Ready? Breathe.

Joy to the world, finals are over!

Today marks the first official day of Christmas vacation. And a vacation it is. Though I have done approximately zero Christmas shopping, I feel like Christmas day is still an eternity away and there's nothing to worry about. Plus I kind of like buying stuff for friends and family.

I just need to share with everybody my greatest accomplishment:

I got an A in anatomy!

That class was so fun, breathtaking, spiritual.
Challenging.
Nauseating.
Worth it.

Unforgettable.

Thank you Dave for studying with me for hours on end even though you were already pretty much guaranteed an A in the class (whereas I got it just by the skin of my teeth). I know you did it for me. You're a friend in the truest sense.

Merry Christmas everybody!!

I'll Be Home For Christmas

Honestly. Who doesn't love the holidays?

This year, I am looking forward to:

Making candy with my mom

Playing Mario Kart Wii with my brother and sisters

Going scouching

Buying (and wrapping!!) Christmas presents

Making Christmas crafts (i.e. the Gingerbread House)

Going caroling to the oldest people in the world (we do it every year)

Christmas Eve
(this is another story, but in some ways, it's better than Christmas itself)

Exploring Temple Square:


Hot tubbing at the Luczak's Cabin

But I am most excited
to see my family.
To spend time with them,
to not think about school,
and to remember the reason for the season.

Thanks be to Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
for penning my favorite Christmas hymn
and thanks be to Jesus Christ
for giving him a reason:


I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day
Their old familiar carols play,
And wild and sweet the words repeat
Of peace on earth, good will to men.

I thought how, as the day had come,
The belfries of all Christendom
Had rolled along the unbroken song
Of peace on earth, good will to men.

And in despair I bowed my head:
"There is no peace on earth," I said,
"For hate is strong and mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good will to men."

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
"God is not dead, nor doth he sleep;
The wrong shall fail, the right prevail,
With peace on earth, good will to men."

Till, ringing singing, on its way,
The world revolved from night to day,
A voice, a chime, a chant sublime,
Of peace on earth, good will to men!

I can't wait to be back with my family for Christmastime. Just 2 more tests and a 10 page paper! Good luck on your finals, everybody, and Merry Christmas!

Changing Lives: VIDA Thanksgiving 2009 Sonora Project

Words will not explain it,
Pictures cannot capture it.
It is invisible,
Yet more real than anything you can see.
You cannot touch it, but it will touch you -
and touch you deep.
You cannot smell it
or taste it either...

but it will change your life forever.

This is love. This is what makes the world a better place. This is what I felt with the VIDA Crew down in Mexico. I encourage you to check out the website and become involved.

On November 20th, 2009, 16 volunteers, myself included, hopped into a car and began the 36 hour drive to Obregon Mexico, where we built a house for a family in desperate need. We also delivered over 600 lbs of donations and 4,400 dollars to the charities Fundacion de Apoyo Infantil (FAI) and to Casa Hogar Manos Unidas, an orphanage and safe house for underprivileged and victimized children. Thank you to everybody who made this possible.

Adrian and his wife will have a warm place to sleep this winter. They will have lights, and a bathroom. Eric and his wife are now much closer to finishing the extension of the orphanage, so that the teenage girls don't have to share the single girls bedroom with 25 other girls, some as young as 2 years.

I cannot tell you what a gratifying experience it has been to get to know these people, and to give a little bit - less than what they need, but as much as we could muster - to the impoverished people of Obregon. Sometimes, I think the best give we give them is the one they are best at giving back - our love. I arrived in Salt Lake City again on November 30th, a different man than the Spencer who left.

Ramon. I have probably a zillion other pictures like this one.
What the house looks like when it's done. I didn't build this one though.
Showin' our stuff.
Mixing cement for the base of the roof.

i am back from mexico and i have pictures.

but you don't get them yet.
for a few days, i must sell my soul back to BYU.
here are two pictures to tide you over-
Mexico changed my life. I will tell you how.

Day 10 - Attitude of Gratitude

I am leaving to Mexico before you know it.

This post is actually for tomorrow but I am going to bed now and will not have time at all to write tomorrow. I still have to study for/take my Molecular Biology Midterm Exam, pack for Mexico, and somehow squeeze in a quick visit to Michelle, who I will not see again for at least 18 months. Plus I sure would like to see my girl.

Today, I am grateful for VIDA (Volunteers Involved in Development Abroad). This is the organization that is making my trip to Mexico possible. I'm so grateful that they let me be a part of their team even though I don't speak any Spanish and I'm kind of a skinny fella. Hopefully I have the stamina to build a house brick by brick with them. Today, I picked up 50 dental hygiene kits that I'll be delivering to an orphanage there. I'm so excited to meet all the little ninos and play some soccer with them!

I will be foregoing thanksgiving with my family, but I feel this is appropriate, as I have been given so much, and this is a great opportunity to give back.

So until I blog again, Happy Thanksgiving!

*****

Dearest avid and worthy readers (all 5 or so of you, haha), I need your input. By the time I get back from Mexico in 10 days, it will be time for my daily AoG postings again. Do you want to hear more? Or am I driving you crazy with these daily updates in your blogroll?

Let your voice be heard!

Day 9 - Attitude of Gratitude

I cannot believe this. I am glad that that some people are speaking out and talking intelligently about what is and is not appropriate when it comes to what we do in public. This is a link to an article in the NY Times about people who are viewing pornography on their iPod or Blackberry while commuting. As indecent as this practice is even privately, I am absolutely appalled that anyone would think to view porn in public, forcing it on bystanders like foul language and second hand smoke.

I am grateful today for the responses to this article (scroll down to the bottom of the article... they are all worth a read). They have reminded me that human decency survives, that the conscience of the common man is not dead.


For those of you lazy enough not to click on the link, but not lazy enough to forego reading the rest of this post, this is my favorite part of the article:

Perhaps this is the real problem: the increasingly blurred boundary between public and private. If we are so accustomed to burying our noses in tiny screens, carrying our entertainment in and out of the house, perhaps people are simply getting confused as to where they are.

Could simple public service announcements clear this up?

ATTENTION: As similar as this basketball arena may appear to your apartment, they are not, in fact, the same place. For further evidence, please ask yourself the following question: Does my apartment typically contain 20,000 complete strangers? If the answer is “No,” then you are in a public arena. You should not be watching porn.

* * * * *

This article from the Washington Post is worth a read as well. I've decided: for my English 312 class, I am writing my 10 page researched argument about the feasibility of passing a law - like unto indecent exposure - against viewing pornography in public. Of course, we should do away with it all together, but I can't argue that kind of censorship. Baby steps.

Day 8 - Attitude of Gratitude

Last night, I participated in a psychological study organized by my friend jbod. I love that girl to death. When I went there, I noticed that lots of my friends were there to help her out as well! I was just so happy to see them, that today I am grateful for a few good friends. It is much better to have a few good friends than it is to have many acquaintances.

I love the feeling I get when I walk into Aly's town home and she says "Spencerrrrrrr!!" then gives me a hug and asks about my love life, or when I get together with my boys and we get to joking back and forth like we we do. I've shared a lot of great experiences with these people, and I wouldn't give them up for the world.

From left to right: A-Ham, Crave, Marcus, Andrew (foreground), and Lucky, at the lighting of the Y during Homecoming Week at BYU.