Hi friends! There is a greeting of invitation in Israel: “Next year in Jerusalem!” It is tied, historically, to the annual pilgrimage to Jerusalem for the feasts, as Jews from all over the country vowed to meet again the following year. Today, it is a heartfelt invitation of Israelis to come visit their land!

When this post drops, I will be within hours of our final online preparation with a group of 26 excited tour guests to do that very thing! They have invested in the trip of a lifetime to Israel, and I am stepping on as the trip leader for One for Israel’s November study tour to do everything I can to give every guest a full return on their investment! I am very excited to see what God has in store for us all!

This group is made up of adults from 12 different US states plus Canada, the UK, and New Zealand. We also have a Singapore passport holder coming from the US as well! Other than a few couples and/or family members, this group is primarily new folks getting to know one another for the first time! Our Zoom meetings have been fruitful, but our time together in Israel will no doubt result in life-long friendships. I am super excited about that!

As always, I will do my best (often dependent upon internet connection and my feeble technical skills!) to send daily updates, so I hope you will travel along with us virtually and enjoy as much as we can bring you via the cyber world! Everyone is traveling on different days/times but will meet up for orientation on Monday evening (Israel time), November 9 when we will officially kick off our tour! If you are wondering, Israel is 6 hours ahead of the US Eastern time zone (9 hours ahead for those of us in Phoenix)!

Every tour is unique, and every tour has its own “personality” reflective of the group of people involved. I have never been to Israel with a group that does not result in unexpected memorable moments and deep and meaningful friendships. It is my prayer that your personality will lend itself to a wonderful Israel tour group personality someday as you enjoy those memorable moments and meaningful friendships. A visit to Israel is no ordinary tour. It is a life-changing event!

Things have been rather quiet on the tour front as westerners wrestled with the not-so-accurate thought of “going into a war zone!” Be assured…Israel is safe, open for business, and the time could not be better to consider going there!

For our current guests, we’ll meet next week! For the rest of you:

BTW – I hope to have some exciting news regarding tours very soon, so keep your eyes here! Meanwhile, follow along on our November journey!