A missionary... at last!

I was set apart as a missionary tonight. It was pretty amazing. The stake presidency came over and the stake president himself did it for me. It was a very spiritual event. He told me to work hard and it would be fun for me, even though it is called missionary work for a reason. He said there would be difficult times, but to remember my loved one's prayers for me. I felt so special and loved.

Another big event was my farewell. It was awesome for several reasons: 1) I made a pretty good talk that went for over ten minutes. 2) My dad spoke, and he did awesome! 3) My dad wrote a song, and it was great (he must have taken a leaf from my book, or I from his).

I also got to go on a final date on Friday, which was definitely a must. Herer's a picture:

chronicle of my first date- March 2006

My first date was actually in the works from February, which may sound strange, but the mystery will soon be revealed.

I must partially accredit my first date to a Mexican man named Charles Abejo. He basically set it up for me in a Mexican restaurant called Fiesta Mexicana in Cortez. You see, I was there with my spanish class for a fiel trip my sophomore year, right after my sixteenth birthday. When I went to pay for my meal, I strategically placed myself behind a beautiful young lady named Mandy Bradford to enjoy the view. Charles was standing in front of us and apparantly noticed my interest. He said something like, "Oh, are you two dating?" After I assured him that we were not, he made Mandy promise that she would go on a date with me. After she swore her life away to him, he allowed us to pay for our food and leave, followed by a date almost a month later to Ice Age, The Meltdown. And so, this post is to you Charles... Thanks for setting up my first date.

This date was followed by about 50 more in my high school career, including my marathon of 30 dates in 30 days, with 23 different girls the summer of my 16th year. So thanks to all the girls who participated in that as well.

Timberline '09

I got to spend a week on the mountain (Probably my favorite place in the world) this week, staffing Timberline. so this week went by really fast.

One of the funniest and greatest of the week's experiences was on Wednesday, when Brother Larson, decided to pull out the ducks in the bahtub joke ( Two ducks were in a bathtub, when one duck looks at the other and says, "pass me the soap. So the other duck replies, "what do I look like, a radio?" which made him burst out immediately into fits of laughter. The rest of the night was filled with kids trying to figure out the meaning of the joke, and another adult staffer making jokes reffering to ducks, such as: Why did the duck buy glasses for his feet? A- to improve his website! Also, some youth staff tried to make jokes- emphasis on the try. It was probably the funniest night I have had at Timberline (It was very late by the time the kids were through with moolage- a form of make-up that makes you look injured- and asking their questions).

Another excellent experience was when a couple of adult staffers (the cooks) and I did the "Edjumacated" skit. I hadn't seen it in forever, and Joel Palmer was hilarious, I couldn't stop laughing at him ( the reason for this must have come from his reputation) Basically, Joe Hurst sent me to get edjumacated, whereupon I ended up in school with Joel. He asked me questions like "where was the battle of Bull Run?" and "How many cups are in a gallon?" I answered with "Oh, that was in the pasture. It got so bad that my dad had to shoot one" and " Well, my grandma puts two cups in her kettle, so it must be two!" Then he would look confused ( which was hilarous, at least to me), and reply, "o.k." or "That's close enough". When I got home and told "pa"( in a southern accent, I might add) that I learned that pie are squared, which I argued profusely about with "oldie". Joe told me that if I couldn't get those "gal dern ideas out of my head, he'd have to beat them out of me, which he did.

Eye Surgery

Well, it turns out the path to Richmond isn't a straight path. It's taken an unexpected turn for the worst as of late. The day before I came home from College I went to the eye doctor to get my sight checked for an extra pair of glasses for the mish. The doctor found that my vision in my left eye (historically my weaker eye) had gotten worse. He expected the worse so asked his son (also an eye doctor) to get me an appointment with another doctor at the Moran eye center. After a frustrating four to five hours, about an hour of which was spent staring into the brightest of lights, they deduced that my retina was detached. Four days later, I found myself on an hospital bed, wearing one of those annoying gowns they make you wear. 7 hours after arriving, he began the surgery, and I finally left the place, very groggily I might add, at 10 p.m. To add insult to injury, the very next day they put 2 shots in my eye, plus a gas bubble, which meant I had to lay on my right side 24/7 for a week. That's 168 straight hours with few or no breaks. The result of the whole thing is that my departure date is set back for awhile, which means more waiting. waiting patiently is not something I do best. What makes it worse is that basically all my friends are gone, which means Blanding really is bland right now. It's needless to say, but I'm gonna say it anyway: I'm ready to get outta here! And Kudos to my parents, who have been there with me and dealt with my extended stay here, even though I'm probably more than a little annoying with my impatient manner.

Finals and Mission call

You know it's time for finals when you walk outside and it's warm, but people still have pained looks in their eyes, if you even see them at all. That's this week. Finals are here! Lucky for me, I already had 4 of my 7 finals done before it even started, which pretty much rocks. I think I'm gonna do pretty well, even though Geography killed me. I've had a great year and had a lot of fun, but I am so ready for a two year break (If you could call it that). I can finally say, " No more pencils, no more books (besides church ones), no more teachers dirty looks!" I've only got three and a half weeks til my mission! Look out Virginia, here I come! Oh, did I not mention that? I'm going to Richmond Virginia on my mission!

