Week #4 in Oldenburg (25 August 2014).  Another happy week for Reese. Several investigators made progress and one set a date to be baptized.  Reese seemed completely joyful.  He had the opportunity to go on a tausch in Osnabrück.  He said: "At night we rode down to Osnabrück in the train - tried to do some "Rawky" (talking to people in public transport) and nothing came of it unfortunately. Elder Simmons and I rode back up to Oldenburg. I would have wanted to tausch down there, but Elder Savage didnt have his license yet."  The next night, "they drove back down to Osnabrück and spent the night there. (lots of memories - good but melancholy)."  On Friday evening, Reese went on another tausch, this time with Elder Young in Wilhelmshaven, with whom he was very impressed.  Reese concluded his letter:  "Things are really awesome in Oldenburg. We feel super blessed and are loving it!  Cool verse I read this week D&C 3:3. It totally is true this week. Sometimes all we have to do is keep pace with God - he is not the one slowing things down. :)"  Not much in the way of photos this week.  Here's one though:

Week #3 in Oldenburg (18 August 2014). It sounded like a busy week full of missionary work.  They are doing a lot of teaching and meeting a number of persons who have felt the Spirit and have been drawn to the Church.  Reese ended his letter:  "All in all it was a great week. We keep seeing a lot of miracles, and the city is awesome. Thanks for all of the support!  Love you!"  He seems joyful about the work.  He and Elder Savage kindly sent the selfie below just to make sure their parents stay stressed about their driving on the autobahn.  Luckily, the mission rule is nothing over 130 km.

Here is a photo of their Oldenburg district at district meeting:

Week #2 in Oldenburg (11 August 2014). It was another busy week.  One of the fun things to happen during the week was a visit from the Smith Family.  (Professor Gordon Smith works with Reese's father at the BYU Law School.) They were in Germany picking up their daughter, Eve, who had just finished her mission in the Alpine German mission.  Their son, Elder Smith, had just arrived in the Germany Berlin mission and is a "Golden" in Reese's zone.  They received permission for Eve to see their son, lest they go three years without contact.  The Smiths showed up to Oldenburg just as the missionaries were completing a zone training meeting and President Kosak gave permission for them to take Reese and Elder Savage to dinner along with their son and his companion.  Here are a couple of photos from the dinner:

And here is a photo of Reese, Elder Savage and Elder Smith driving away from the dinner.  Apparently, they inherited the sunglasses from the prior ZLs but, as Gordon pointed out, they have embraced the look.

Finally, here are two photos of the zone at their training meeting.  It's fun to see the joy in their faces--both when they are serious and when they are silly.

Week #1 in Oldenburg (4 August 2014).  Reese sounded happy and productive in his first letter from Oldenburg.  The outgoing ZLs had been teaching several persons that Reese and Elder Savage were eager to get to know.  They were excited that four investigators came to Church.  He said that one of the outgoing ZLs, Elder Brown, had been able to stay a couple of days with them in a drit (threesome), which had been very helpful to assist them in getting to know the area.  The week was a bit busy because they had a mission leadership council in Berlin, which required them to leave on Tuesday night and return very late on Wednesday night.  Reese enjoyed the MLC and seemed eager to put the principles to work.  Here is a photo of Reese and the MLC in Berlin and another photo of Elder Savage with their Opal Corsa.  (Reese noted that it was odd to drive again after 18 months of not driving.)

Here are a couple of photos of Reese's apartment building: