Week #13 in Chemnitz (May 20, 2013 Letter).  Before I turn to Reese's letter, I thought I would post two photos of Reese's Chemnitz zone.  They had a zone training meeting this week.  Reese said he enjoyed his interview with President Kosak and that the President "loved" his planner, which was pleasing to him.   Sister Kosak posted two photos from the zone training meeting.  Reese, and the rest of the missionaries seems quite happy.  The first photo is a standard zone picture.  The second is the jovial zone picture.

Here is another picture of Reese, Elder Pack and an investigator at SchlossTeich Lake in Chemnitz:

Reese also sent these two photos.  I'm not sure where they were taken.

Reese's letter this week sounded cheerful.  They had stake conference this weekend.  Chemnitz is part of the Dresden stake.  Sixty missionaries sang at the Saturday evening session of Stake Conference.  The following photo was posted on the mission blog of the missionaries singing.  We can't see Reese but he was part of the group. 

Reese had the chance to go on splits with the APs after the zone training meeting.  They visited a less active member who Elder Bangerter had baptized earlier in his mission and so it sounds like Elder Bangerter served in Chemnitz.  They had a couple of very good "joint teaches" of investigators with members of the Chemnitz ward that Reese seemed pleased by.  Overall, it sounded like a good week.

Week #12 in Chemnitz (May 13, 2013 Letter).  Before I get to the letter, I have to mention that we had the chance to talk with Reese via Skype for Mother's Day on Saturday, May 12.  The technology actually worked quite well.  We were able to patch in Rachel and Blake (although we didn't have a video link to them because they don't have a "Premium" account.  On our end, Mom, Dad, Jimmy (and for part of it, Grandy and Papa) participated.  Even Noosa made a quick appearance.  It was great to see Reese.  He was in a private booth at an internet café.  We also had the chance to say a quick "hi" to his companion, Elder Pack and also to the zone leaders, who were calling home from the same place--Elder Ashby and Elder Dzierzon.  Both of the zone leaders made nice comments about Reese.  It was evident that they were all getting along well.  Here is a photo of Elder Ashby and Elder Dzierzon on a bus:

Reese looked good.  It made us miss him more, particularly when he said that the next Skype conversation would occur at Christmas.  Reese, however, seemed unfazed. In his letter on the following Monday, he said the call had spurred him forward.

As far as the letter, Reese said that although it wasn't a great "numbers" week, they actually accomplished a lot.  The highlight of the week was that Reese had four investigators come to Church.  They really seemed to enjoy the Mother's Day sacrament meeting.  On Wednesday, Reese said that their finding efforts had been somewhat limited because of "himmelfahrt" (Heaven Travel), which he said was "pretty crazy" with a "lot of people [who] were really drunk."  Overall, though, Reese said it had been a fun week that was uplifting for him.

Week #11 in Chemnitz (May 6, 2013 Letter).  Reese's letter this week was cheerful and it sounds like they've been quite busy with missionary work.  They continue to conduct a FHE for investigators, teach an English class and do service every week at the Zoo.  Interestingly, he mentioned that at the end of one discussion, the investigator had a guitar and Reese "played him a song I learned on it. I think he liked that, because he doesn't know how to play it. Did I mention yet that I am sort of learning to play some guitar from other Elders?  I can play 2 pretty cool songs, and it is pretty fun. I can play all right because of the experience with the bass."  (If you are wondering, no, he hadn't mentioned it.  Interesting.)

It sounded like Sunday went very well.  One of their investigators came to Church and had a good experience.  They had a nice dinner with the bishop.  Reese also had a nice compliment from one of the Zone Leaders, who is from the German state of Bayern, about his German being "already way good."  It made Reese's day.  Here is one funny picture that Reese sent of his body with a Karl Marx bust.  I assume this was taken in the City Center.  During the East German era, Chemnitz was known as Karl Marx Stadt.

Week #10 in Chemnitz (April 29, 2013 Letter).   Reese said that his "German is coming along little by little, I think. As they say here, schritt für schritt." They did quite a bit of street contacting this week and had some success--at least they had a number of good conversations about the Church.  A couple of his investigators came to sacrament meeting and had a good experience.  Transfer calls came this week and Reese will be staying with Elder Pack for another six weeks.  He also said that they were splitting the Hanover zone into east and west.  Here is a mission map with the new zones:

Reese also sent a couple of photos.  The first is with him and a brother in the Chemnitz Ward who they visit every week and for whom they buy groceries.  The second is a random picture of Reese with a bouquet of flowers.  I'm not quite sure where the flowers came from but at least it is a picture of Reese.

