ISRAEL 70 th ANNIVERSARY TOUR Tour Leader: Daniel and Julie Williams Tour Guide: Hela Tamir Tour Facilitator: Blossoming Rose December 27, 2018-January 5, 2019 TOUR LEADER: Daniel Williams Dan and Julie Williams have traveled to Israel three times - all very different trips. Dan and Julie met at Furman University and have been married for 39 years. Dan has a Master of Church Music Degree from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and has had a 40-year career as a Music & Worship Pastor, serving five different churches in Texas, Alabama, Northern Virginia, and South Carolina. Julie has been a piano teacher for 35 years and a distributor for Juice Plus+ for almost 20 years. Dan is now the Pastor for Sr. Adults and Congregational Care at Lexington Baptist Church in Lexington, SC. They never had children of their own, but have been surrogate parents and mentors for a number of children and young people throughout their ministry. He and Julie have a passion to introduce believers to Israel and the Jewish/Christian historic places throughout the Land. They live and teach the Hebraic perspective of faith in, and obedience to, the one true God. You will not want to miss joining them as they travel throughout the land. TOUR GUIDE: Hela Tamir Hela is a well-known Messianic guide in Israel, having served as a guide for many tour companies as well as some of the Blossoming Rose tours through the years. She is the author of two travel books on Israel, so she is very well informed. Hela is a native of Florida, but she has lived in Israel for over 25 years, holding dual citizenship in Israel and the United States. She has visited Biblical Tamar Park many times and has used her influence to help Blossoming Rose achieve some of its goals. Her support of the Park and of the Blossoming Rose mission, has been greatly appreciated. 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 1960 1984. 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 Your journey, to connect to the Land of Israel, will begin with domestic flights from your home airports. Blossoming Rose will provide information prior to your departure with all the details you'll need for your Israel Tour. DAY 1: (Thursday-December 27) North America to Israel We will fly overnight and arrive in Israel the next day. Flights should be scheduled to arrive in Israel by late afternoon Friday. A chartered bus will be waiting and ready to depart from the airport for Jerusalem at 6 pm. (If you arrive earlier, you can take the Nesher (group taxi) to Jerusalem and check into the hotel to relax until the bus arrives.) DAY 2: (Friday-December 28) Ben Gurion Airport and Jerusalem Our Israel guide, Hela, will be waiting to greet everyone who will ride with us on the bus parked in the Ben Gurion Airport arrival area. We'll head up to Jerusalem, the capital of Israel, where we'll be spending three nights at our lovely hotel near the Old City. After checking in to our rooms and having dinner, we'll experience an incredible walk outside our hotel, in beautiful Jerusalem. It will be the beginning of Shabbat. DAY 3: (Saturday December 29) Jerusalem Shabbat is a day of rest and a chance to renew our bodies and our spirits. After a leisurely breakfast, we will walk to the Western Wall around 10 am where we can witness the offering of prayers. We will return to our hotel for refreshments and our Torah study. After that, the options will be to walk and experience the peace of Shabbat in Jerusalem or to rest. This will be a day dedicated to celebrating the Shabbat. We will close the day watching the Light and Sound Show at David s Citadel. DAY 4: (Sunday December 30) Temple Mount Institute, City of David, Davidson Center, Kotel Tunnels, and Machane Yehuda We will begin our day with a special tour of the Temple Institute and the Davidson Center as well as the excavations of the Southern steps of the Temple Mount. We ll also take an inspiring tour of the Kotel (Western Wall) Tunnels. Our next stop will be Machane Yehuda to purchase food and snacks. After dinner, we can wander the Old City streets or return to the Western Wall, with hundreds of Jewish worshippers, to offer prayers or to leave a note in between the huge stones that King Herod used 2000 years ago when he built the Temple Mount. After a long day, it will be time to go back to the hotel for a good night s rest.
