Mission Call

I just realized I didn't announce my mission call.

I have been called to the California Carlsbad Mission. I will be speaking English and enter the MTC on August 4th.

There are two temples just outside of my mission- San Diego Temple, just to the south, and Newport Beach Temple, just to the north. The mission home is in Vista, about 20 minutes east of Carlsbad.

Here are some pictures of places in my mission. I am very excited!!

Carlsbad

Laguna Beach

San Clemente

Miramar USMC base

More Carlsbad

Legoland is in Carlsbad

And some of the desert as well (Palm Desert)

Newport Beach Temple

San Diego Temple

Anticipation and Tournament game

I can't wait for my mission. I don't have time to get a job, but yet I need something fresh to do. If I wasn't coaching little league, this would be a rough summer!

Speaking of which, my team is doing very well. With an 8-2 record, we clinched the #1 seed overall and have an automatic state tournament berth. Last night we had our first city tournament game, and we played the Cubs. The Cubs play dirty. The are extremely aggressive on the basepaths, and that has no place in little league. The catchers are generally not good enough to throw out the runners stealing second and third, let alone the 2nd and 3rd baseman good enough to catch the ball every time. But, this team steals on every pitch. Walks turn into doubles and sometimes triples or home runs. It is very aggravating and as close to cheating as you can get without actually breaking a rule. They beat us the first game of the season, and we beat them quite soundly the second game of the season because they had a rough pitching game, and our pitcher pitched a gem. This time, they scored 5 runs in one inning and 3 in another, thanks to their relentless base running. Our kids were getting down, and to make things worse, we got the worst umpire in the league. I hate having to yell at umpires, but I had to protect my team from some of the absurd calls he was making, so I gave him an earful a few times. Tim (the head coach) and I urged our team to keep their chins up and go and play hard. We ended up getting lots of great hits, lots of smart baserunning, and some phenomenal pitching. We were down two runs going into the last inning, and they had to switch pitchers because the other one had already filled his alloted outs for the day. We got a few walks, some more great hits, and loaded the bases, down one run. The pitcher walked in the next run, so it was a tie game. The next batter was Austin, who is a very nice kid, and sometimes he bats like he is a nice kid. This time, he saw a pitch and hit it through the infield and brought in the winning run. Final score was 9-8. Boy it felt good to beat that coach again! I don't put any blame on their players, but instead on their head coach. There were 2 coaches from other teams that congratulated Tim and I and also thanked us for beating them. Our next game will be on Thursday night.

Other than that, I've just been cleaning up the yard a bit to get ready to sell our house, and getting ready for my mission. I got three shots yesterday, and have to go back for two more in a month, and then another one in the MTC. I will get my clothes later this week or next week.

Mission and the Month of May

I apologize that I haven't been consistently blogging about the events of my life. In all honesty though, not a lot has happened that is worth blogging about. I have a pretty simple life as it is right now.

First things first. I finished up my semester at the U about a month ago. I got an A on my final research paper in my academic writing class. That was quite rewarding for a large amount of work. Today, I found out I made the Dean's List because I had higher than a 3.5 GPA. Granted, I had only 5 classes: three of which were pep band, symphonic band, and racquetball. But, I also had a meteorology class and a writing class, and a 4-hour-per-day commute on top of that. With the easy classes, I am still very excited to have that accomplishment.

My little league team is doing quite well so far! We are 4-1 and tied for first place in the league. We beat the only remaining undefeated team in our last game 10-4. Our season is only halfway done, and then we go into post-season tournaments. The kids are a ton of fun to work with. I'm thinking of going into elementary education if sports writing doesn't work out for me. I love working with kids.

The mission paper process is now over. It took about two months to complete them at a leisurely pace. I had to fill out all the information anyone would ever know about me, figure out how health insurance would work around the world, schedule and make a doctor's appointment and 3 dentist appointments (one was just a teeth cleaning), and of course, two interviews with my bishop and stake president. The stake president interview was intimidating, just for the fact that he's the stake president! I'm so happy my papers have finally been submitted to the Church, and I am so excited to find out where I will live the next two years of my life!

Camille ran the Daybreak triathlon this past weekend. I was so proud of her! That is no small feat to complete that, and without training especially. Maybe I will do one of those someday. Maybe.

Tonight, I went bowling with a good friend. We both bowled awfully, but I had a wonderful time. The final score was 68-58. Good times.

Well, that is all for now. I will try to blog when something remotely exciting comes up!