Itchy belly and a meat rant

 Oh hi elder Rivera!

I’m sitting here with Joseph and Benjamin, we just got home from church. They’re looking at smoker videos…the meat kind. You’ll not be surprised that mom’s still at church. Ben said the opening prayer in sacrament meeting. It made me think of you giving it last week, seems a lot longer ago than that.

We’re mostly thinking of you and the new world you’re in. Santa Teresa seems about as far away from Mexico City as you can get inside your mission. It seems really cool from the google research we’ve been able to do. Lots of languages besides Spanish, pyramids, indigenous peoples…wow. Uncle Tim sent a text with a map and it looks like you’re 38 miles away from Jordan’s, just like we used to talk about. It’s hard to say from the pictures, but your comp could be from Mexico? I’m guessing things have been disorienting, but also very exciting and adventurous. 

Many ward members ask about you, they all mention how well you’ll do and they’re sincere about it. I’m sure from your perspective it doesn’t feel that way yet, but it will. Artie is genuinely jealous of you. I think that as he gets his new start he feels the zeal that comes when starting a mission. You probably won’t believe this, but your willing service is such an example to so many.

Mom’s home now, Joe’s making mashed potatoes and Ben’s fretting over his spare ribs on the smoker. It makes me wonder what you’re eating today, what church was like, what the members are like. In my imagination there are tiny feisty ancient white haired grandmas with their hair in tight buns that would remind me of my grandma Tilla.

To change the subject, Ben just went threw a fit about burning himself on his ribs because I didn’t buy him grilling gloves. You would be having fun with that right now. There were several other good rants this week too, my favorite being about the fallacy of goal setting when Joe was asked to talk about goals in his priesthood quorum meeting.

In sports news. Despite Zach Wilson being the golden child, Tyler Huntley got the lead in the desert news article about the local QBs in the NFL. Here’s that part of the article:

How Huntley performed for Baltimore

Huntley accounted for five touchdowns — four passing and one rushing — while playing nearly the entire preseason finale and completing 24 of 33 passes for 285 yards. He also ran six times for 14 yards.

It was the kind of effort that greatly enhances the confidence in having Huntley back up starter Lamar Jackson, the 2019 NFL MVP. Huntley entered training camp in a battle with Trace McSorley to be the backup, but McSorley has missed time with back spasms, and Huntley has taken advantage of the chance to showcase his talents.

Huntley led the Ravens to scores on his first six possessions — including five touchdowns — and capped his opening drive — a nine-play, 89-yarder — with an impressive 10-yard touchdown run.

His three scoring drives in the second quarter covered 60, 57 and 55 yards, with TD drives of 75 and 72 yards in the second half.

Huntley finished the game with a 138.3 QB rating.

“Glad I’m not playing against (Huntley),” Jackson told reporters after Huntley’s big night. “I was cheering like a cheerleader. I just didn’t have pom poms.”

In other qb news, Taysom Hill lost the starting position to Winston…what a choke.

Artie invited me to go to the Weber state game with he and aunt Patti, I may go, but I’d rather watch it at home with your brothers. Ben does have class that night though.

Uncle Tim had his BYU kickoff cookout party, but mom went with her buddies to dinner, so I took your brothers for sushi instead at that place you and I went to, it was pretty good, but we didn’t order sashimi it tempura veggies. 

I’ve come down with an allergic reaction to something that has manifested itself as hives all over my body. They’re like little welts and they itch too. I was thinking about not going to father’s and sons because of it, but I figured I’d itch no matter what and I wanted to go with Joseph, plus, I like the brothers in our ward. It was in the mountains north of Park City and it was really pretty up there. Bishop had invited one of his old teachers that also happened to be a former ABA legend. His name was Jim Eakins, here’s his bio: 

James Scott Eakins is a retired American professional basketball player. A 6'11" center from Brigham Young University, Eakins was selected in the fifth round of the 1968 NBA draft by the San Francisco Warriors and in the 1968 ABA Draft by the Oakland Oaks. Wikipedia

Born: May 24, 1946 (age 75 years), Sacramento, CA

Height: 6′ 11″

NBA draft: 1968 / Round: 5 / Pick: 57th overall

High school: Encina (Sacramento, California)

Playing career: 1968–1978

We got there late, about half way through his talk. He gave fun stories about being LDS in the pros at that time, things were pretty rough in those days. Three things worth noting were He was a teammate of Dr. J, he played one year for the Utah Stars, and he was wearing two championship rings.

The rest of Saturday we just ran some errands. We went with Ben to the campus bookstore to pick up his lab coat and text book. They had a lot of nice Utah gear that only served to remind me of your not here. Several times this week I hears some sports news that I wanted to chat with you about the felt sad upon realizing you weren’t home.

We’re going to eat in a sec so I’ll finish this up after, maybe I’ll be able to think of something else to tell you then.

Well, not much else to add, we might go to grandmas in a bit to take her some ribs. All the stuff I think about during the week to write you seem pretty boring now. I do need to tell you that you are on my mind constantly, I pray for you often, I have the most confidence in you, and I love you. 

Pops