DAY 5: (Monday December 31) Mt. of Olives, Garden of Gethsemane, Garden Tomb, Migdal Eder, and Yad Vashem After a bountiful breakfast we will ascend the Mt. of Olives and view the Old City. After taking in this fabulous view we will walk down the hill to the Garden of Gethsemane. Our next stop will be at the Garden Tomb. Our bus will be waiting to take us to Migdal Eder which offers a great view of Bethlehem. The last stop of our day will be at Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Museum, and then we will drive back to our hotel for dinner and a relaxing evening. (There will be times available to shop while in Jerusalem.) DAY 6: (Tuesday January 1) Qumran, En Gedi, Masada, Tamar, and Dead Sea Today we will leave Jerusalem, which is 2700 above sea level, and descend to the Dead Sea which is 1500 foot below sea level. We will visit Qumran, where the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered. Here we will see cisterns, a cemetery, ruins of a dining facility and of course the famous caves where nearly 800 ancient scrolls were discovered. Our next stop will be En Gedi and then we ll be going on to Masada. This historic site is where 969 Jewish zealots gave up their lives rather than go into slavery to the Roman army. We will continue on to Biblical Tamar Park the ancient Jewish city excavated in the last 35 years by Blossoming Rose. We will take a tour of the famous ruins, and then go to our Dead Sea resort hotel where we can swim in the salty waters of the Sea, have dinner, and enjoy a pleasant evening in our rooms. DAY 7: (Wednesday January 2) Shiloh, Ariel, Nazareth, Galilee Boat Ride and Tiberius Today we will head north to Shiloh and Ariel where we will see the Moses Tabernacle. Then we ll travel north to Nazareth Village where we will have lunch. Next, we will drive to the Galilee and enjoy a breathtaking view of the Kinneret - the Sea of Galilee. We ll take a boat ride on the Sea before we drive to the north side of the Sea of Galilee. This will be the first of two nights that we spend in Tiberius. DAY 8: (Thursday January 3) Golan Heights, Peace Vista, Gamla, Mt. Bental, Caesarea Philippi, and Tel Dan We ll begin to tie the past, present and future together as we drive around the shore of the Sea of Galilee and head toward the Golan Heights. More amazing views await us as we go to the 'Peace Vista' and have the entire Galilee laid out before our eyes. We will go to Gamla, probably one of Israel's most significant but underrated historical sites. It will enable us to have some perspective from about Masada, where we visited earlier in our trip. From there we go to Mount Bental and Caesarea Philippi. Our day in the North will end at Tel Dan, where we will learn more about the sin of Jeroboam and its meaning for today.
DAY 9: (Friday January 4) Bet Shean, Megiddo, Caesarea, and Netanya We will begin the day, with our last bountiful Israeli breakfast, and then we ll board our bus at 8 am and depart for Bet Shean the ancient Greek and Roman city where King Saul and his sons were killed. Our next stop will be Megiddo before arriving at the historic port city of Caesarea. We will have dinner and some shopping time in Netanya where we will spend the night. DAY 10: (Saturday January 5) Fly Home We leave for the airport early and eventually we ll gain back the seven hours we lost flying over. We ll arrive back in the USA on Saturday where we will catch our connecting flights to our home cities.
TRIP INFORMATION Included in Tour Hotels Breakfast Dinner (except January 4) Nazareth Village Lunch National Park pass Masada Gondola Galilee Boat All tips (except housekeeping) All meals at Biblical Tamar Park Bus transfer to and from Ben Gurion Airport at assigned times Not Included Flight Insurance Lunches Airline Ticket Land Only Price: $2,595 USD (airfare not included) Single Supplement: $695 (if available) Airline ticket: (see note below) NOTE: Airline tickets will vary depending on the airline and class you choose, and also when you purchase your ticket. The independent travel agent that we use can assist you in purchasing tickets from the airport of your choice. You will need to specify this tour when you call. Her name and number is below. SPECIAL NOTE: Do NOT purchase an airline ticket until this group is confirmed with a minimum of 20 registrants. We will inform you at that time. This itinerary is subject to change. Contact Information: Dan and Julie Williams Lexington, S.C. E-mail: danjuliew@windstream.net Jodi Coxon Blossoming Rose Cedar Springs, MI 49319 E-mail: jcoxon@blossomingrose.org Office: 1-800-317-7673 www.blossomingrose.org Carol s Travel Centre, Inc. Carol Lenger Carolstravelcentre@comcast.net 616-532-6677