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Memories from the 2009 Journey Home to Israel Tour
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 November 12, 2009
Shalom,
A tear rolled down my face as I waved goodbye to my new friends from The Fellowship's Journey Home to Israel Tour. In ten short days, I forged a strong bond with these visitors who joined The Fellowship's annual voyage to the Holy Land.
This year's trip included many first-time visitors to Israel. Although each came with an open heart, anticipating a deeply spiritual experience, I don't think anyone could have truly prepared himself for the tremendous emotional and spiritual impact of the tour.
We traveled the country and shed many tears of thanksgiving along the way. At every site we visited, another aspect of biblical history was revealed to us. Another highlight for me, along with many of my friends from the tour, was visiting Fellowship projects and seeing firsthand how, together, we are strengthening people in need throughout Israel.
One particular project visit sticks in my mind: The Fellowship's innovative youth village, where orphaned immigrant children are provided with a supportive family atmosphere rather than the standard institution framework. The village was truly inspiring. Many of the children who grow up in the Youth Village go on to serve in elite units of the army and become prominent businessmen, lawyers, doctors, or teachers. One graduate is even on his way to becoming the mayor of Tiberius! How amazing that this blessing to the children—and indeed the entire nation—of Israel is made possible thanks to The Fellowship and its supporters.
The final spot that the group visited before they headed home was Yad Vashem, the national Holocaust memorial museum. This put the whole trip into perspective and made us all recognize that those who threaten to "wipe Israel off the map" must not be ignored. Yad Vashem offered a sobering reminder that we must "never forget" the lessons of this terrible time in history.
Seeing the dedication to Israel of the Journey Home Tour participants reassured me that the Israeli people are not alone. Although we read every day of anti-Semitism and of those who demonize Israel, we do indeed have wonderful, dedicated, faithful Christian friends in America and all over the world whose support and commitment to Israel and the Jewish people are unwavering.
You are Israel's most precious ambassadors and have the ability to spread the truth about the Holy Land: That it was promised to the Jewish people by God, which is a promise that no man has the right to retract.
Thank you again, my friends—it was a pleasure and an inspiration to meet all of you. I hope to see each one of you here in Jerusalem next year on the 2010 Journey Home to Israel Tour.
With blessings from Jerusalem,
Yael
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