From Brenna 10/24/2013:

Oh wonderful family!!! I love you all so much!  Some days are hard here, but it's more like hard moments sprinkled over really good days. We watched an AMAZING devotional by Elder Bednar about turning out and being Christlike, instead of turning in and having selfish emotions. It was so perfect for me. He gave such good instruction on ways to study and learn, and feel like the luckiest person in the world. I have a strong testimony that he is a man called of God. Oh, and Hermano Nuñez isn't my teacher anymore, because he's a night teacher, and he was just covering for our afternoon class for a while. I still get to see him all of the time, though and he is hysterical. :) He told me where he keeps his good frisbee in the teacher office, just in case we need it. :D Sometimes, me and the other hermanas get to play outside with Reid, Elder Cornish's son. He has down syndrome, but he blows my mind with how smart and well spoken he is. And such a charmer! He told Hermana Parker that she reminds him of Anne Hathaway. ;) I think she's prettier, personally. lol.

OH here is some surprising news for you. I am officially/unofficially in charge of music at the MTC! President asked me last night if I would do it, and I said of course. I don't know if he is going to actually extend a call of some sort, seeing as we are still in between APs, but I get to pick all the hymns and help other people learn how to conduct and have all kinds of fun. We sing in both Spanish and French simultaneously now that it's Haitians and North Americans running around here. There were only 16 of us here for 2 days while we waited for the next group, and it was so peaceful! Here's some interesting info: only Haitians are called to Haiti! Traditionally, Haitians and Dominicans do not get along, but so far, so good here at the MTC. My language skillz are coming along, but verbs can be hard! :P I'm trying to think of some new and exciting things I have learned to share with you. Hmmm... Oh! Hermano Fernandez tried to convince us of some bogus holidays earlier this week, such as Dia Del Pollo. He said they also have Dia de los Muertos, but it's the day right after Dia del Pollo, because they kill all the chickens. -___- Hahaha. He's always like "En serio, en serio!!" lol. He can't pull the wool over our eyes. I think his favorite word is "chistes" which means "jokes". It's pretty much the equivalent of "just kidding". haha. We take breaks now and again during class, and he always tells us to take "diez minutos de break". Naturally, when Hermana Gawrych is saying something crazy I no longer say "give me a break". I say "give me diez minutos de break". hahaha. His wife is having a baby sometime over the next week! I'm not-so-secretly hoping Hermano Nuñez will sub for him. :D That reminds me, we have three red language books that we use, and Hno Nuñez calls them Charmander, Charmeleon and Charizard, due to their respective size. Every day is a school day at el CCM. :))

My time is about up, but I hope this message finds you safe and happy! Love you all!!!! XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO

Hermana Harden 

From Brenna, October 17th:

The place where I live is right next to the temple! We went there today. It is very tropical here and there are tons of palm trees! I heard thunder in the temple today, which is normal because there is a lot of rain here. Its usually nice when we go outside for gym time, though, which seems to me like Heavenly Father smiling down on his missionaries. haha. I was sick at first, just congestion and cold stuff thanks to my flight, but I am doing so well now! I exercise everyday in the humidity, which makes me feel like my workout is 100 percent more impressive... thats code for SWEATY. haha. The food is heavy and I always feel like death after almuerzo, because I have a rice eating contest... against myself. I always lose. lol. My companion is Hermana Gawrych from Utah and there are only 4 other sisters here besides us! Hermanas Parker, Hilbun, Peña, and Cearc. Hermana Cearc is from Guadalupe and does not speak very much english because they speak french there! I get to use my french with her sometimes and she says I am truly a french speaker. Mostly we all spend a lot of time practicing our spanish!  There are only about 70 of us at the MTC, or as we call it here,  OH MY GOSH you have to know about my teachers!!! They are all hilarious, especially Hermano Nuñez and Hermano Fernandez. Imagine a really sassy latino guy saying the following: "God, give me patience, because if you give me strength, Im gonna KILL SOMEBODY." Hahahaha that is a direct quote from Hermano Nuñez. He is hilarious and plays ultimate frisbee with us. He is a HUGE Harry Potter/anything nerdy fan. Jared would LOVE him. Many of the teachers here are from, served their missions in, or have family in Santiago. It is so cool. We had one of the counselors in the presidency of the area seventy, Elder Zivic, here this week for devotional with his wife. It was awesome. I only have one more member of the area seventy to meet left- Elder Cornish! I love President and Hermana Freestone- every night we have family prayer with all of the missionaries and Hermana Freestone gives us chocolate.  I am learning so much every day. I am so humbled by the people here, who are so funny and kind.  the latino elders are some of the most innately kind people I have ever met. One elder from Nicaragua- Elder Vargas- is SO excited about being a missionary. He makes excited hand gestures and pretends to shout-whisper things, like the names of different missions, or what we are having for dinner, or the names of other missionaries. It is the BEST thing. I die laughing every time. I will try to take a picture of myself imitating him for the next email. Haha. Did you get the district photos from President? Im still that pale, because we only really go outside for exercise. Our days are SO long, but often go by quickly. Every minute is planned, and we have tons of classes and studying. We have been teaching our investigators, or rather our teachers pretending to be investigators, and its nervewracking, but Hermana Gawrych and I seem to be doing relatively well. I wish I had more time to prepare for my lessons, though. My time is almost up!  I will talk to you soon!! XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO Hermana Harden!!!!!!!!

Hermana Harden has landed!!

Our first email from Brenna after she landed in the Dominican Republic last night:

Family!!! We are here in the MTC! They kindly fed us ham and cheese sandwiches upon our arrival. It is SO HUMID. Haha. A nice man named Pedro helped me with my bags at the airport. I thought I forgot my debit card, but it turns out that it was magically in a secret pocket in my purse.  There are 60 of us at the MTC- 19 arrived tonight, including me. I'm in a trio to start out with two awesome sisters!! One will be serving in Puerto Rico, but the other will be serving in my mission!! On my flight from Dallas there were 3 elders, myself, and the area seventy for my mission, Elder Anderson and his wife!! I instantly felt guilty for not knowing who they were, but obviously that is stupid.  It's late here- 11pm. I need to go so I can find my luggage and my room. I will write again next week! I'm sorry this is so all over the place, but time is short and I had so much to tell you! You don't have to post this one to my blog if you don't want to. haha. I love you all so much!! Kisses and hugs and high fives, Hermana Harden