LAB MTC Letters May 6, 2013

RE: LAB MTC Letters May 6, 2013

Dearest Family,

  What a big week! This Sunday we had mission conference and were taught by all the MTC presidency. It was so powerful. The main theme was trusting in the Lord. This spoke directly to many of my prayers because I need to work on having absolute faith in the Lord and His promises, no matter how many obstacles seem to be ahead of me.

 Last night for Sunday night devotional, Chad Lewis came and spoke to the MTC! When we sat down and I saw his name displayed on the screen, I had a flashback to when I was looking up every single youtube video I could find pertaining to Taiwan. He is a famous NFL football player who served his mission in Taiwan! He is currently the NFL ambassador to China because of his language skills. We loved him! His address was more of a pep talk. He showed us unbelievable pictures of making funny poses with the most adorable little Taiwanese kids and a whole zone of missionaries pedaling together on a busy city street. SO cool! He also likened life's challenges to climbing Kilimanjaro... because he recently summited the peak. yeah- I was going nuts! I was half-hoping I would see Jefe guiding him to the top.... still at the top of my bucket list!

 Also... apparently I dream in Chinese now! Ohhhh yes. We were walking back from the temple this morning.. and one of the sisters going to Toronto, Mandarin-speaking asked "Who was speaking Chinese last night?" I had absolutely NO idea anyone had spoken Chinese the night before because I... as usual.. had slept like the dead. But, Sister Hibbert's face broke into a huge smile and she said "That was totally Sister Barden! She kept saying all these long sentences that made total sense!" I. was. overjoyed! Super excited... something is staying in that head of mine! Apparently, I kept talking asking if someone could allow me to explain something.. and then talking about strengthening and supporting...? I don't know what was going on but I'm pumped! Based on that report, I could probably teach better in my dreams than I can when I'm fully conscious.
I'm hoping I keep it up... if my roommates don't kick me out at some point. :) Between all the night-time coughing and constant Chinese monologuing, it's a miracle they still love me!

ps- BREAKING NEWS- we're in the laundry room and sister Hibbert dyed half of our laundry a lovely light green with her beautiful green skirt- haha - oh how I love sister Hibbert. We're keeping our fingers crossed a second washing will rinse the color out.... yeah, i'm not hopeful- luckily only my darks were in there!

On Saturday night we had a massive kickball match with the older generation that was SO ridiculously fun! ...Sometimes I curse those competitive genes (thanks mom and dad). During the match, I caught the ball a few times and got some people out (good!)...and I also went for a fly ball and was SO INTENSELY FOCUSED on catching it that I slipped and wiped out on the grass!(not so good) Yay for humbling experiences!

I love this gospel- The MTC is saturated with the spirit. This is such a noble and challenging work- I feel so blessed to be a part of it. This week I had the opportunity to study and reflect on Hebrews 11 and Ether 12 side-by-side. I highly recommend it. So powerful, so hopeful. With faith all things are possible.

Love you all so much, I'm praying for every one of you!

Deng JieMei