Qatar: October 2008

Friday, October 10, 2008

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The top picture is of a friend named Justin. He works at the Computer Help Desk for A&M. He is 28 and has been working in Qatar for a year. A 5 year old girl from church was scared that he was going to die in Petra because this is where they shot a movie from Indiana Jones. The little girl's reasoning was that there were still a lot of deadly traps in Petra that could kill him from the Indian Jones movie. So he took this picture and sent it to her. The next picture shows two Bedouin teenagers who are singing and clapping near a hiking trail we took. They live in caves. The last picture shows me resting for lunch on top of a mountain in Petra.

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Sunset overlooking the Dead Sea.

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Here is a picture Justin took while scuba diving in Aqaba, Amman.

This is the Stingray we saw while diving. I didn't even see it until our guide kept pointing it out to me for 5 minutes because it was buried in the sand. The Crocadile Hunter, Steve Irwin, died while trying to ride one of these stingrays. He got stung in the heart by the tail of the stingray.

Here is me relaxing on top of a mountain in Petra.

A picture of underwater vegetation.

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Here is a kite surfer in Tel Aviv.

We are walking through the river valley in Petra.

Same river valley, different picture.

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Here is another picture of me at the Roman ruins.

Here is a picture of a modern day Bedouin. We actually sat down and drank tea with this guy.

Here is me on Mount Nebo. Here is where Moses died.

This statue represents Moses staff that turned into a snake. It us on top of Mount Nebo. It is also the symbol used by many medical facilities in America.

Here is a picture of the Jordan River.

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Here is an old water well that was dug in Amman.

I am climbing up the stairs of the water well.

Here is a Roman theater in Amman.

Here are all the guys.

Here is a picture of the Turkish bath we went to in Amman.

Wednesday, October 8, 2008

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Here is a picture of us relaxing at the Tel Aviv beach in Jerusalem along the Mediterranean Sea. I was suprised how western Tel Aviv was. There were a lot of tree, girls could were two piece bathing suits, and there were a lot of shops and all natural food stores. It kind of felt a little bit like Europe.

Here is a picture of me at the beach in Tel Aviv.

Some guys are kite surfing in the back.

Here is a picture of us relaxing in a Roman theater in Amman.

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Here is a picture of a cool bridge in Jerusalem.

Here is a picture of a model built to show what Jerusalem looked like back in the day.

This is a blown up model of Jerusalem back in the day. If you look closely, between the 2 towers in the wall, there is a plain flat rock on the ground. This is where Jesus was crucified.

These two red-roofed square buildings actually hold two pools of water. This is where Jesus healed the man with leprosy.

This weird dome shaped building is the home of the Dead Sea Scrolls. The Dead Sea Scrolls were found about 50 years ago. They are a bunch of scrolls found in jars along caves by the Dead Sea. Many of the scrolls are replicas of what is found in Old Testament passages. A scroll with the entire writing of Isaiah was found in one of these caves by Bedouin tribesmen.

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This is inside the 10 by 10 room where Jesus rose from the grave. It is filled with candles and a picture of Jesus. There is a place to kneel down and pray.

Here is where people kneel and pray in the grave/cave where Jesus was buried.

Here is the roof where we slept overlooking the city of Jerusalem for 3 days for $10 a night. There are about 20 people sleeping on this roof. Thank goodness it didn't rain. We met 2 girls from Texas here. One goes to school at St. Edwards in Austin, one goes to school at Baylor in Waco. They both are doing study abroad in Cairo, Egypt. We also met a guy here who wrote a book of "revelation" from God. He made copies and said God was coming back 3 months from now when Russia bombs Syria.

Another picture of the Dome of the Rock.

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Here is a picture of a building at the Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem.

The triangular building is where the Holocaust Museum is. They don't let you take pictures in there. It is sort of similar to the Holocaust Museum in Washington, but on a much bigger scale.

Here is a picture of tourist in the Church of St. James who wrote the book of James in the New Testament. The head of James is supposedly buried underneath the church.

Here is a picture of the roof above where Jesus rose from the grave. They built a church over the cave that Jesus was buried in before he rose from the dead. This is the church they built over his cave.

This is a 10 by 10 room that has been built over the cave where Jesus was buried. We had to wait for an hour to get inside here.

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Here is a picture of me at the Wailing/West Wall in Jerusalem. It is a sacred spot to Jews. They come to this wall behind me and pray and chant to god.

This is a model of the wall around Jerusalem back in the day. We are in an underground cave walking along the base of the wall. This wall along the Western side of the Temple has been buried by people building a city on top of it.

This spot is a religious holy spot underground along the Western Wall in Jerusalem. It is said that this spot is the closest spot along the Western Wall to the inner court, or Holy of Holies. Here, many Jews come and touch the wall, cry, and pray.

Here is a picture of Trevor walking in the underground passage along the Western Wall. The Western Wall is on the right.

Here is the only spot where the Western Wall is above ground. If you look closely, you can see all the Jews in their black suits praying in the back.

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Walking through the river valley in Petra.

This is a picture of the old ruler of Jordan and his son. Now the son is the ruler of Jordan.

Another Petra building built into the rock.

This is where we went scuba diving in Aqaba, Jordan.

This is a picture of the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem, Israel. Under the Golden Dome is where the Holy of Holies is where the high priests used to sacrifice animals to God in the Old Testament. It is also the spot where Muslims claim Muhammad ascended to heaven. We couldn't get inside the Dome because Muslims control the building and haven't let Jews and Christians in since 1999.