Leaving Seattle

Three weeks in Seattle in August. Could life get much better? The weather has been absolutely beautiful and it has been so great to catch up with friends and family. I had so many great moments and will miss the people and familiar places.

Northeast Ohio has some hiking trails, but I was itching to go on a hike in the Cascade mountains and gain a little altitude. The Naches loop trail in Mount Rainier National Park was fantastic with lots of great views and a number of alpine lakes along the route, including Dewey Lake (pictured). I miss being a part of the wilderness ministry at Bethany Community Church in Seattle but I was grateful to get out on a hike and have great conversations along the trail.





I have found that when I lived in Seattle, I would often choose not to participate in tourist activities. It is much different, however, when I know I only have a specific amount of time in the city to explore and did the "Ride the Ducks" tour for the first time. What an entertaining tour and a great way to see the city! Obviously, most people that take the tour are from out of town, but I would recommend the tour even to locals. I got to play "uncle Ryan" to Kaiah and Petra, my very good friends' daughters and we quacked and made way too much noise the whole time.




I was also lucky enough to see the Seattle Sounders vs Portland Timbers game with over 67,000 spectators! That is incredible for two American soccer teams playing a regular season game. The atmosphere was absolutely electric. Great job by my photographer friend, Brandon Bleek, in capturing some great pics of the night. So thankful for all the great people I know and experiences I get to enjoy.

Soccer camp in Redmond, Washington

After my own coaching tour in Ohio was complete, I flew out to Seattle to join our team of coaches in the Pacific Northwest to be part of the last Ambassadors camp of the summer in Redmond, WA. This camp has been going strong for many years and is connected with Overlake Christian Church. We had about 130 campers and a ton of energy to go along with them.

We were blessed with really great weather all week and I was very grateful to be part of a fantastic coaching team. Having had no team of my own to coach all summer, I was very excited to have my own team, the Norwegian Falcons. They were a great group of kids and I hope to see all of them again at future camps.

Thank you to everyone for making this summer possible. All the churches involved, all the parents, all the campers, and all of the coaches. Many people gave a lot of their time and energy to make these camps happen. But I want to thank all of the people supporting Ambassadors programs through their donations and volunteer time. It is great to be at camp with the students but there is absolutely no way we could do this without a larger community to stand with us. There were so many campers that built relationships with church staff and volunteers and with each other this summer through the camps program. We also had dozens of students make a decision for Christ and expressed a desire to plug into the local church community. We don't know what the future holds for many of these kids, but we are grateful for the chance to plant seeds of faith, hopefully connecting families to places of worship where they can grow in their knowledge and love of Jesus. I cannot be more happy to be a part of this work.

Soccer camp in Chagrin Falls, Ohio

Five weeks has gone by so quickly! Our last camp of the coaching tour is in Chagrin Falls with our partner church, Fellowship Bible Church. This is the first year this church has hosted a camp and we could not be more pleased with the organization, involvement and energy level of the camp week.

We've had a number of little surprises this week like the raccoon sleeping in the dumpster or a kid getting stuck in the seat on the child swing. The weather was fantastic, not too hot with a comfortable breeze and the coaches thoroughly enjoyed their week. For some of the coaches, it was their last week in the States and a bittersweet ending to an amazing experience. There is really no way to describe the community that forms between a small group of people that come from many countries, many backgrounds and speak many languages but share the common bond of a passion for soccer and a belief in Christ. I will miss our morning prayer times, the mischievous pranks, the encouraging words, and the feeling of being on a team that served each other. What a great summer!