Take Me to the Promiseland - Part One

YOU GUYS. No seriously...you guys. *lets out overwhelmed-can't-contain-myself-sigh*

So Phil and I were blessed, and when I say blessed I mean blllllleeeeeesssed, to travel with our Socality team on an ahhhhhmaaaaaazing trip to the Promised Land!

Honestly Israel/Palestine has never been in my top ten must travel places - and definitely wasn't on my radar 6 months ago, but now having gone I can't imagine not having been.

Our trip was a match made in heaven as the Israel Collective invited us at Socality to invite our own group for our leadership summit Israel edition. So basically a perfect combo of vision casting for the future and at the same time getting to experience such a vibrant, complicated, spiritual place.

I have no words to describe what a 5 star experience this trip was on every level. Just all the feelings. From visiting the holy sites to the incredible food to the time spent with friends to the informative and eye-opening time with influential locals who took the time to share their perspectives & wisdom with us. It was all just #sogood. Can't believe we got to take such an amazing trip with so many wonderful people!

As a disclaimer - on our trip we were able to hear so much information and enlightening perspectives concerning the Middle East, Israel, Palestine, Jews and Muslims, the history, the conflicts and complicated nature of the area. With that I'm not going to get into any of that right now - or at least I don't think I am - because if I learned anything it's this...it's complicated.

As a person trying to learn and grow in this area my advice to myself is this - unless I understand not only the whole story, but also the many different side stories, or how my "opinions" effect those people then curb those opinions...be curious, ask humble and respectful questions, show grace and love and be careful to seek unity vs division. Support and pray for all sides. For me that's the best thing I can think of to do right now as an outsider looking in. Share the the good you see and highlight the beauty. Though on the flip side of this I am so thankful for how purposefully educational this trip was. Israel Collective did an outstanding job widening our outlook and offering  us a clear message of unity and hope for the nation of Israel.

Now I will continue to share about all of the other parts of our trip - the fact that we got to walk where our Lord and Savior walked, where he healed and preached?! Mind blowing. To enjoy platter upon platter of my new favorite foods with so many of our friends?! Unreal.

DAY ONE -

We jumped into our trip by taking our bus from Tel Aviv Airport to beautiful Caesarea where we enjoyed our first Israeli lunch - the food. I can't even with the food. I am naturally not a vegetable person, but this trip has me upside down...all of the salads. I literally just ordered groceries from AmazonNow/Sprouts with ALL THE VEGGIES. //*looks in the mirror and whispers sadly* Who have you become?//

We spent the first couple of nights in Tiberius. TIBERIUS. Okay, sorry little freak out session there. Am I the only one who watched (and enjoyed) the forever long A.D. series?? (cause Phil sure hasn't....it's on 'the list')

(our view from our hotel room...that's the Sea of Galilee my friends.)

DAY TWO...

Started off the day with a fabulous hotel breakfast of those funky cocoa puffs that every foreign hotel serves to try and appease Americans like me. Okay, I promise I ate a pretty good variety...croissants and all of the other bready goodness that awaited me every morning. *happy dance*  Plus cheeses and dips and stuff...okay so I ate a good amount of pastries. Thank goodness we were walking like those super fit *cough//Southern Californian//cough* fitness moms (respect not hate) cause carbs were my jam. Or jam was on my carbs.

Then off to the Golan Heights...where we drove past the Israeli army deactivating land mines...and right to where we could stand and look into Syria. What we thought was just some haze from the hot morning sun our guide said was smoke from weapons being fired. Okay then. Lunch anyone?

One of the many highlights of this trip was getting to listen to our pastor read the Beatitudes on the Mount itself. Game changer.

Having watched pretty much every That the World May Know video that Ray Vander Laan has put out getting to go to Caesarea Philippi and hear the words of Jesus from Matthew 16:13-20 was pretty much awesome. It was day 2 and already so much of the Bible was coming to life.

Now this is where it got real. Capernaum - a town that plays part after part in the the New Testament. Passage after passage it comes up - Jesus calling out for them to drop their nets and to follow him, Jesus performing miracle after miracle in this place, teaching in the synagogue - and as we stood surrounded by ruins Jesus' words in Matthew 11:20-24 became especially sobering.

The sun was quickly fading and we made our way for our sunset boat ride on the Sea of Galilee. Photo ops for daaaaaaayz. The fact that our crew is made up of insanely talented photo junkies mixed with the fact that we were on an epic boat at sunset on the sea of galilee made for some pretty awesome, albeit intense, BTS videos.

(the newlyweds)

After we docked back in Tiberius we walked to the fabulous Decks for dinner. It was super cool to have our tour guide's grandfather join us who was a holocaust survivor. He spent 2 years hiding out in the forest during the nazi invasion. Pretty powerful story and was an honor to have him with us for an evening!

(snapchat photo - didn't get a better one, but at least Donna is looking)

Dinner was crazy (read...so.much.food.platter after platter). Dancing was fun. And sleep was sweet.

Hope you enjoyed the first portion of our trip. More later!

xoxo,

Esther