Week #12 in Osnabruck (25 November 2013).  Reese learned that he and Elder Mitchell would be staying together in Osnabruck for another transfer.  This will mean 4.5 months with Elder Mitchell.  I'm glad they will both be able to stay in a familiar area for Thanksgiving and Christmas.  Reese truly enjoys the members in the branch.  The ward mission leader sent us a couple of pictures he had taken.  Here's one of Reese, Elder Mitchell, Sister Hayden and Sister Brown at the home of the mission leader.  (The mission leader is taking the photo; his roommate is in the photo on the left.)

Here's another photo of Reese, Elder Mitchell and a young branch member following a sacrament meeting that was a farewell for a young man in the branch who is going to New Zealand.  The second photo gives some sense of where they have sacrament meeting.

Reese finished the Old Testament this week and enjoyed Malachi.  The work was hard--a few appointments fell through--but they did have some nice opportunities to teach and found a couple of new investigators who seem to have real interest.  One evening they went on splits with members in the ward.  Reese reported, in his typical matter-of-fact tone:  "B and I did some doors while M and Elder Mitchell did some other doors. . . .  Apparently I missed some good action. Some kid ran at M and Elder Mitchell with a baseball bat.  First question that came to my mind: how did a kid in Germany have a baseball bat?"  Reese has mentioned they sometimes get sworn at or jeered at but this one caught his attention.  It's a reminder to me of the sacrifice that young elders and sisters make when they serve.

Reese was disappointed that no investigators made it to church but noted that the "sisters had two investigators come though, which is awesome.  They are rolling now."  One of the sisters' investigators is scheduled to be baptized in a couple of weeks, which means that Reese will have an opportunity to do his first baptismal interview.  He's excited but nervous. 

We received Reese's email a little later than usual because they had worked in the morning so that they could go to the Weihnachtmarkt (the Christmas market) that evening.  Osnabruck is reputed to have one of the nicest Christmas markets in the western part of Germany.  Here are a couple of photos I pulled from the internet that give a sense of what they saw:

Finally, Reese mentioned that the branch has a Christmas party scheduled for December 14 and that he and Elder Mitchell will be taking invitations to investigators.  I asked Reese if the branch had a choir so that he could participate in it as they had in Chemnitz.  Reese replied:  "Unfortunately no.  I have actually gotten decent at singing now because we do it so often."  Another wonderful part of missionary service.

Week #11 in Osnabruck (18 November 2013).  Reese had a "pretty good" week.  For P-Day, they went to a zoo in Rheine.  Reese indicated disappointment that the monkeys did not climb on them as promised but he did enjoy being able to enter a goat pen and watching the goats battling each other.  The number of photos Reese took of the goats suggests this caught his attention.  Here is one of Reese and one of Elder Smith, his district leader from Bad Bentheim:

In the absence of monkeys, Reese improvised:

The missionary work continued apace during the week.  They had several appointments and, while knocking doors, found a man whose sister was a missionary in Canada and made an appointment.  Sunday seemed like a good day.  A young man in their ward had his mission farewell and one of their investigators came to church.  They had a couple of other productive teaching appointments that day and Reese concluded "good week, all in all."  I close with a photo Reese sent of the sky near Osnabruck that I thought was beautiful:

Week #10 in Osnabruck (11 November 2013).  From Reese's letter it sounds like he and Elder Mitchell had a good productive week.  On Tuesday they took a double-decker bus up to Bippen (about 47 km from Osnabruck) to help an investigator paint his home and to talk about the gospel.  Here are a couple of funny photos from the front of the upper-deck during the bus ride to Bippen:

Reese and Elder Mitchell taught a "thema" at the zone training meeting on the subject of worthiness and both thought it went quite well.  They also had a fulfilling teaching appointment with a couple of Russian investigators that Reese was excited about.  Otherwise, it was mostly a week of finding.  The work remains challenging and they did not have investigators to church.  Still, the letter seemed upbeat.  My guess is that they are feeling optimism because they continue to work hard--says Dad proudly.

Week #9 in Osnabruck (4 November 2013).  Reese had a half-mission conference in Hamburg this week at which Elder Patrick Kearon and Elder Christian Fingerle (Area Seventy from Germany) did training.  Here is a photo of the missionaries gathered in a stake center in Hamburg.  Reese is five rows back in the middle:

Reese met up with a couple of former Timpview classmates--Elder Randall and Elder Karpowitz--and also saw his former companion, Elder Karlen, who is now serving in Hamburg.  Here are three photos:

To get to the conference, Reese and Elder Mitchell took a train to Hamburg and spent the night there with the zone leaders and the assistants.  On the way to Hamburg, they had a stopover in Bremen and visited a large carnival next to the train station for about thirty minutes.  Here are a couple of photos:

                                                                        Elder Mitchell and Elder Hale

The work in Osnabruck moved forward this week, albeit mostly by way of finding.  Reese and Elder Mitchell continue to work steadily and found a couple of new investigators in Bramsche.  They were excited about it. 





