Hosts: Pastor and Mrs. Douglas Bergsma Co-Hosts: Rev. and Mrs. Larry Young Coordinator: Mrs. Patti Johnson Facilitator: Blossoming Rose

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We will walk where Jesus walked, pray where Jesus prayed, and visit the places where Jesus ministered in Jerusalem and the Galilee.

We will experience many aspects of life in Israel, and we ll learn its history as we travel to each historic and biblical site. TOUR HOSTS: Pastor and Mrs.

1 Hosts: Pastor and Mrs. Douglas Bergsma Co-Hosts: Rev. and Mrs. Larry Young Coordinator: Mrs. Patti Johnson Facilitator: Blossoming Rose February 18-28, 2019 TOUR SUMMARY: Quality time will be spent traveling in Jerusalem and northern, central, and southern Israel. We will walk where Jesus walked, pray where Jesus prayed, and visit the places where Jesus ministered in Jerusalem and the Galilee. In the north, we will visit the Sea of Galilee and in the south, we will visit Masada and Biblical Tamar Park. We will experience many aspects of life in Israel, and we ll learn its history as we travel to each historic and biblical site. TOUR HOSTS: Pastor and Mrs. Douglas Bergsma Doug and Caryn founded the Rockford Resurrection Life Church in Prior to his ministerial leadership in Rockford, Doug was in music ministry and travelled in Israel with Blossoming Rose on two occasions. His love for Israel is evident in his teachings, which are also drawn from his Jewish heritage. His mother, Lois, was Jewish. Caryn has wanted to go to Israel and take their son, Carter, so she is looking forward to this trip. They will limit the size of their group to one bus to keep the experience intimate and personal in the Land. TOUR CO-HOSTS: Rev. and Mrs. Larry Young Larry and Audrey led a tour to Israel in 2016 and have visited Israel several times since they first traveled there on a prayer mission in 1985 with other pastors. Larry serves on the ministerial staff of Resurrection Life Church in Rockford, Michigan. Larry s interest in Israel began while he was still a college student and has continued during the years of teaching and serving as an administrator at Jordan College, prior to entering the pastoral ministry. Audrey has spent her professional life as a pharmacist. The Youngs live in Cedar Springs, Michigan. TOUR COORDINATOR: Mrs. Patti Johnson The Coordinator for our Israel trip is Patti Johnson (shown here with her husband Todd). Patti s business career was in sales and she worked as a sales manager until She transferred her talents to Resurrection Life Church in 2009 and became the Director of the Missions Team. Patti will coordinate all aspects of this Israel tour. Her heart is to boldly share the Gospel wherever he calls me. If you have questions, contact her at: pjohnson@rockfordres.org.

TOUR GUIDE: Oren Shmueli Oren has been a long-time friend of Blossoming Rose. He is a licensed Israel tour guide who chooses the tours he wishes to guide, this tour being one of them.

in Israel. He is a graduate of Hebrew University. TOUR FACILITATOR: Blossoming Rose De

2 TOUR GUIDE: Oren Shmueli Oren has been a long-time friend of Blossoming Rose. He is a licensed Israel tour guide who chooses the tours he wishes to guide, this tour being one of them. His work at Biblical Tamar Park for the past fifteen years as an employee of the Israel Antiquities Authority will serve as a valuable resource as he explains the history of the Park and other sites in Israel. He is a graduate of Hebrew University. TOUR FACILITATOR: Blossoming Rose DeWayne A. Coxon is the founder and president of Blossoming Rose. He received his Ph.D. from Michigan State University and served as a public-school teacher, minister, college instructor and administrator from Shortly thereafter he founded Blossoming Rose, an organization whose mission is to bless Israel through various programs, including the maintenance and restoration of the 55-acre Biblical Tamar Park. He has visited Israel over 150 times and his knowledge of Jewish, Christian and Muslim history gives him a unique perspective on contemporary events taking place in the Middle East. Blossoming Rose is the curator of the archaeology site at the Park. Rob Coxon serves as the Executive Director and is the contact person for tour leaders.

ITINERARY Day 1: (Monday Feb. 18) USA to Israel To begin our journey, we will leave the USA and fly to Israel. Meals will be served during our flight.

19) Israel Jerusalem We will land in Israel at Ben Gurion International Airport where our tour group will be greeted by our guide, Oren.

20) Mount of Olives, City of David, Western Wall, Old City, and Yad Vashem Our touring day will begin at 8 am with a panoramic, breathtaking view of Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives.

