Week #5 in Chemnitz.  Reese sent this picture of him with his new companion, Elder Pack.  Reese also pointed out the rather short haircut (after a week of growth) given to him by Elder Ashby, one of the zone leaders.

Reese also sent this picture of a beautiful church in Chemnitz on Tschaikowski straße:

Week #4 in Chemnitz.  Reese's p-day was also his birthday and he wrote that he had received his birthday package.  In sad news, Elder Duncan will be transferred this week on Wednesday.  He is going to Griefswald to be a district leader.  Reese's new companion will be Elder Pack, who is coming from Neinburg, which is near Hannover.  Apparently, he has been out on his mission in Germany since last July.  Here is a picture of him (the elder on the left) when he entered the mission field that month:

This week, Reese sent three pictures.  The first is of his Chemnitz district:

From left to right: Elders Haas, Rückaure, Ashby, Spendlove, Duncan, and Rasband.

He also sent a picture of himself at the Zoo (where they do service every week):

Finally, he sent a picture of an American flag-themed trabant for his old high school German teacher who is a member of a trabant club.  (Trabants are the old 2-stroke engine cars from the former East Germany.)

Week #3 in Chemnitz.  Reese continues to have a good experience with Elder Duncan in Chemnitz.  Here is a photo of Reese, Elder Duncan and a young member of the Church in Chemnitz at whose house they ate dinner on Sunday:

This is a photo of Reese at the Chemnitz Innenstadt, the weekly market in the middle of the city:

Reese reported on visiting with several investigators and on an FHE with some ward members and recent converts that he said was a “fun way to finish P-day.”  He also said on Wednesday they had a district meeting at which he “gave a short spiritual though in German. That was pretty tough.  Then I went on my first Tausch, or exchange.  I went with Elder Rückaure to Mitweida.  It was pretty fun and we met with a cool potential investigator.  We talked all about the Church and Elder Rückaure, a native, was able to answer all of his questions.  Good thing he was native.  Elder Rückaure is really cool too.”  Friday, he wrote, “was a really good day. We started out going to the Tierpark [the Zoo] again, and did some more service.  I think the Elders in Chemnitz have always done service there.  We went to McDonald's after because we had coupons.  My first American fast food since I have left haha.  I ate a lot, but it was tasty.”  Saturday, he said, was “not as good” because “3 of our 4 appointments fell through.”  He then said that “Sunday Church was good. I passed the sacrament. I slowly understand more and more. We went with [a member family] to their house for dinner.  It was a traditional German meal--Rotkohl, Knödeln, and a big turkey leg.  It was pretty good, but so much food.  I wasn't able to eat it all, probably because I was sick and my stomach shrank.  Dessert was this interesting custard thing.  It was still good.  The boys [in the family] are really cool.  We played Skip Bo with them for a little, then went to the Uni[versity] for some potentials.  Not much luck there, except we were able to give a BoM to someone. That was pretty cool.  He read the introduction right in front of us.”  As Reese wrote his email, he noted that “[a] lot of the Elders from our Zone are here in the Internet Cafe.  I am not sure what we are all going to do, but it will be fun.”  Finally, Reese said:  “It is fun to be learning German and more about the gospel.”  Overall, it sounded like a positive week.



Week #2 in Chemnitz. 

In his weekly letter, Reese wrote that the prior week had not been as productive because both he and Elder Duncan were sick.  Elder Duncan got sick on Tuesday and then Reese became ill on Friday and ran a fever most of the weekend.   Another struggle during the prior week was a general bus strike in Germany which made transportation difficult for everyone.  Reese said he is allotted two hours for email and they use an internet cafe.  It sounds like they are doing a lot of teaching and contacting at the Chemnitz University of Technology, an 11,000 student university where the majority of students are studying engineering, science and technology.  They have taught students from India, China and Vietnam and carry Books of Mormon in Chinese and Hindi.  This week, they also did some service at the Tierpark (Zoo).  They moved logs into trucks but right afterwards Reese had a fever of 101.6. He ended up losing about 2.5 kgs, roughly 6 lbs. Reese said that "Elder Duncan was super understanding about me being sick (possibly because he was sick earlier in the week). It was really nice. I hope that I don't get sick ever again, even though I know it will happen at some point. He is a really good companion."  Reese mentioned that sometimes they people watch from their windows:  "Elder Duncan's old companion called that a DDR fernsehen, or DDR TV.  If you didn't already guess, it is because [in former East Germany], they didn't have TV's, so they had to watch out the window."

Reese did not send any pictures this week but the mission president published a photo on the mission blog from a recent zone leader meeting that I thought showed a fun side of the President and the mission.  It was captioned:  "Unapproved But Appreciated Picture."  President and Sister Kosack are in the middle of the photo with the zone leaders.  Here it is:

Overall, it sounds like Reese is doing very well and continues to have a good experience in Chemnitz with Elder Duncan.

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.