My Status

My car was fixed and I drove on. The AC compressor broke (that was the rattling noise) so I needed to get a new one of those and some belts so the alternator would turn. I left Ogden, UT on Friday around 2:00 PM MT. I stayed the night with my old CU soccer friend (and ex-roommate) Iain and his wife. I have always admired Iain’s social gifts and learned a lot from him at college (humor and social graces are skills people can learn just like soccer or engineering). We had a great time catching up on life and remembering old times. I drove East again…

Eastern Utah and Colorado were beautiful, then Kansas happened. I was going to stay in Omaha, NE, but decided to just drive through the night to St. Louis. My Indiana license plat fit right in with the eclectic group of plates at a rest stop in Kansas for the night. I met Laura’s family at church and have been enjoying her and their company since. I'll stay with them until a few days before I start work again, which is August 3rd.

Christianese: This trip was not as I had planned. The car gave me a lot of trouble, but kept me on God’s schedule.
- I had to get it worked on before I left so I traveled with Grant, not on my own.
- I broke down on a down-hill so we could push it off the road to a hotel parking lot. No towing involved.
- I broke down in a town where Mrs. Ledger knew a guy who was willing to come look at my car.
- The guy knew a trustworthy shop that was one of the few stores open that Friday (a State holiday in UT called Pioneer Days)
- Allowed me a day to slow down, catch up on sleep, have an extedned quiet time and see the sights of Ogden.
- I stayed with Iain a day after Grant did so we could have a deeper conversation.

I did not think I would skydive today...

…it just kind of fell upon me. Or vice versa. The past few days have not gone as I’d planned. However, it’s not been that bad.

I really have been trying to get East. I planned to leave Monday and camp the whole way, taking my time and seeing the sights. But, I had to wait 2 days to get my car fixed. While waiting, I worked on the Brehm’s deck, didn’t pack, coached a day camp with Joe, delayed packing, rode to downtown Salem with Joe for our last dinner and decided I’d pack tomorrow. When my car was fixed it so happened that Grant was also driving back East and we decided to caravan. The plan was to stay with people we knew near Salt Lake City, Denver, and Omaha. Grant and I would part ways in St. Louis. I would stay with Laura and her family in St. Louis until a few days before I started work on Aug 3 and Grant would drive home to Cleveland.

Unexpectedly, my car broke down a half hour North of the Ledger’s house in Ogden, UT after our 12 hour drive. I got it to a shop (this is a miraculous story in itself) where it still sits, waiting to have it’s expensive, but necessary mechanical operation. My fair-weather friend Grant and I had a poignant, "please, you have to go on without me" moment and he drove on this morning ;)

I know Pete Ledger from Cedarville. His dad is a retiered train conductor and bull rider. His mom works for the forest service (did you know the forest service uses google earth to track fires? No joke). Mrs. Ledger showed me around Ogden. One of the sights was a huge indoor "family adventure park" called the Salomon Center. Inside was hovercraft bumper cars, bowling, arcade, food, billiards, a rock wall, indoor surfing and indoor skydiving. The indoor skydiving, or vertical wind tunnel, looked too fun. For $40 I took a 15 min class and then flew for two 1 minute sessions. Expensive, but amazing! After me, there were a bunch of elementary aged children that suited up for their "league". I sat and watched them do basic tricks. It was so strange to sit and talk with their moms about how proud they were that Jr was improving so much and how much he like the instructor. Like I was at a youth soccer practice or something. They were fascinating to watch. Check out the video (no sound on either).

That evening we went to my first authentic rodeo. Cattle roping, barrel racing, bucking broncos, bull riding, the real deal. Cowboys and cowgirls everywhere! Accents thckern' a... some cowboy expression for thickness. Riding bulls looks dangerous.

My car should be fixed for the second time tomorrow. As long as it’s not too late in the day, I’ll try driving East again. Emphasis on try.

East soon?

So, about driving East…my car has a discomforting noise. Uh oh. I need to get that checked out before I start my 2,300 mile drive.

By the way, I made the front page of the Sports section in the Statesman Journal (Salem’s newspaper). Well, sort of. Ok, the article is about our apartment-mate Teteh. But, if I hadn't made that great pass to him, he wouldn't have had such a good picture ;)
http://www.statesmanjournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2009907030359

As I close up shop here, I’ll begin to write some closing thoughts on the summer. If you’ve read this far with me, don’t give up now! Thank you for reading. A shout out to: Otis, The Brood, MGCC Youth Group, my family, my gf, my cousins, Ms. Mueller, and everyone else who is too unique to categorize ;)

End of Surge

Friday some guys went to the Portland zoo then to “Voodoo Donuts“. Our last fun time as a group. Zach flies out tomorrow. Teteh on Tuesday. Joe will stay here a week to work a camp, then drive to Seattle to work a camp with Cedarville connections.

