About Dang Time

Ok, so, I guess it's about dang time I finally get around to updating this bad boy. There's a lot to update on, but I really don't feel like going into much detail due to laziness, but I'll give it a try.

On July 1st, I jumped into my truck with my dad and drove from Mesa for 20 some odd hours straight to Little Rock, Arkansas. Everyone knows me for being a pretty avid road tripper, however, that day was so long and I NEVER want to go through something like that again! Wow, it was long! The next day my dad and I drove to Roanoke, Virginia. We pretty much could have made it all the way to school in less than 2 days since Buena Vista is only 50 minutes up the interstate from Roanoke. Unfortunately, there aren't very many great hotels in the BV (Buena Vista)/Lexington area, so we decided Roanoke would be best. We got the keys to the place I'd be staying until the efy kids left my dorm then headed up to Washington DC to pick my mom up from the airport. We stayed in DC for the 4th of July to see fireworks and everything, it really was pretty impressive.

Upon returning to BV after dropping my parents off at the Baltimore airport, I got settled in and began pre-season football workouts. It was really tough. The first few days were terrible, I was so sore and just out of shape and felt like I was going to day, and these things were voluntary and easy! Much easier than camp was going to be in the coming month. But I hung in there and when training camp started on the 7th of August I worked really hard and made it through 'Hell Week' full of three a day practices in the hot, humid conditions that are so normal here in the mountains of Virginia.

Saturday was the first time in over 10 years that I watched a football game not only from the sidelines, but in football pads with my name listed among those of the players. Here is the current roster to show:

55 Matt Mellor LB 6'2" 235 Jr. Colfax, Wash. Colfax
56 Jake Herndon DT 5'10" 275 Sr. Mechanicsville, Va. Hanover
58 Clint Kelley DT 6'1" 310 Jr. Mesa, Ariz. Mountain View
60 Lee Nordyke OL 6'4" 290 Fr. Springfield, Ill. Riverton
61 Wil Clason OL 6'0" 280 Fr. Fresno, Calif. Sierra

For more info on SVU Football: http://athletics.svu.edu/athletics//index.php?option=com_content&task=blogcategory&id=78&Itemid=29

There I am, right in the middle, defensive tackle number 58. I was so excited when I came through the doors of the locker room and there were a bunch of fans just screaming as the team came out just before game time. It was definitely a cool rush to have lots of people jsut screaming and trying to get us even more pumped up for the game.

Unfortunately the game didn't go quite as planned, we ended up getting blown out 63 to 10. It was a pretty humbling experience, especially today as the whole team sat down and watched the horrific film of all our missed tackles and what not. It really was embarrasing.

Anyway, today was also the first day of the Fall semester. My Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays are pretty packed, with the other two days just as packed. I did realize though that as soon as football is over I'm going to have a pretty sweet schedule since I'm done every day by 12:15. MWF are my early days with my Calculus class starting at 7:40. That is followed by Book of Mormon I, Music History and Becoming a Leader-Servant - essentially a seminar class where the university invites distinguished guests to come and speak to us about leadership qualities and success. It's not too bad. Tuesdays and Thursdays include a Health and Wellness class, Old Testament I taught by a former director of BYU's Jerusalem Center (I'm pretty excited abotu that class) and a Marketing class with my academic advisor. Thankfully I start an hour later on those days as well, lucky me!

So far I'm really liking things here in BV. The school really has a great spirit about it. But by far one of the best things so far has been my ward. It is absolutely amazing. My bishop is only a few years older than the oldest people in the ward and he's such a great guy. One of his counselors served in my mission a few years before me and the other counselor married a girl 45 minutes from one of my areas, so I really have fun talking about Brazil and speaking some Portuguese from time to time. It's fantastic. Church on Sunday is always a wonderful part of my week because the spirit really testifies that the bishop and his counselors really are called of God and are inspired men. It's just fantastic. I want to move out of the shoe box sized dorm room I have but I wont because I don't want to switch wards at all.

Well, that's a pretty good run down of what's going on right now. I'm really going to make an honest effort at updating this thing more often, I really should since I haven't been too great at keeping journals since I've been home. Anyway, if anyone has any questions please don't hesitate to ask!