Week #1 in Chemnitz.  On Monday February 25, 2013 (Reese's P-Day) we received a letter and a couple of photos from Reese.  He was in good spirits, enjoying Elder Duncan and Chemnitz.  It has been cold and snowy since his arrival.  Here is a picture of his apartment, the entrance is in the white building to the left side of the photo. 

And here is a photo of their bus stop near their apartment.  Reese mentioned that he was very impressed with the public transportation system.

Reese said they had a zone training meeting the prior week during which he fell asleep because of jet lag. He also indicated the following about an investigator who he likes: "One of the things holding him back was coffee. To help him stop, we agreed to not eat chocolate for a week so he wouldn't drink coffee. It was my first week in Germany and I couldn't eat chocolate. I still have one more day.  It's pretty tough. Fortunately Haribo [gummi bears] can satisfy my sweet tooth. Anyway, we have checked up on him and he's been drinking warm milk in the morning instead." Ahh, the sacrifices of missionary work. Actually, I think this was a very nice idea from Reese and Elder Duncan. Reese also said that "The Müllers are the ward mission leaders, and they are really nice. They talked nice and slow to me so I could understand, haha. The ward is really pretty cool. I could understand about half of everything that was said, which I think isn't too terrible. I had to bear my testimony in sacrament, it wasn't too bad."

Reese Arrives in Berlin.  On February 18, 2013 (after flying to Seattle, Amsterdam and then Berlin), Reese arrived in Berlin. The President posted a picture on the mission blog of the arriving missionaries at the airport and then in their first training meeting, probably at the mission office.  The mission blog address is: http://germanyberlinmission2012-15.blogspot.com/ or you can just click on this link.  Here are the two pictures:

Here is a picture of Reese (Elder Rasband) with his new trainer, Elder Duncan.  Through the wonders of Google, we learned he is from Roosevelt Utah and he entered the MTC in August and arrived in the field in October.  Reese and Elder Duncan will be serving in the city of Chemnitz, Germany. 

By the way, here is a map of mission zones, which shows Chemnitz in the southeast part of Reese's mission.

Reese's Second P-Day.  Reese sounded upbeat in his letter today (2.15.13) and is eager to leave for the mission field on Sunday (2.17.13).  He is enjoying his companions--Elder Lowry and Elder Varney.  Here is a photo we received from Elder Varney's mom.  To Reese's immediate left is Elder Lowry (from Georgia) and Elder Varney (from Pleasant Grove):

Reese also said that his "district is really cool" and "super fun and nice."  Here is a photo of the whole district sans Elder Varney who was taking the photo:

Here are a couple more photos of Reese's MTC district, this time with Elder Varney in the lower left part of the photo:

Reese's MTC P-Day is Friday.  He sent a short email to us today that contained some of the following information:
* He will leave the MTC for the mission field on February 17, 2013, flying through Seattle and Amsterdam on his way to Berlin.  He will fly primarily with elders and sisters going to the Alpine German Speaking Mission.  He'll be the only elder on the last leg to Berlin.
* His MTC companion is Elder Varney from Pleasant Grove, Utah.
* His MTC roomates are Elder Krieger from SLC and Elder Roberts from Everett, Washington

This is a picture taken on February 6, 2013, just a few minutes before driving down to the MTC.

On October 24, 2012, Reese received his call to serve in the Berlin Germany Mission as a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  Here is a picture with K.C. Miller and Clark Checketts soon after Reese received his call. Both Clark and K.C. will be serving missions in Frankfurt, Germany.

Here are two more pictures with Reese and Mom and Dad:

Reese was pleased to receive his mission call to Berlin.  He loves Germany and the German people.  He and his father had spent a week traveling to Germany soon after his high school graduation.  Here's one picture from that trip of Reese at the Berlin Wall.