Sam and Cousins in Mexico--More Pictures

As I said in an earlier post, there was no electricity except for a little solar power, and the boys worked hard with lots of shoveling and mixing and digging.

This is the foundation that the 5 cousins poured by hand.

The first day, while getting a load of rocks, the boys discovered this scorpion!

There were lots of stories told. Missionary Aaron Griggs has been to many countries of the world, but it was in America where he was on a flight that lasted four hours rather than the two it was supposed to--till the passengers became nervous--all because the pilots were drunk! One had passed out and the other was drunk but apparently knew enough to get turned around and go back another two hours to the designated airport! I'd have hated to be on that flight!

In that particular area of Mexico, Aaron says it is safe as long as you don't mess with the cartel.
The cartel is under strict orders not to harm citizens. So Aaron feels safe.

Sam told us the boys and Aaron Griggs, the missionary, ate up 6 pounds of peanut butter in the 8 days they were there!
They also  missed their sisters to cook for them, especially when someone burnt the beans for supper!

Toward the end of the week, the boys went with Aaron to the mountains to get a load of firewood.

The church has a fireplace to ward off the chill in the mornings, although the temperature would often go to 60 or 70 during the day.

They found this spot to explore near where they got firewood.

All I can say is that it is a good thing this mama was not along--or maybe it was a bad thing!

Sam climbed up this crevasse...

both he and David climbed up this way and got to the top.

The other boys climbed the outside of the huge rock and they played with their shadows.

At one point up there, Sam's foot slipped, and the other boys helped catch him or he might have fallen about 40 feet down.

Thank You, Lord, for sending Your angels to watch over my big little boy!

After the foundation had been poured, the boys helped Aaron bring loads of rocks and sand to build a retaining wall.

One of the big rocks landed on David's finger, bursting it. 

Thankfully, a week later when he was back at our home, that finger was healing up already.
He was very brave about it.
He and the boys seemed to enjoy describing the moment of his finger being squished and how the insides of his finger were coming outside. (Yeah, that is a boy for you! But this is my blog, so let us elegantly move on--if I can figure out an elegant, lady-like way to describe a trip where six young bachelors are working, hiking, exploring, and ministering together minus any female intrusions.)

A lot of work remains! (Sorry I can't figure out how to turn these pictures into anything elegant.)

I could tell a couple gory stories that Sam brought home--he likes to tell the gory ones best, but I'm not sure people who read my blog want to read about the man who was driving a truck and got stopped by a bunch of men who beat him up a bit and took off with his truck.

So he ended up walking--only to be stopped by another group of men who asked why he was walking instead of driving. He told them what happened. They asked a few more questions and left in a big hurry.

Before long, the second group of men returned to the man--with several chopped-off heads in tow.

"Are these the heads of the men who took your truck?" they asked. 

The poor man identified the heads. They were. 

The second group of men were mad at the first group for treating the man this way in their area!
So that is what happened.

Or about a woman in Aaron's church who had a husband who angered the cartel a couple years ago and ended up getting killed--we'll dispense with the gory details.
Someone had borrowed Aaron's church's chairs Saturday for a birthday party, and so on Sunday morning before the chairs arrived back, it was a good time to sweep the church out. Sam is busy sweeping the left side while another boy swept the other side.

Aaron sharing a Bible story of Jesus' baptism. They have children's service in the morning at 11 o'clock, and adult service at 1:00. Adults will come up with all kinds of excuses why they can't come to church, like that they haven't had a shower yet--although there where they depend on a water tower to refill their water barrels every day, one can understand that getting a shower on time may be an issue (or an excuse).

There were also some adults who played their instruments. Sam said that the man who played accordion could only play in the Key of C, and the man who played guitar could only play D and G.
So figure that one out. 

Ezra had a video for us. No wonder the music sounded funny, and Aaron had a not-so-great look on his face while he tried to play guitar, too!

On Monday on their way back to the US border, the cousins and Aaron stopped at these hot springs.

There were these leaf cutting ants that Ezra took pictures of. (By the way, I have him to thank for these pictures.)

Wish I could come up with a devotional thought about these leaf-cutting ants!

Maybe someone who reads this will have an idea!

The boys watched the ants carry amazing loads for their size.

Then the boys stopped at the White Sands Missile Museum in New Mexico on their way home.

David standing by the replica of the atomic bomb dropped in Japan during World War II.

It's called "Fat Man Bomb Casing."

I guess Sam would have to be here to identify these pictures, but he is at work and I am hurrying to finish this post that I started yesterday before calling the children back in from school break recess.

It was good to have the boys back.

I haven't got any ladylike or elegant devotional ideas from these missiles,

so I will bid you all a merry adieu for now.