Our final game was last Saturday. I was invited to go with the team, despite the whole not-on-the-roster-in-time deal. However, I had been invited by an old soccer friend from Cedarville to watch the Seattle Sounders play Chelsea. So, I stuck with those plans instead. The company Phil works for has season tickets which Phil splits with other employees. The seats were great! Ten rows back from the goal line, one section away from the crazy section (the people that dress up and bang on drums all game). Chelsea brought their main team so we got to see a lot of world-class players play (including but not limited to, Michael Ballack, Peter Cech, John Terry, Ashley Cole and Frank Lampard). Chelsea went up 2-0 in the first half, then played their reserve players the second half. Seattle played very well, however, and had good looks at goal. 65,000 people were there. Everybody stood and chanted the whole game, a great atmosphere!

We ended up tying our game 1-1. Joe got to play around 50 minutes! I was excited for him! So, the Surge ends their season one spot shy of the playoffs in 4th place out of 10 with a winning record of 7-6-2. Not that bad.

Last Practice...

Currently the season is quickly coming to an end. It feels like the end of a school semester after finals. A loss to the #2 Seattle Wolves put us out of the playoffs. Our last home game was yesterday and we lost to the Tacoma Tide 4-2.

Interestingly, the normal stadium announcer was on vacation. Since I am not in the top 18 and I had called the play-by-play at Cedarville when my eligibility was done, I found myself announcing the starting lineups and the advertisements during these game. It was fun. "Subway is the nations largest submarine sandwich chain and an official sponsor of the Cascade Surge. Visit our location on S Commercial St. and enjoy one today!"

There was a sad twist (for me) at the end of the season. All of the guys are starting to pack up to leave and return to their "normal" teams. Most people are going back to their school. Joe is going to fly back home to Cleveland before starting CU’s season. Others are starting new teams. Zach and Grant are preparing to fly to Austria to play for Hirschstetten. Others are returning to their old teams. Likius and Teteh are going back to the USL1 team the Cleveland City Stars. Because so may are leaving there are openings in the line-up for the reserve players to get minutes. Unfortunately, myself and another guy cannot legally play because the rosters did not get changed in time. The coaches apologized to me about it. I am frustrated, but it wouldn’t do much good to get mad at anybody now. So, I’ll enjoy the last practice tonight and the last few days with the guys in Salem…

Summer Vacation

These past two weeks my parents, Darrell and Emily, and girlfriend, Laura, visited. It was great to spend time with all three as I have not been able to in months. The past two weeks the team has had less ministry work to do, so for the most part I had free time to just sightsee with them. A mini "vacation" in my summer. Here is a brief breakdown with the highlights of what we did:

Tursday (7/2); Parents got in. Enjoyed the day with them around town at local restaurants and parks. Practice in the evening.

Friday (7/3): More relaxing and catching up.

Saturday (7/4): Picked Laura up from the airport! Rode the rides at a small amusement park (Oaks Park) in Portland. Met an old friend from CU, Phil for dinner. Fireworks at the riverfront in Salem.

Sunday (7/5): All went to a service at the Brehm’s church. Then my parents, Laura and I drove to the coast to look at the beach at low tide. We saw all sorts of critters in the tide pools and Dad (a rock collector) looked for Agates, a certain kind of mineral-rock that if found on some beaches in Oregon. Ate seafood.

Monday (7/6): Went to "The Sea Lion Caves" which is the largest sea cave in the world and is filled with huge, noisy (smelly) sea lions. Visited the Newport Aquarium. The lionfish are still my favorite. More seafood. Fish n’ chips are still my favorite.

Tuesday (7/7): More sights around Salem. Had an inner-squad scrimmage.

Wednesday (7/8): Parents, Laura and I Drove to Mt. Hood and looked around Government Camp and the Timberline Lodge (where "The Shining" was filmed)! Ate fresh berries from one of the many roadside stands. Camped along the Columbia River Gorge.

Thursday (7/9): Saw lots of waterfalls along the Columbia River Gorge, watched the fish climb the ladders at the Bonneville Dam. Watched windsurfers on the river. Team dinner and practice.

Friday (7/10): We all ate pancakes with the Brehm’s and guys in the house. Ate out at a nice Mexican restaurant and heard fun stories from the Brehm’s of their missionary travels. From here my parents drove to Portland and saw attractions there. I hung out with Laura. I suppressed my emotions as we watched "Equilibrium." We went Salsa dancing in Portland with Grant and a friend of his.

Satruday (7/11): FREE SLURPEE DAY! Hung out with Laura around town. Played tennis with the Brehms. Watched the home game (Cascade Surge v Seattle Wolves).

Sunday (7/12): Had crepes at restaurant called "French Press". Drove to Portland to watch "Dirt Rotten Scoundrels" at the Broadway Rose. Funny! Had a last meal with my parents and said goodbye to them :/

Monday (7/13): My parents flew out early in the morning and Laura flew out in the evening. Bye!

End of Season Surge

We need one! We have three games left until the end of the regular season. We are still in the running for a playoff spot, but after a tie and a loss the last two games we need wins! A big game tonight against #2 the Seattle Wolves.

We were going to have a game against a local prison as a ministry, but due to scheduling conflicts on the prisons part it was canceled.

