Thursday, March 4, 2010

Jerusalem Test Footage


This is just some test footage I shot around Jerusalem's Old City. This was a particularly still and slightly rainy day. Enjoy!

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Just when you think you're not pregnant...



Well, God is hilarious. Two days after we sent out the mass email correcting all of your legitimately assumed misconceptions about how many people were in our family, Whit started to feel a bit nauseous... Then, in thinking that it could potentially be something else, we waited a few days to see if it would pass, and it didn't. Sooooo, we then took a pregnancy test, and BOOM!!! Two pink lines. Like this ---> I I

This means that from now on when I go to film an interview with a renown archaeologist or linguist, I will be simultaneously trying to quiet the screaming child in my backpack and run the camera. And Whit of course will have her first Hebrew and Greek student attending classes a little earlier than planned :) So, what I am saying is that we are planning on staying here in Israel and raising our little Lunkie here in the Holy Land (for as long as we are here, of course). And there is a good chance "So-and-so" (as Whit and I have been so fondly referring to our little fetus) will be born in the legendary town of Bethlehem because there happens to be a United States supplied and funded maternity hospital there about 500 yards from where Jesus was born... Pretty sweet...

According to Dr. Saba Abu Farha of the Holy Family Hospital in Bethlehem, Whit's about 7 and a half weeks pregnant and she's due on September 30th. Also, for those of you wondering, our child will be a United States citizen only.

So, all that said -- Wow! This is crazy! We will keep you all posted as things progress. Thank you for all your love and support!

Love,
Nathan, Whitney, and So-and-so (the little olive on the ultrasound)

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Christmas Letter In January

Christmas 09 (In Jerusalem)
So, this is our Christmas letter... I am aware that it's a little late. You might even be wondering which Christmas this is for. But I assure you this covers last year, and what a year it was!

Christmas Morning
[Christmas morning]

Christmas in Bethlehem
[Christmas in Bethlehem at the Church of the Nativity]

The year went something like this: I'd found a highly attractive girl named Whitney who made me laugh like crazy, so I married her. Her and I and two other married friends of ours then formed a band and went on tour from Ohio to California and back. Then about a month or so after the tour, Whit and I packed up all our stuff and moved to Jerusalem, Israel, where she is now working on her masters degree in ancient languages and I am making documentary films. The rotation of our heads is coming to a gradual stop as I write this.

A Marriage needs at least two people.

I've always dreamed of being married. But those dreams only ever included a woman of whom i'd created in my mind, so in the end i'd only been interacting with myself. So for that reason marriage was much different than I had thought. As it turns out Whitney has all kinds of thoughts and desires I would have never put there if I had made her, and thank God she does!

We got married in Ohio on April 8th, and then had our wedding ceremony a while later on the Mt. of Olives overlooking the city of Jerusalem. We honeymooned on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, and then in May we flew back to the states and had our reception in a barn in Columbus, Ohio.

You can see thorough documented evidence of this process by clicking ---> here

Almost immediately after, we moved in with our good friends Phillip and Melissa Fox. Phillip and Melissa are fellow musicians and the four of us quickly started rehearsing our music for a national tour that we'd already planned for only a month and a half later. Phillip and I sang, played guitar, banjo, mandolin, harmonica, bass guitar, and who knows what else. And our wives backed us up on the shaker, piano (Melissa) and drums (Whit, also with the shaker). By God's grace we were ready when it came time for us to set out on the road for our first show, and from there we played a show nearly every night for the next two weeks, covering 12 states from Ohio to California and back. It was very exhausting, but very rewarding, and an amazing experience in the end.

Here is our first of several tour videos:


After the tour Phillip put the live recordings of his songs on an album ---> www.phillipfoxmusic.com. I myself am still working on getting my music out there... (Shouldn't be too long from now!)

Then, in the beginning of August Whit and I stuffed our clothes inside of a couple of drums, stuffed more clothes inside my guitar case, and even more clothes to pad the inside of suitcases full of recording equipment, and we flew to Israel, where we are now.

In the spring of 08 Whit graduated from The Ohio State University with a degree in Hebrew. She has a great passion and gift for languages, particularly ancient Biblical ones, so she is now continuing her studies here in Jerusalem. Her classes deal with the history of ancient Israel and some archaeology, but her favorite is her Greek class (which i am auditing with her). Since the beginning of the very first class our teacher has spoken to us almost entirely in New Testament Greek, and it's awesome! And apparently this is the only place in the world that they teach Biblical languages with this "immersion" method, so we feel very privileged to be taking part in it! Eventually Whit would like to be teaching little kids Biblical Greek and Hebrew so they can read the Bible for themselves in its original languages, so this is a divinely appointed step in that direction! (When the time comes that your kid can take a Biblical Hebrew or Greek class with Whit, sign them up! She's going to be an awesome teacher!!!)

As for myself, I've been busy being newly married, learning Greek with Whit, and working more than full time on a feature length documentary called, "The Bible vs. Joseph Smith." It's based on a conversation between a Mormon and a Christian in which they test the prophecies of both Bible and Mormon Prophets, to essentially see which faith is real. We've been going strong on the documentary since early august and we're not far off from its release. I'm super excited about seeing what you all think of it. I'll post something here on the blog when it's done.

Other than that, Whit and I are still super glad we got married. I deal with the spiders and she prepares creative and yummy lunches. We love you all and appreciate all your support and prayers!

Nathan and Whitney Lundquist