New Year’s Eve eve

12.30.18

Dear Elder Rivera,

How are ya kid? It already seem like a long time since we got to speak to you. We’re all jealous of Jacob today, as he found out that for his young men’s activity they are touring the MTC. Mom gave him a lecture about not using his phone all day to save the charge just in case he sees you so he can take a picture. That made me laugh. It would be crazy if he ran into you.

Speaking of next Wednesday, we’ll all be back to work and school, and mom and I are going to try to loose a few pounds. Be grateful for being in that time of life where that’s not a worry for you. 

Tomorrow is mom’s birthday. In the morning, her and your brothers get to go to the dentist (HA!). Then grandma is taking us to lunch for mom’s birthday. We’re going to Boca-de-beppo. I’ll let you know what it’s like. Later, everyone is coming over to watch the game and for mom’s birthday. I’ll be doing some cleaning and shopping while they’re at the dentists office.

Mom probably told you about the new couch we bought for downstairs. It’s big, deep and super comfortable. It’s impossible to sit in it with any kind of proper posture. I think it’s more comfortable than our bed. As part of that, we decided to paint the basement. I haven’t started yet because I didn’t want a half done mess before the party. By the time you get home, it’ll be old news to us, but a change for you. Mom also decided to retire the basketball game unit that we brought from our Texas house. As we disassembled it, it was obvious that it had seen better days. The bolts sticking out the back had made these huge gouges in the walls, which is what led us to the paint discussion.

Today mom got set-apart for her new calling as primary chorister. Brother Carver was interested in how your language is coming. Mom showed him that picture of your name tag. According to him the symbols for the name of the church have been updated since he served in Taiwan. The word for latter back the was more like for end of days, which gave the name kind of an apocalyptic meaning. He also said that the symbol for your name had something to do with the word trust, which seems about right to me.

It’s snowing pretty hard outside, I’ll have to send the boys out to do the walk soon.

Today in the eighth ward, a couple of young girls reported on their experiences teaching English in foreign countries. One went to China, and another to Russia. It was interesting to me to hear how being far away the comfort they felt was through the gospel and attending church. They both had to go several hours to get to church, by using busses, trains and etc. it was fun to hear their descriptions of the local members, and how they could spot the members while on the trains and buses though their happy countenances and demeanor. It will be fun to hear your observations of the members that you’ll serve.

We’re in the basement, I’m finishing this letter up, mom is trying to finish President Neilson’s Book of Mormon challenge, the boys are flipping between the last two regular season NFL games. The house smells like roast beef, we’ll eat in about an hour.

We look forward to your letter tomorrow. I’ll send you some articles after the game. I sure hope the Utes can keep their streak going.

Love you kid,

Pops