Letter from 5/28/2014

Wow. What a week! We had a special training on Thursday, and I did sing, and it actually went well. haha. The elder I sang with is Elder Salazar who listens to lots of opera and deserves high fives from everyone. We sang The Prayer (Charlotte Church and Josh Groban / Celine Dion etc.). This is going to be one of those letters with sporadic pictures. Here is one of me and Sister Parker (my Texas Twin) in transfers!

We learned so many awesome new things from Sister Douglas and President. They are going to obtain a book for everyone that was written by Clayton Christiansen (sp?) who is a member of the Seventy and also a very successful business guy. We are all way pumped. Sunday was Mother´s Day here in the DR. I got to meet my companion´s family! She has a twin, which was funny, because they act almost exactly alike so I already felt like I knew her, but I didn´t. haha. I´m sure she thought I was weird. Here is a picture of me and Elder Salazar, the Dynamic Duo!

My companion started feeling sick over the weekend and was really miserable on Monday, so I called Sister Douglas. President answered and started talking to me in Spanish, so I just responded in Spanish and the whole conversation went that way. haha. He told us to go to the doctor in Santiago, so we went. We spent basically the whole day waiting for lab test results and in the end, the doctor didn´t even know what she had. He just prescribed meds. Note to self: never get sick ever. haha. But we celebrated our adventure with lunch.... at Domino´s!! Here is Hermana De La Cruz- needle marks and all.

I asked her if the pizza was anything like it is here and she said ---

It was one topping, and they totally skimped. There were like 3 pieces of chicken on that thing. Corn on pizza is a big deal here. I hate it. haha. Never ask for that.  And it´s always corn from the can... I´m like PEOPLE. CORN IS NOT OKAY. hahaha.

We met a guy on the way to the doctor. He basically contacted us. He asked us who we were and I asked him if he knew the church and he said that he would love to be a member of our church. My companion and I were like... What. hahaha. We invited him to play basketball on Saturday and to church on Sunday. We are hoping he comes, because in our shock we forgot to set up a visit with him and get his number. Fail. haha. Ohhh man.

I saw a "keep calm" shirt in the plaza in Santiago. It read: I can´t keep calm, I´m Dominican. There was a silhouette of a guy shrugging. hahaha. Ohhhh so accurate. haha. Didn´t think to take a picture, though.

Here is a photo of a painting outside a rec center. There are paintings in every Dominican house, no matter how poor. Normally of fruit. I liked this version, myself. :)

This week I read the priesthood session of conference and the chapter about parables in Jesus the Christ. I read so much that I think I exhaust my eyes sometimes. It´s just that reading these books, talks, and the scriptures is like drinking cold water after running a Spartan Race. (Shoutout to Josh, Micah and Ben!) There´s really nothing as satisfying and refreshing as studying for me anymore. I strongly recommend the priesthood session to all sisters everywhere. I learned SO much, and laughed out loud at President Uchtdorf´s story about Air Force One. Go check it out. Anyway, I love you all and wish you an excellent week!!

Love, Hermana Harden

Aqui estamos en la capacitacion especializada!! 

Translation:  Here we are in the specialized training!!

Letter from 5/21/2014

ALERT- NEWS BULLETIN:

-Primary children from Denton send adorable letter and photo to Hermana Harden

-Member of the Seventy Elder Zivic and spouse attend church in Moca, broken microphone expected to be fixed shortly

-General Conference edition of the Liahona (the most anticipated of the season) arrives in the DR

-Great waters fall from the skies, resulting in new river which runs exactly through all of the Hermanas' area

-Hermana Harden still loves and misses all of her family and friends (changes not expected... ever)

Wow, these weeks go by fast! I'll try to write quickly. We found a new family this week! Well, new to us. They are wonderful and have investigated the church for over a year. The mom doesn't seem to have any interest in marrying the husband, which is the only real problem that seems to be holding them back from being baptized. Hermana De La Cruz and I are stalwart and hopeful.

Like I mentioned in the bulletin, Elder and Sister Zivic came, which is always a special experience. Elder Zivic spoke about how we really can't afford not to live the gospel, in all of its principles. I learned a lot, and I hope the members did too.

It rained a LOT two days ago. We were in the middle of a lesson in a wood house with a tin roof, so just imagine us yelling at our investigator about how much her Father in Heaven loves her. haha. As we tried to walk back closer to the house, the whole main road and several others were underwater. We were up to our calves in it occasionally, and soaked through and through! It is a cool memory, for sure. :)

Wow, I am already basically out of time!! And spacing it... Anyway I love you all and think of you often. I also think of dryers. As in washers and dryers. Drying clothes is quite the challenge with all of this rain! Especially when there is no power and I can't point my fan at the lines in the house. haha.

Oh! I will be singing with an elder in a special meeting tomorrow in Santiago. Hope I don't choke, but if I do, I will just try to remember that my mom still loves me. :) Gotta write a letter to the CTR 7s. I love you!!!

