Here are random pictures i got from my broken camera

... some are old and some are new and some are from people in my group

A picture of my friends Megan (nickname: Bacon), and Jen!

Old Branch President Oman, he played the bells on the YMCA tower.

A little plaque on the wall of the YMCA building.

The valley of Elah, this is where Davis and Goliath fought

another view of the valley

guy in center is Professor Ludlow for my ancient near east class. The hill behind him is the remains of the fortress of Lachish. This is the Fortress that was beseiged at the time of Hezekiah.

Maresha caves for the next 7 pictures. each of the holes you can see in this picture are for Doves they raised them for fertilizer and sacrifice.

Jon (my roommate) and myself

Kyle and i outside the entrance to Narnia

The entrance to Narnia

Dead Davis

Dead Davis and Dead Analise

Jason and my roommate Daniel

The Garden of Gethsemane is owned by the Catholic Church, and is normally closed off to the public. One day while we were there i made friends with a Franciscan Monk and i just asked him if he could let us in the gates. He let us in! So i got a picture styanding next to one of the trees!

The Tear Drop Church or Dominus Flevit - literally translated into "the Lord Cried". This is the spot where Jesus Said " oh Jerusalem oh jerusalem..." in Mathew 23:37.

looking at the Dome of the Rock at Dominus Flevit

The russian orthodox church. This is SO HARD to get into!!!! its only open from 10am-12am on tuesdays and thursdays, and we usually have class during those times. So one day when we had a class period cancelled we ran over there to get in! Whats interesting is that inside the church its set up like a israelite temple. It has a courtyard (or an open area to sit), a holy place (a closed off section where the priest preaches, and a holy of holies (a closet like room away from the congregation) where the preist goes off to talk to God.

The next two pictures is when we saw the separation wall, with all of the graffiti included. :) The space between the "n" and the "o" in "ignorance" is where the children climb up and over the separation wall. I guess they can do it in like 4-5 mins.

a huge apple i found at the israeli museum

this is when we played ultimate frisbee with a bunch of Palestinian kids. They never have seen a frisbee before! it was kind of fun explaining the game to them. After about 20mins of playing they became better at playing than we were. 

an endearing picture of myself and Natalie Doyle, a sister of one the Zone Leaders on my mission. She is here at the center with me! :)

We then got donuts at the Jewish quarter of the Old City

The next 7 pics are of a bunch of us at Ammunition Hill, a commemoration of the Israeli victory of the 1967 war. This is a BA pic of us in a tank. I tried to really get into character...

seeing all of these trenches filled with water, helps me understand how soldiers in WWI got serious trench foot. That would be beyond terrible!

sick bunker

i have no idea what im doing

the guy on the left is David, he's definitely German

Here is a "backflip" i did while playing ultimate frisbee with a bunch of Palestinian kids. They were so tight!

here is the kid that convinced me to do it!

So These are just a few pics I took while I checking out the Old City so far. Ill explain these as i go.

Jerusalem in a lot of ways in the middle of the world. Its between Europe and Asia and Africa. In the Church of the Holy Sepulchre im touching the "center" of the world...with Hannah in the background. 

This is the sword of the Crusader who lead the conquering of the Holy Land.

This is Awad, he owns a little stand that makes and sells Falafel. The next picture are the ones me made for us.  (Although his aren't the best in the City)

Really messy

MY FIRST GELATO!!! Caramel flavored! 

My friend danielle and i with a big group of us who went to get gelato. Our friend Amanda is holding the Gelato

A mosaic in W Jerusalem which displays Jerusalem being the center of the World. note: ameica in the bottom left corner.

This is a Bedouin woman weaving a rug for an outreach program  that our church supports, giving  poor women  training and work to sustain themselves.



I think i need some Lucky Charms....

This and the next 6 pictures are of a place called Arad. Its a fortress that Solomon built durring his reign. The reason this one in particular is so important is because of the "israelite temple. This is a view from above of the temple walls that are left.

This is the altar.

This is me getting sacrificed upon the altar...with a rock.

Me inside the Holy of Holies

This and the next 22 pictures is our class visiting a place called Avdat. It a city that has been home for the Romans, Nabateans, and the Byzantine Empire. (thats not in order). It a place where there is ruins and some limestone caves. SO MUCH FUN!!

Look at this guys nose...

I asked myself "What would Joe Cookson do?" and this is what i  came up with.

Senior portrait

Byzantine Church on the top of Avdat.

a menorah and a cross? What?

Preaching a sermon in the Byzantine Church

Superhero profile pic

an ancient baptismal font

My teacher told me to do it.

a limestone cave!

Band pic

is that luke skywalker?

The entrance to the outside of one of the caves

and this is Brennin's booty as we are coming out of one of the caves

This is one of the bigger caves on the site

Power Rangers?

egyptians?

dinosaurs?

Im hatching!!!

Ancient roman hot tub

These next few pictures are us painting a mural for a local preschool. BYU students have done it before and we are just finishing it for them. Its theme is "Its a small world after all"  

We are painting children from all over the world

First we traced it in pencil

then we painted it with the first coat

Near the end of it, this little girl came out to see what i was doing.  She and i traded  words we knew in each language.

but...since she was like 6 it was more making funny faces and laughing !!