 

Week #9 in Chemnitz (April 22, 2013 Letter).  No photos this week but here are a few things from Reese's letter to us:  "This week was a pretty solid one. We had some solid lessons, and set up some good stuff for next week. . . .  On Tuesday we . . . went with the ZL`s to Schwester Hartig's. We ate lunch and did service.  She made the best schnitzel I have ever had.  It was delicious. Then we cut down trees and bushes for her. She worked with us. She is 82, has a 9 year old great-grandson, but she works crazy hard.  Also she drives like a 16 year old boy.  It is awesome.  All the missionaries love her, including me. . . .  On Wednesday we had districts meeting, as usual.  After that though, we went on a tausch, and Elder Haas stayed with me in Chemnitz.  He is in the same Golden group as me, so we were scared about our language abilities. We still champed it though. . . . On Thursday, we did some street contacting and had not much luck.  Then we did a street display and tausched back. I was able to give out 3 Books of Mormon. They weren`t full lessons or anything, but it was still really fun.  We taught English class later, and taught about checking into a hotel.  It is always fun to teach English, because the environment is super relaxed. . . .  On Friday, we went to the Tierpark to do service again. We raked a lot of leaves. Then, with the ZL`s, we had lunch. We had these Quark Brötchen things, that were super delicious.  Like Bagel Bites, but better.  We then went to the Uni as per usual. Our 4 appointments fell out, but we were able to teach two other potential guys. It was fun that we got lucky enough to find some other teachable guys.  At the end of the night President called us, which is always freaky.  He asked for Elder Pack and then told him that he was going to be able to go to the baptism in Nienburg, which is across the mission.  It was in 2 days, and he needed to leave on Saturday, the next day.  Elder Pack was super excited.  We had to drastically change our plans. President told me that I was to work with the ZL`s in a dritt for the weekend.. . . On Saturday, we had to cancel a lot of appointments, and we tried to move everything around, but it didn`t all work out. We went and got Elder Pack`s ticket and then went to the Uni. We talked to everyone that we could to move appointments. In the end we taught one guy we didn`t expect to teach, and then had 2 really good lessons. . . .   After the lessons, we went to HauptBahnHof and watched Elder Pack get on a Train. Then I went off with Elder Fuller and Elder Ashby, the zone leaders. We tried by on a bunch of contacts, but didn`t have too much luck. Still it was really fun to be in a dritt, and to stay the night at their place.  On Sunday we woke up and went to church. The bishop gave a great talk about the ward needing to help the missionaries.  It was way good.  I spent one more night with the ZLs, because Elder Pack came back today. All in all, it was a really cool week. We didn`t necessarily have the best luck, but we did give some really good lessons. It was really fun to work with the ZL`s though. . . . I am really excited for our baptismal candidates, and I really hope that they go through."

Week #8 in Chemnitz (April 15, 2013 Letter).  Reese had a zone training meeting that he enjoyed.   A picture of the Chemnitz Zone was posted on the mission blog:

Reese and Elder Pack continue to work steadily, although this week a large number of appointments fell through.  Reese reported a bit about how Fast Sunday works and the power of fasting:  "So after all of our other appointments started falling through, I was getting down.  I was hungry, because I had started fasting.  In Germany, you skip Saturday dinner and Sunday breakfast.  I said a prayer that everything would change, and then things started turning around.  We went to see if a inactive member was there, and he finally was.  We set up an appointment for the next day."  They were also able to give someone a Book of Mormon.
     On Sunday, they had sacrament meeting early and then watched general conference.  Reese reported:  "It was only in German. If I really concentrated, I could understand about 70% of it."  Later in his letter he said:  "I am excited to be getting better at German. I am actually starting to really like Sächsich now. It is funny.  Most of the people that start in Sachsony love Sächsich, but everyone else hates it."

Week #7 in Chemnitz (April 8, 2013 Letter).  Reese sent us this picture of him at the Freiberg Temple:

Interestingly, Mary later received an email from a couple from Orem (Stephen and Ursula Timothy) who had been visiting Germany and had run into Reese and his district at the Freiberg temple.  They sent us the following picture:

Back Row, left-to-right:  Elder Ruckaure, Reese, Elder Ashby, Elder Haas, and Elder Pack.  Front Row, left-to-right: Sister Warncke, the Timothys, and Sister Schmidt. 

Reese later sent us two more photos of his Chemnitz district at the Freiberg temple.  These include Elder Fuller.  It sounds like his district does a lot together because they all attend the same ward.  Here are the two photos:

Here's a bit more of what Reese said in his letter:  "Today we woke up and went to the Bahnhof to go to Freiberg. We got there for the 10:30 session. I did it in German, even though I needed a lot of help with certain parts. It is direct translated on the video, so that was pretty funny.  I really liked how small the temple was.  The celestial room was really small, but really nice. Maybe one day you can visit there. W e missed our train back and had to wait a little bit.  Anyways, this week was a really good one. We didn't really do any finding, but made some good progress with our current investigators. conference is cool, but it kind of makes the weekend difficult to teach people. Oh well.  My German is coming along pretty well. I can't understand everything, but I can say just about everything I want. Most of it is probably not perfect grammar, and talks around words, but I am excited. It is fun to look at conversation you just had and realize you answered every question right and stuff. I like that a lot. I get better everyday, but this week was particularly good. We are supposed to speak German from 9-9 and this week we did really well at it. I kind of want a German that can't speak English for a companion.  That would hard, but really good for my German. I am excited I am getting better."  He concluded with a bit about General Conference and said:  "I am thankful for the opportunity to listen to prophets.  I love everything that we are doing out here, even if it is tough a lot of the time. Love you both a lot."

Week #6 in Chemnitz.  Reese is settling in in Chemnitz.  Here is a photo of Reese and Elder Pack studying in their apartment:

Reese also said that the prior week he had gone to a zone conference in Dresden.  He enjoyed the talks by President and Sister Kosak.  Here is a picture of Reese along with the rest of the Elders and Sisters in the Chemnitz zone.  It's copied it from the mission blog.

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.