Israel Study Tour with The Friends of Israel
October 16-26, 2015
Led by Jim Showers
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Trip Blog Posts
Trip Wrap Up
posted on Thursday October 29 2015 at 12:42 am UTC
Now that we've returned from our study tour you'll hopefully be able to talk to one of us in person about what we saw, heard, learned, and experienced! Below is a wrap up video that serves as a nice summary of the trip and a reminder of all that we did. Leave us a comment below or head over and...
Ascending and Saying Goodbye
posted on Monday October 26 2015 at 12:01 am UTC
It’s hard to believe it is our last day in Israel. On one hand I feel we packed in more in the ten days than should be humanly allowed. We pushed ourselves physically, mentally, and spiritually. But it has been worth it. We were up and at em’ at our usual time of 8 am. We headed to the Davidson...
Hallelujah What a Savior!
posted on Sunday October 25 2015 at 1:07 am UTC
Another fun filled day with lots of emotions or as I like to call it, just another day in Jerusalem. We started the morning out at Mount Scopus overlooking Old City Jerusalem. Tours usually do this lookout time at the Mount of Olives but because of the unrest, Miriam, our tour guide wanted to play it...
Hot Days and Salty Water
posted on Saturday October 24 2015 at 12:58 am UTC
After the sheer physical and emotional exhaustion from yesterday we did a more "relaxing" day. I say that lightly because we left at 8 am and headed to the Quamran Caves, where the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered in 1947 by a young Bedouin shepherd. We left Jerusalem and headed just a little ways out...
Tears, Tissues and Tunnels
posted on Friday October 23 2015 at 12:48 am UTC
I thought we had busy days in the past but nothing held a candle to today. As I write we are on our way to the Western Wall Tunnel. We started the day at 7:40 AM leaving the hotel for the Knesset, Israel's parliament. Security was relatively easy. (Probably because they did secret background checks on...
Shall We Gather At The River?
posted on Thursday October 22 2015 at 1:50 am UTC
“Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan to be baptized by him.” Matthew 3:13. Today we checked out of our rooms at the Nof Ginosar Kibbutz Hotel at the Sea of Galilee and headed to the Jordan River for baptisms. I’m not sure what I expected the Jordan River to be like but it was clear...
Water, Trees, and Jesus
posted on Tuesday October 20 2015 at 11:32 pm UTC
When Miriam our guide was going over our agenda for today we laughed thinking we would never get through all the activities she mentioned. I am happy to say that I was wrong. Ready for a fast rundown? Here it goes! We walked to a dock on the Sea of Galilee this morning at 8 am. It was only less than...
Touring Day Two
posted on Tuesday October 20 2015 at 12:20 am UTC
In the morning we went north to the Lebanese border. Our bus drove up and up and up and up and finally when I didn’t think it could go up any further, it went up yet another mountain. Our hotel is located well below sea level and we had to travel up several thousand feet to reach the Kibbutz Misgav...
First Full Day
posted on Sunday October 18 2015 at 10:58 pm UTC
Today after an early breakfast at the hotel we boarded the bus and headed to Joppa (modern day Jaffa). There we saw the home of Simon the Tanner where Peter received the vision of previous unclean animals being clean to eat. This was the start of taking the Gospel to the Gentiles. Thank you Lord! Joppa...
We’re Here!
posted on Saturday October 17 2015 at 10:40 pm UTC
Hello from Israel! My name is Sarah Fern and I will be recording our journey through Israel for The Friends of Israel’s (FOI) Up to Jerusalem Tour. We are in beautiful south Tel Aviv for the night. Our hotel is overlooking the Mediterranean Sea. I don’t think we could have a prettier view of the...
A Long Flight Ahead
posted on Friday October 16 2015 at 2:38 pm UTC
This evening at 10:40pm we'll be departing Newark airport for Tel Aviv! After 10 hours or so in the air we'll arrive tomorrow evening (since Israel is 7 hours ahead of EST right now) and get a full night's sleep at our hotel before beginning our journey! If you'd like to track the progress of our...
Preparing for Israel
posted on Thursday October 08 2015 at 9:56 pm UTC
Our trip to Israel will be here before you know it! Once we're on the ground in Israel, we'll post periodic updates and photos. Check back often or get update notifications using the subscribe options on this page. We'll be sharing our travel experiences online with you, our friends and family,...