3 ITINERARY Day 1: (Monday Feb. 18) USA to Israel To begin our journey, we will leave the USA and fly to Israel. Meals will be served during our flight. (You should be at airport three hours in advance of flight.) Day 2: (Tuesday Feb. 19) Israel Jerusalem We will land in Israel at Ben Gurion International Airport where our tour group will be greeted by our guide, Oren. We will be taken by our two charter buses to the hotel in Jerusalem where we will be served dinner and then sleep in the City of Peace. Day 3: (Wednesday Feb. 20) Mount of Olives, City of David, Western Wall, Old City, and Yad Vashem Our touring day will begin at 8 am with a panoramic, breathtaking view of Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives. We will walk down to the Garden of Gethsemane (Church of all Nations) and then look across the Kedron Valley to the City of David. This ancient City might be the actual living quarters of King David. Inside the City is Hezekiah s tunnel which was part of the Kingdom of David over 3,000 years ago. The Western Wall will be our next stop where we will offer prayers and then we ll go into the Jewish Quarter of the Old City, to the Cardo. (Lunch will be on your own in the Old City.) We will continue on to Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Museum where we will visit the main hall and the children s gardens. Our first day in Jerusalem will be busy and we will have seen many of the historic sites before we return to our hotel for dinner and a leisurely evening. Day 4: (Thursday Feb. 21) Garden Tomb, Samuel s Tomb, Shiloh, and Bethel We ll start our day with another great Israeli buffet breakfast and then board our bus to go to the Garden Tomb for communion. This could well be the actual place where the body of Jesus was placed in the tomb and we can celebrate His resurrection together with Doug and Larry serving communion and making comments. We will continue north from Jerusalem to Samuel s tomb, one of his ancient sites for sacrifices. Then we will go on to Shiloh where the Ark of the Covenant was placed by Joshua before it was taken to Jerusalem. We will stop at Bethel, the headquarters of the Judges during the earliest days of the Children of Israel in the Promised Land. We will then return to The Jaffa Gate for a time of shopping before we return to our hotel for dinner.

We will continue to the Via Dolorosa and then the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. After that, we ll visit Mt. Zion, where the Upper Room and King David s tomb are located.

23) Qumran, Ein Gedi, Masada, and the Dead Sea We will begin the day with another great Israeli breakfast and then board our bus to drive down to the Dead Sea.

We ll tour the ancient city of Qumran, the city of the Essenes, and the place where the Dead Sea scrolls were found.

4 Day 5: (Friday Feb. 22) Temple Mount, Via Dolorosa, Church of the Holy Sepulcher, Mount Zion, King David s Tomb, Upper Room, and Davidson Center Our touring day will begin at 8 am as we leave for the Temple Mount. We will continue to the Via Dolorosa and then the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. After that, we ll visit Mt. Zion, where the Upper Room and King David s tomb are located. We will then finish our touring day in the Davidson Center. You will still have time to shop in the Old City before returning to our hotel for dinner and a free evening. Day 6: (Saturday Feb. 23) Qumran, Ein Gedi, Masada, and the Dead Sea We will begin the day with another great Israeli breakfast and then board our bus to drive down to the Dead Sea. We are reminded of the history dating to the time of Lot, the nephew of Abraham, and to the burning of Sodom. We ll tour the ancient city of Qumran, the city of the Essenes, and the place where the Dead Sea scrolls were found. We will continue our drive beside the Dead Sea to Ein Gedi and the mountain cave where David hid from King Saul. Our last historic stop will be at Masada where we will have lunch. This fortress was built by Herod the Great and it is known today as the site where 960 religious Jews died rather than going into captivity under the Romans. When we leave Masada, we will go down to Ein Bokek, still on the Dead Sea, to our hotel. There are many luxury hotels and shops, and we will have access to the warm waters of the Sea. Our evening meal will overlook the Dead Sea. Day 7: (Sunday Feb. 24) Biblical Tamar Park, including tel Tamar and Prayer Mountain We will awaken and feel the stillness of the desert and see the sun rising over the red Jordanian mountains. If you take time to listen, you will hear the small desert birds chirping as they seek their food. We ll go to the dining room for our bountiful breakfast. On this Sunday morning, we will go to Biblical Tamar Park where we will have a worship service in the Sukkah and then tour this historic Park, which dates back to at least the time of Abraham. Dr. Coxon will tell us more about the 26,000 artifacts that have been unearthed at Tamar and about the plan for its continued development by Blossoming Rose. We ll join together for an American buffet-style lunch in the dining room and then tour the seven historic sites in the Park. You might like to climb Prayer Mountain, to the west of Tamar, or spend time exploring the buildings and tel Tamar. There are some historic writings in the British building, on the top of the tel, and in the Israeli bomb shelter under the tel. At the end of the day, we will board our bus and return to our hotel at the Dead Sea. Day 8: (Monday Feb. 25) Tel Sheva, Caesarea, Mt. Carmel, and Tiberias We will leave at 8 am and our bus will snake its way up out of the Arava and into the Negev as we make our way to Beersheva, the city of Abraham. Our bus will take us north to Caesarea and enter the amphitheater where we will walk the length of that great city, departing through the Crusader s fortress. Then we will go on to Mt. Carmel and the Carmelite Monastery that overlooks Megiddo, and across the valley from

