in the schwäbish dialect. It was a wonderful experience.

Our car is equipped with a GPS (called a Navi in Germany). The previous couple named her "Tina" (for a tempermental cow he once had) and we were very grateful that Tina helped us get around the local countryside and down through Austria and Switzerland. She speaks with a Britisch accent and warns us about the speed limit changes as well and the intricate road systems. It seems that the speed limit can change many times within a few short blocks. Now that we will be visiting members a lot more, I am very glad that we have Tina.

The Lord blesses us and we see His hand in the work here. We hope you all can feel a little of the love we feel in our experiences here.