Jarom Jordan

Pedro Vasconcelos will serve a mission in Santa Rosa, California.

Pedro Vasconcelos didn’t always want to go on a mission.  In fact, he wanted (and still does) to be a professional soccer player.  The Brazillian was born in an LDS family, went to church and did the right things but it wasn’t always in the cards to serve an two-year mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  After the good examples of friends and a year at BYU, Vasconcelos received his mission call on July 9 to serve in the Santa Rosa, California mission, Spanish speaking.  He enters the Provo Missionary Training Center on November 30.

“I couldn’t believe it when I read it,” said Vasconcelos.  “I always wanted to go state-side.  I was way happy.  I was way emotional.”

Pedro’s road to this point has accumulated a lot of flyer miles.  Born and raised in Sao Paulo, Brazil his family vacationed in the United States in 2000 and he returned in 2006 to live with his Aunt during the summer.  There he came in contact with and played for the club, Impact for a while in Salt Lake City.  Returning to Brazil, wanting to one day return, Impact coach, Connie Martin asked if he wanted to come back to the U.S. to play with the team.  Vasconcelos said yes but realized he needed a family to volunteer to host him as a foreign exchange student or else he could be placed anywhere in the country.  That’s where high school and BYU teammate, Matt Rider comes in.

Matt Rider (Left) is serving in Lima, Peru.

Rider and Vasconcelos became best friends while playing club and high school soccer at East.  Rider’s family volunteered to host Vasconcelos and he returned to Utah for his senior year of high school during the fall of 2008 to play in the spring of 2009.  Vasconcelos and Rider teamed up to lead East to a third place finish in Region 6 and a birth into the State Tournament.  Rider was already recruited by BYU and in February, Vasconcelos made the team as well.

This past summer the two became regular starters for the Cougars, an accomplishment rather uncommon for freshmen to do.  Vasconcelos played in 10 of BYU’s 16 games and scored a goal in the final regular season contest against Ogden.  He credits his year at BYU as the most influential of his life.

“It helped me so much to make good choices when I’m around people that make good choices,” he said.  “The BYU environment created a desire to do good in me.”

“Pedro has a real love and passion for the game,” said BYU head coach, Chris Watkins.   “He has amazing creativity and skill going forward.  He will be a great loss for our team, but we look forward to having him join us in two years.”

Vasconcelos still lives with the Rider’s who saw Matt leave on his mission on August 11 to Lima, Peru.  Pedro is an assistant coach with the East high school girls soccer team and occasionally helps with his old club, Impact.  He will return to Brazil on October 5 to stay with his family until he returns to Provo on November 30 to enter the MTC.Tweet

Jarom Jordan
jarom.jordan@byu.edu

PROVO, Utah (August 28, 2010) — All five-foot-five of freshman midfielder, Trevor Henderson has been called to serve a two-year mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  Henderson will serve in the Toronto East, Canada mission.  He leaves September 15.

He says it’s tough to give up soccer but he knows he’s doing the right thing.  “It’s definitely not easy and is foreign to me,” he said.  “I never not played for two years.  I know I’m doing what’s right.  I’ll come back and be blessed for it.  It will be hard but I will work harder for it.  I believe strong enough in this to leave.  I know that it will take care of itself.  BYU is a great place to leave and come back from a mission.”

Henderson proved to be a valuable sub straight out of Timpanogos high school in Orem, Utah in 2009.  He recorded 102 minutes in six games, weeks removed from his high school graduation.  Following his first academic year at Brigham Young University, Henderson was hampered by a back injury that limited his play to 90 minutes over the course of seven games.  He registered an assist in BYU’s final game of the 2010 season against Ogden for his first point as a Cougar.

In addition to his soccer prowess, Henderson leaves two bands in need.  He plays keys for Vibrant Sound and the drums for Desert Noises.  “Vibrant Sound sometimes plays without keys,” he said.  “They’ll be OK.  They might find a replacement.  Desert Noises is in the process of finding a new drummer.”

Henderson enjoyed his year at BYU and looks forward to the future.

“It was great, phenomenal,” he said.  “After high school, club, and ODP you are looking for the next step above that.  BYU and the PDL is definitely the next step above it.  It was a pretty good game.  It was rough to be injury stricken this past season.  It was a humbling experience.  My freshman year, getting time was awesome.  It was an amazing experience.  I’m looking forward to coming back.”Tweet