where the battle of Armageddon may one day be fought. The next stop will be Nazareth where Jesus lived and where we will stop at the Greek Orthodox Church of the Annunciation.

26) Mount of Beatitudes, Capernaum, Katzrine, Golan, Lebanon, Syria, Caesarea Philippi, and the Galilee We will eat a hardy Israeli breakfast, after which we ll go to the Jordan River and have our

5 where the battle of Armageddon may one day be fought. The next stop will be Nazareth where Jesus lived and where we will stop at the Greek Orthodox Church of the Annunciation. The sun will be setting as our bus delivers us to our beautiful hotel where we will move into our rooms and have a great dinner. Day 9: (Tuesday Feb. 26) Mount of Beatitudes, Capernaum, Katzrine, Golan, Lebanon, Syria, Caesarea Philippi, and the Galilee We will eat a hardy Israeli breakfast, after which we ll go to the Jordan River and have our baptismal service. We will then drive around the Sea of Galilee to the Mount of Beatitudes and Capernaum. We will drive up into the Golan to Katzrine, the Jewish capital, where we will have lunch and then go on to the borders of Syria and Lebanon where we can pray for God s safety for the Jewish nation. Caesarea Philippi will be our next stop and then we ll return to the area that Jesus loved, the Sea of Galilee. As the sun dips lower in the west over the Mountains of the Galilee, we will board our Galilee boat and listen to Danny Carmel sing, and then return to our rooms at the hotel in Tiberias. Day 10: (Wednesday Feb. 27) Beit Shean and Jerusalem We ll board our bus at 8 am and then make our first stop at Beit Shean, the ancient Roman city and the place where King Saul s body was hung after his defeat by the Philistines. This is one of the most important ancient cities in the central part of Israel. We ll then travel south and then west to Jerusalem. This will be our last afternoon in Jerusalem and there will be time to shop before heading to Ben Gurion Airport. (It s important to be at the airport three hours before flights depart. Most of our flights depart around midnight. Day 11: (Thursday Feb. 28) Arrive back in the USA We will arrive back in the USA in the morning, having gained the seven hours back that we lost when we arrived in Israel. We will check through customs and go to our connecting flights home. Shalom!

6 TOUR INFORMATION TOUR COST: $2,695 Included in Tour Hotels Breakfast and Dinner (dinner February 27 not included) National Park passes Entry to all listed sites All tips (except housekeeping) Bus transfer to and from Ben Gurion Airport Gondola at Masada Galilee boat ride Not Included Flight Insurance Lunches Airline ticket Baptismal gown - $10 Do not buy your airline ticket until notified. You will be notified by when there are sufficient registrations to buy your tickets. Blossoming Rose will provide transportation to and from Ben Gurion Airport at the designated times, which will be announced later. If you arrive or depart outside of these times you will be responsible for your own transportation to the Jerusalem hotel. Itinerary is subject to change. If you decide to use our ticketing agent her information is below. You can also use your own agent or buy your ticket online. For additional information contact: Patti Johnson Resurrection Life Rockford pjohnson@rockfordres.org Jodi Coxon Blossoming Rose, Cedar Springs, MI jcoxon@blossomingrose.org Office:

THE AWAKENING THE LAND OF THE BIBLE

THE AWAKENING THE LAND OF THE BIBLE Hosted By: Mrs. Pat DeGroot Tour Guides: Oren Shmueli, Beersheva and Rabbi Eitan Levy, Jerusalem Tour Facilitator: Blossoming Rose November 8-19, 2017 TRIP SUMMARY: