Orphanage update

Dear friends and family,

Things are still going better than planned. For some reason, everything seems to be ending better than we anticipated. We are being incredibly blessed. I know that those blessings are a direct result of the numerous prayers that are offered for us and we want to thank you all for your prayers. Yesterday was an incredible day. I probably lost about 10 pounds to sweat, but it was well worth it. While at church on Sunday, we mentioned to a couple missionaries what was going on, and jokingly said they could come out and work whenever they wanted to. Later that afternoon, at a church activity, those missionaries came to us and informed us that they had spoken to the entire zone of ten missionaries, and they all wanted to come and help the next day!! So these wonderful missionaries sacrificed their preparation day (they have one day off per week) to come and help build the orphanage. I couldn't believe it. So we told that to the director of the orphanage, and he immediately went to work informing press, and local government leaders about the undertaking that would happen the next day. So on Monday we had 10 missionaries, Blair, Hannah, me, and many of the older kids working most of the day on the building and land. We accomplished so much. It was blistering hot and rediculously humid, but we all had a blast and worked as hard as we could. We had 6 reporters come out, all representing different newspapers and radio stations! The church was well represented. They asked Blair and I about our world trip, like how many countries we've been to, including our missions and other travels. They also asked many questions about the church and it's doctrine. It was a wonderful opportunity we were given to do some missionary work.
As for the work, we dug two big holes, and got most of the cement put in for the floor of the orphanage. One whole was about 8 feet by 8 feet, and we got 4 and a half feet down. That's the hardest work I've ever had! You want some real excercize? Go dig a hole! This whole was for drainage. Their septic tank. Then the other hole was a big circle with about a 9 foot radius, and we got about 3 feet down on that one. It will eventually be 25 feet deep, and that will be their water storage. Having the missionaries out there saved us a LOT of money in labor costs, so we will be able to put that towards more materials.
So all is well here. We continue to recieve wonderful donations, and because of that we are now going to be able to put some money towards finishing the bigger portion of the house! Thank you so much for your help. We love you!

Love always,

Trent