BYU vs, Utah Basketball

Anyone who knows anything about BYU or Utah knows that BYU crushed the U in Basketball this weekend by a whoping 13 points, 63- 50. As a BYU fan, I am very proud of my team. I was very glad they won, due to my sacrifices. I wanted to get a good seat at the game, so I decided to camp out the night before. I thought it would be a fun thing to tell my future kids about. So I found a couple of friends and set up camp. I went to my dorm, grabbed another jacket and thin blanket, and headed out. Little did I know it would be freezing that night! I went to bed at four, after several movies and a dance party. The people I was with had a couch, so I thought I'd sleep there, so I layed down. About five minutes later, I felt a tap on my shoulder, and an irrate voice saying to "get out of my bed, I've been here since 2!" (I had expected this, but I thought I'd try my luck) So I put my pillow and blanket on the cold cement and did my best to fall asleep. I got 4 hours of sleep( if you could call it that) and woke up with frozen feet. I was so tired that at about ten I fell asleep for another hour, making a grand total of 5 hours of sleep, but it was worth it! AWhen the cutters started coming, I thought I'd look for more friends closer because of the huge influx, and son found(because of my enourmous outreach program) a few friends close to the door. When they opened up the doors, people flooded in, but I was among the first hundred! I made my way to the bottom and soon found a seat that was basically on the court, and where I recieved a "Century Game" hand towell to cheer my team on to victory. A great, but kind of long day...

A reincarnaction of Senior Year

For the ward talent show, I decided to do the same thing I did for Mr. San Juan. For those of you that weren't able to see it on either night, or even if you did, here ya go!

The wait plus Valentines week

so my call is here... kinda. I had it sent home to Blanding and it will be here on Friday! If you could come to Bdge lobby at BYU at 5 on Friday, I would love it. I'd like everyone that can to be there! And if you think I'm excited, you should see my dormmates!They are going crazy, not knowing where I'm going! On a different note, this week's Valentine's day, and my ward's having a valentines competition. We get points for doing things like hugging or kissing the cheek of a complete stranger, dating, or asking someone on a date, or giving flowers or valentines to others. I am going to use this as an excuse to meet and hug and/or kiss many new girls(as if I need one).

My analogy

When I was home for MLK day a few weeks ago, I heard an analogy that I have taken and expanded for personal use. I think it is appropriate for the stage I am in right now in my life. The speaker compared a mission to a tall mountain that you are about to climb, and I compare it to the hike of Y mount I took on my birthday. (My continuation starts here) I feel like I am staring up at the top of that mountain, and thinking, "Oh crap! It seems so daunting and even treacherous right now. I am very excited to begin my "climb", but I feel insignificant at this moment. In beggining the hike, it was hard work. There were people there, but I had to and have to do it mostly by myself. There was snow on it, which made it that much more difficult. I compare the switchbacks to the points in my mission( i.e. 6 months, 1 year). Then I'll reach the end of the hike( or mission) and look how far I've come, how much good I've done, and hopefully know that I've done the very best I could. Every slip ( trouble with companions, getting up on tmie, the language) I experience on my way will be worth it. Then comes the fun and easy part of the trip. I'll get married in the temple and start my descent. all I've got to do now is stay on the straight and narrow, and slide down
( or up) into the celestial Kingdom, and enjoy life. I know it won't be easy, just like I slipped a couple of times on the way down, I will probably make several mistakes. I've just got to try my absolute best to "keep my balance" and Jesus it will Christ will help me "dry off" from the times I cannot or do not. I know I can make this time the best experience I've had in my life thus far, although I'm beggining to realize how much work it's actually going to be. Things have always come relatively easy for me in my life(i.e. sports, school, making friends, etc.) but I know this is going to take some time to get used to( No sleeping in, a set schedule everyday, being in a completely new surrounding) This, however, is what excites me most as well. I absolutely love to get out of my comfort zone and try things I have never done before. It will go by really fast too, so I think I'm going to have to pay attention, and really take it all in (enjoy the beautiful view from the top).

what you never thought could happen in your sleep

So recently I've found out how weird I actually am in my sleep. I knew, of course that I was weird in my conscious hours. I guess I should have figured it would carry over to the sub-conscious, but I never would have guessed it would have gone this far! I've had this sleep talking thing since I was about nine or ten, when my sister(we'll call her Alyssa, cause that's her name) told me that I had been sleep-taling the night before, and that I had said something about "passing the pencils". I thought I had gotten over it til I started college, at which point things really got weird. It started by just talking, like in the past. Jimmy would tell me just about every morning that I had been talking again. Gradually, I began to move up the ladder, and My roomate told me that I had sat up in bed with my fist outstretched and my eyes wide open, promptly followed by my head hitting the pillow and my eyes shutting again. He actually filmed me doing it once(If you'd like to see that, plus my excellent shower singing, just look at my videos on facebook) Beggining second semester, my new roomate (Max) has noticed my mutterings in the night, and has threatened to throw bottles at me if I do not keep quiet. But since he has become my roomate, he has reported me doing something I never thought possible... singing in my sleep! He tells me that one early morning, he awoke to hear me singing " I love rock and roll" by Alan Merrill and Jake Hooker of The Arrows. And you thought you were strange!

Mission papers

They're finally done! After about 6 months, I was anxious to get my mission papers in. I had finished all the paper work last semester, as well as the bishop's interview. Finally, yesterday, I was able to finish up the Stake President's interview, so I should know where and when I'm going in 2-3 weeks! I'm pretty excited but kinda nervous too. It's certainly gonna be an experience! You can post you're guesses as to where you think I'll be going on this blog or on the facebook group, "Spenser's going on a mission!" , or I guess both, if you're an avid fan. Maybe There will be a prize?