Put you shoulder to the wheel

Today on "p" day I talked the missionaries into a service project.   Little did they know what they were in for.    If they look a little confused there is good reason for it.   "what do you mean, dig up the road?" 

We have a water drainage problem when it rains so we had to put a big pipe across the road.  Under the road, of course.   The lessons begin, how to use a pick.   We got expert help from our neighbor and he is also a member of the church. 

Where did these blisters come from?  There was a little pipe which was installed a while ago but it was too small and plugged up with sand.   That is what they are digging up.   

Everyone got a chance at the pick.   I didn't want just a couple of them to have blisters.   The man in the background has a 90 lb bag of cement on his head.   Try it if you think it looks easy.  But just remember if you move your head the wrong way the weight of the cement will break your neck.  

2 feet deep and 2 feet wide.   It only took about 2 hours to dig it.    We started in the morning but it got really hot very quick.    We could not quit or rest because we had the road closed so we just kept working.  

 They posed more for the camera than they worked but I cracked the whip until the job was done.   I could not have done this with out the help of the Elders.    I think that a couple of them even learned a new skill. "shoveling".

The water for the cement was fetched out of the well.    The drinking water was fetched out of Sister Nielson's fridge.  

 We didn't have a cement mixer so we just mixed the sand and cement on the ground with the shovel and then added the water.   Makes clean up a lot easier.   We put about 6 inches of cement on top of the 8 inch pipe so the traffic would not break the pipe.  

Job well done.  We covered it all up the next day and when it rained the water came out of the end of the pipe.   Surprise, surprise.