Hermana Harden

Letter from 5/14/2014

WOW how good it was to talk to you all on Sunday!!!!! What else to say??? haha. I hope that you are able to pass through your trials with understanding and faith. I have really learned that Lord knows what He is doing. He knows what our potential is and exactly how to help us reach it. I loved your grad photos, Mom. You are so beautiful. I liked the last one you sent especially and I saved it to print. I also really enjoyed the Frenchy's pic!! I just love that they did that!! Don't worry too much about your kids. We always figure it out. Sometimes we just really want to practice running into a wall before we take the exit. haha. Things are so good here in Moca. We walk soooo much. I paid for a taxi to take us and our groceries to the house today. It was way too much! But it was worth the pain... because we went to La Sirena. haha. There is a Domino's Pizza inside. I have already begun a Pesos for Pizza fund. LOL. Anyway! We started something really cool this week in our zone called mini contacting. We introduce ourselves, testify of a principle of the gospel and invite the person we meet to come to church. I really like it! We have found some people who used to meet with the missionaries this way, and the people at large will start to know who we really are (not another church, or even better, the CIA... haha). I am finally starting to learn some Dominican cooking. I really like living with just one other sister, especially when it's Hermana De La Cruz. She doesn't know what a great missionary she is! She really inspires me to work harder and focus more day by day. We also laugh alot. It's awesome. B) Well... I guess that about does it. I love you people times infinity and beyond. Please always remember who you are and the promises you have made! And me. Please remember me. haha. All my love and a cocotaso. << Good luck figuring that one out. haha.

Hermana Harden

Letter from 5/7/2014

Mom!!!! I wish I had more time to write to you!!! Oh how much I loved receiving this letter... are there even words?? I submit that there are not! haha. Ohhh I love you so much. You guys will just have to keep an eye out for me on Sunday unless you get online here in a few to coordinate. BUT WAIT. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, POOKIE!!!!!!!!! Ahhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!! It stinks missing some of these things, but I just want you to know that I love you and hope you do something really fun and eat lots of delicious food to celebrate!!

Also I DID GET TRANSFERRED. I am in Moca!! It is a bigger city, a little more developed and beautiful!!! I already love it here. My companion is Hermana De La Cruz, who I already knew from being in the same zone before. I think we are going to have a blast... although it is SO weird to live in a house with just one other hermana!! Anyway I had to go say goodbye to everyone, but there wasn´t time and I still missed a few families. I took tons of pictures... There were definitely some tears, but mostly smiles and hugs. Genesis, who is a video learner, just sat on the ground and wrapped herself around my leg telling me not to go. haha. I have some pretty funny pics of that visit. I will have to send them next time, but I just wanted to take a quick moment to tell you all that we are here and all is well! I should have a full hour next week to write.

I love you all SO much. I hope you are all doing well, and mom I will talk to you in the afternoon on Sunday, after church. TALK TO YOU. IN REAL LIFE. haha. I LOVE YOU.

Brenna

Letter from 5/1/2014

Wow everyone is so busy at home! I hope you are all still keeping your heads above water and enjoying it all. As you can see, I am writing today and not yesterday! This is because we went to a secret location, which I will later reveal, for a meeting of just sisters- no elders! Here am I with my companion in the telefonico (cable car) way high up! Then there´s a picture of me at the top with a great view. Can you guess where we are, yet?

This has been a really interesting week. One of our investigators is a ¨movie learner¨ I found out this week! We have started bringing videos about part of our lesson to help her. It is amazing how much better she can understand! I´m so grateful for modern technology, no matter how little of it we use here in the mission. haha. Mao is a really great place to be right now. We find out about transfers on Tuesday, and I´m hoping I get at least one more here with Hermana Loarca and our investigators... not to mention the less actives we are working with. We have been visiting one family for these whole 5 months I have had in Mao, and they came to church on Sunday for the first time!! It´s also fun to be here with the missionaries who are assigned. I just found out this morning that one of the sisters we live with is going to train, so we know that the other sister (Hermana Pierre) is leaving. I´m going to miss her!! The mission is full of changes though. I think it´s better that way. We meet more people, befriend them and love them.

We´re in Brazil! Haha, just kidding! But here is a smaller Cristo Redentor here in the DR. We had a lot of fun taking pictures in this secret location. Here´s a hint- we saw Elder Day! He is still in this area and wanted to see his Mao family. He and some other elders crashed the hermana party.

The other photo was a view from a bridge there at the top with the Christ statue. It almost looks unreal, doesn´t it?? Wow the DR is beautiful. I had the chance to get to know some of the other sisters a little better in this activity. We had a blast, although it was exhausting. haha. Are you ready for the big reveal?? Check out this pic!!! 

PUERTO PLATA, baby!!! Mom, you totally guessed it! We went to the beach!!! This isn´t even one of the prettier beaches up there, but it was close and time was short. The water is such an unbelieveable shade of blue! I found a big piece of coral washed up on the sand which is now sitting on my desk. My companion named it ¨Cori¨. haha. She´s pretty clever. lol.

There were some guys just swimming around in their flippers with these little metal lance things, fishing. They let us take pictures with their catch! I don´t know if you can see it, but there was a little milky white octopus on one end. Man, I fell in love with this place. I definitely want to come back and see it all as a normal Jane with nothing to do. Haha. I hope we can come as a family! It was such a beautiful place, and although it´s warm, there was always a really nice breeze. Sign me up, ocean front property! Haha. What a fun p-day! Wow, this transfer flew by. We are having a lot of fun as a companionship and a lot of success and progress with those we are teaching. I can see how serving a mission prepares one to be a parent in some ways. I just love being able to help these people discover the restored gospel for themselves. It is a privilege and a serious responsibility as well. The gospel is complete and the church is perfect. This life is designed for our success and happiness. We just have to understand what our goals need to be and learn self-discipline. Above all, we need to learn to love. It´s hard, but vale la pena.

I love you all very much. See you on the other side (of transfers)!! haha.

Hermana Harden