Week #8 in Osnabruck (28 October 2013).  Another solid week of finding, although the work continues to be a challenge.  They did find a couple of new investigators with promise, which Reese was excited about.  They also helped a young man in their branch, who will be serving a mission, fill out paperwork for his visa.  Reese commented that one of the things he enjoyed about the branch was that he was able to pass or bless the sacrament every week because there is only one deacon and one priest.  I like the way Reese concluded his letter because it is an insight into how the work in Germany sometimes goes:  "All in all, a long but good week of finding.  I wish we could have had a little more appointments, but that is just the way it is sometimes.  I guess I am thankful that we can actually find people.  I know sometimes you can do a whole week of finding and have absolutely nothing.  Life is pretty good."  I'll conclude with two photos Reese sent--one of him and one of Elder Mitchell:

Week #7 in Osnabruck (21 October 2013).  This sounded like a fairly tough week.  Reese and Elder Mitchell worked hard but had a lot of appointments fall out.  Still, they had a great experience with an investigator who came to Church and who loved Elder Nelson's conference talk. 

Week #6 in Osnabruck (14 October 2013).  This week concluded Reese's first transfer in Osnabruck.  He and Elder Mitchell will be staying together for another transfer.  Reese seemed pleased:  "All in all, a good week.  The work is going forward, and I am confident we will see a baptism soon.  Just gotta keep working.  Our whole district is staying together, and I think we will all do well."  Reese had a zone training meeting in Oldenburg on Wednesday.  Here is a photo:

Here is a photo of Reese's district (top Sister Brown, Sister Hayden, Elder Smith, Elder Mitchell; kneeling Reese and Elder Hale) taken at the zone training meeting:

And here's a photo of Elder Mitchell resting on the bus on the way home and one of the countryside through which they were passing:

Finally, here is one more photo of Reese's district taken this week:

As seems quite common for Osnabruck given the size of the area, Reese taught a promising investigator couple in Bippen, which required a two-hour bus ride.  Reese went on a tausch with his district leader, Elder Smith (in the red tie in the center above) and they did a lot of successful finding in two small towns--Rheine and Nordhorn.  Reese said they went "fuchsteufelswild," which translates to we went crazy, in other words, it was a great day.

Week #5 in Osnabruck (7 October 2013).  Reese had another solid week of finding efforts.  He indicated that he was beginning to understand why missionary work needed to be evaluated on the quality of the effort rather than the numbers.  It's an important principle and, I suppose, the blessing and challenge of serving in Germany.  One night they did a lot of doors and were rejected and "laughed at" a lot. We admire him for pressing forward even when it is tough.  Reese closed his letter as follows:  "All in all, things are beginning to pick up. We are really beginning to find some solid investigators, and branch is getting behind us.  I am excited to keep pushing forward with the work."  Here's one fun GQ picture of Reese (holding camera) and Elder Mitchell.  It looks like they bought a couple of bow ties for styling in their apartment:

Here is another photo of Reese (holding his camera) and Elder Mitchell cooking some sort of sausage dish in their kitchen:

Week #4 in Osnabruck (30 September 2013).  Reese sent a few photos of his apartment--bathroom, bedroom, kitchen, study and living area, and hallway to their door:

This week Angela Merkel was reelected as Chancellor in the Bundestag.  Reese said that she had campaigned in Osnabruck, although he hadn't seen her.  It sounded like a fairly hard week--lots of finding without a lot of opportunities to teach.  Still, it sounded like Reese and Elder Mitchell were working hard.  Reese was asked to speak in sacrament meeting and spoke on Diligence.  Reese was excited to hear that his cousin, Todd Rasband, had come home from his mission.  For p-day, his district visited a castle in Bad Bentheim, which is where the district leader lives.  It's about 70 km to the west of Osnabruck, right up against the Dutch border.  Here are some photos from p-day.  The first is of his district (minus Reese); then Reese outside the castle; two views from the castle; the district shadows with name tags and the district at outside the castle.

Week #3 in Osnabruck (23 Sept. 2013).  Reese is settling into Osnabruck and seems happy.  They ride bikes some but spend most of their time on the bus or train.  Osnabruck is in the center of their rather large area (1.5 hours by train from top to bottom) and so they spend some time in the surrounding cities and villages.  Reese said that he can't explain it but the food in the West doesn't seem as tasty as the food in the East.  We shall see.  They had a multi-zone meeting in Hannover this week.  Here is a picture of Reese's Oldenburg Zone at the Hannover Conference:

Here is another fun photo of Elder Mitchell sitting at his desk in their apartment.  It's a bit out of focus but the maps give some idea of what a missionary apartment looks like: