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!!!!!!!!