CRAIG & LYNETTE SNYDER
Portland, OR
For us, the choice of Yoni who is a Christian believer who has lived in Israel for 25 years and whose passion for his work was evident and scholarly...this helped bring the Bible to life, especially the Old Testament passages. We would describe Yoni as warm, humorous, experienced, very easy to understand, well-connected to the land and very organized. He knew what he was doing and did it well!
Not being world travelers, we were glad EVERYTHING was taken care of on this tour. This made the investment a very good value.
Both Petra and Masada were of great interest to us because we were not well-read in the subject matter and there was so much to learn. The modern and spacious bus helped us explore not only the geography of Israel and Jordan, but the gorgeous and unusually stark geology of the land as well. How these earth formations played out in the story of the Bible was fascinating.
We would recommend this tour to any Christian that wants to pick ONE TRIP that would not only be deeply interesting but broadening to their faith. It was an invaluable experience to us!!
GREG & SHARON MALONEY
Tigard, OR
For us, Yoni helped make the trip! Our group was small so we were able to talk with our guide anytime we wanted to ask him questions. We really liked seeing the geography of the land of Israel. It gave us a whole new perspective on many of the Bible's stories. One example was the extreme difference in elevation between Jericho and Jerusalem. Seeing the steep 3000 foot climb from a viewpoint mid-way up the Judean hills, all of a sudden the Good Samaritan story came alive. Not only that, but Arab Bedouin suddenly appeared from nowhere (selling head scarves), and illustrated how quickly robbers in the story told by Jesus could have appeared and accosted the man traveling the Jericho Road.
Both of us saw lots of political application for today's world, for example the close proximity of Jerusalem to the West Bank town of Ramallah with the struggle between the Jews and the Palestinians.
The tour makes reading the Bible more three-dimensional. Suddenly you understand "a wilderness", a "market place", a "walled city of narrow streets" not to mention a "tomb garden" or "a crucifixion spot" along the road. Since returning home, the tour experience has helped us in reading the Bible, especially the Gospels.
We found that being with others and experiencing events with them to be a stimulating learning AND social experience. There was time to build camaraderie and talk about the things we experienced from day to day.