The past few practices have been different than earlier in the season. Mostly different drills. A change has been good to keep practice fresh. A normal practice is a light jog as a team (in a line across the field) with dynamic stretches for warm up. Then we do technical work, mainly passing and moving or dribbling with passing. Sometimes we have a shooting drill. Other times tactical work with shadow play. Generally we scrimmage at the end. Lately, however, we have done more games: A 2 v 2 tournament, variations of 3 team possession, crossing drills. A nice mix, and nice to have a bit of fun before the end of the season.

Mexico Day 4

John, Joe, Ben, Grant, Hank, Dave, Dave, Zack, Josh, Jake.

Yes, I did have to include a self-portrait pic of myself with a cute Mexican child. Please say awww.

We got up early for the orphanage and dug some holes for future trees they were going to receive. The ground was like concrete. Got across the boarder easily and made it to the airport. We stopped for lunch to watch the USA play Spain in the Confederation Cup and were glad we did (I watched the first half of the Brazil game and then turned the tv off so I assume that they won. Please don’t tell me anything different.) Flew home and slept hard on my soft, soft bed.

Mexico Day 3

We were expecting to work at the orphanage that morning digging and planting trees again, but, since we completed all the work yesterday, after breakfast at McDonalds (we were low on cash and it was the only place that took credit card), we went to the orphanage to hang out. The orphanage is out of town very close to the border (we could see the wall). Because we wanted a good workout we played 3v3 on a small fenced in basketball court then went for a jog. The only open space was a trail we found in the desert. It had a kind of beauty I'd never seen before. We took it easy because of the sun, stumbled across a park, then hopped a fence and took a dirt road back to the orphanage.

Lunch was a taco stand for Joe and Zach and myself and Domino’s for the rest (also took credit card). The tacos were great, but I think gave us a bit of the revenge. Dinner was back at Hanks for some poolside ribs, Polish sausage and fillet mignon.

Christianese: Hank was an interesting character. The first day, when we first met him, he was already drunk and after his first sentence of introduction and welcome he spent the rest of his sentences expounding his worldview. It was something like, "I know you are Christians and you believe this… but I believe…" A blunt welcome ;) We didn’t respond much because the alcohol took way his ears and made his mouth bigger. People listened because he was rich, but he also was very interesting. Money has made his life very different then what most people experience. He has different problems, interests and abilities. Though the jist of what he said was common. He thought that he was a good person and that was ok for him. He kept saying this and saying this like he was trying to convince himself but knew it wasn’t true. And it wasn’t, God never asks us to act "good enough" but to be forgiven. Then with his strength we change. Ephesians 2:8-10.

Mexico Day 2

We spent the night in sleeping bags on the floor of a church in downtown Tecate. The next morning we drove to the orphanage. We were supposed to dig holes and plant trees. But, we were surprised (and glad) to find that the holes were already dug. This would have been the difficult part because the ground there is so hard. So, we just planted trees. The kids were not out of school yet so we played a juggling game called Muff.

We ate lunch with the kids, then played with these tops that they all had. You would wind it up with string and then throw it sideways. The top would unravel and land on the ground. The kids would pick them up and drop them on other tops as a game. I brought Chinese yo-yos for them to play with and also made balloon animals. They all wanted, “perro rojo, perro rojo!” We played soccer with them all evening. Some of the kids were athletic, all of them were energetic.

Mexico Day 1

Ridiculously early on Sunday (6/21) we flew to Long Beach, CA. Got to relax on the beach a little while waiting for our friendly. The field we played on was like a hockey rink but outdoors and with a nice turf. The team we played was coached by a friend of a friend of Dave Irby. It was a very relaxed and fun match. We talked with the other team about soccer and life before during and after the game. They were younger so we didn’t play super intense to keep the game fun.

We drove across the border to Hanks house. Hank is a friend of Dave Irby who owns some sort of rubber-washer company. He has the biggest house I’ve ever seen, as in multi-million and could be on cribs. I suppose it wasn’t the house itself that was so big, but the complexity. The house was build on the side of a steep hill overlooking Tecate, so it was tiered along with the yards, pools and patios down the hillside. Hank had to leave the country for a while because of some death threats. He’s back now with a security guard and cars with bullet-proof glass. We ate some of the best tacos I’ve ever had from the chef he hired that day.

Three Pools

On Wednesday, our day off, a group of 9 of us went to Three Pools, a scenic spot an hour East of Salem. On the road up the mountain to Three Pools, there were a couple of bridges we jumped off (a 30 some foot one and an 85 foot one) as well as some cliffs. Should anyone see any videos of me jumping off the higher bridge, before you judge, know that it was ridiculously high and other people looked goofy too. I attached the video of Connor's second jump becuase it was the best jump and the shortest "holy cow this is high am I really doing this" pre-jump time. The actual Three Pools area was beautiful; a semi-rapid river with lots of rock formations in a valley of old pine trees.

This summer we have consistently had Wednesday off, and so far in July have had less off the field activities, ministries, meetings, etc. It has been great to pick up and go with the guys on the team to do random things like this.