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​new invitaiton description
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Spiritual Pilgrimage
​(flexible & tentative) Itinerary

Spiritual directors (& spouses) and those who have experienced direction are invited to a contemplative two-week Holy Land experience. This unique itinerary includes opportunities to engage and observe spiritual practices in the Land, observe how the practice of spiritual direction can look cross culturally, and offer descriptions of personal SD experiences, other practices, plus visiting sacred and fun sites, trained directors may offer individual appointments for Local leaders and Believers to try out SD. You'll have downtime to re-engage with your favorite passages from the Ignatian Exercises around the Sea of Galilee and in Jerusalem. The group size is limited to 25. To make the price as accessible as possible, we will stay in Inns/Hostels for our accommodation. 12 days, 11 nights in Israel is $3300 + your flight. See below for more inclusions/exclusions. (Plan for a travel day on both ends too). 
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THURSDAY. Sept 18--Board your overnight flight to Tel Aviv and fly, fly, fly. (For planning, look for flights arriving Sept 19 between noon and 5pm). 
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FRIDAY, Sept 19-- Arrival Day
Arrive in Tel Aviv between noon & 5 pm, go through passport control (stop at the kiosks on the mezzanine ahead of the lines), grab your luggage, and meet Kim and your Israeli guide, Sonia Waters (see bio below), on the ground floor Aroma Coffee Shop (to your right when exiting into the main lobby). We will get you settled with exchanging dollars for shekels or using the ATM. Then we'll load up our gear onto the bus and head toward Jerusalem. We will have dinner and crash for the evening to recuperate from that flight. 
SATURDAY (Shabbat) September 20 Walking Jesus' Steps 
(Heavy walking day) Stops include: Mt of Olives, Gethsemane, Church of All Nations, View of the Gate Beautiful, Lion's Gate, Saint Anne's Church and the Pool of Bethesda in the Arab Quarter. Then walking, we will join the Via Delarosa and walk to the Place of the Skull and finally end at the Garden Tomb ​to experience more personal reflection on the day. Then there will be a place set for us to sit together and accept communion while we worship the King and celebrate His resurrection! This evening will be free for private contemplation.
SUNDAY September 21. Jerusalem Underground Morning
Archeological Experience: Temple Mount Sifting Project. Ride to 
City of David Archeological excavation and a water walk through narrow
Hezekiah's tunnel (flashlight & water shoes/clothes required.)
Afternoon will include ministry introduction and mini appointments. links: City of David (Israel's most active archaeological dig video).  Explore the refreshing Gihon Spring still flowing through Hezekiah’s Tunnel 
MONDAY Sept 22. Erev Rosh Hashana (locations close early today)
Ramparts walk, (on top of the Old City Walls. Davidson Geological Center and have a chance to see/touch the pinnacle stone of the temple (Herod's rebuild) and explore the Southern Steps where Jesus taught and the disciples after him. Then tour of the underground Rabbinical tunnels, (return to the Western Wall after, for individual prayer time). After lunch in the Cardo area, we walk through the Upper room, and then over to view Caiaphas's house ​ at the St. Peter in Gallicantu Church. A chance to buy snacks or lunch for tomorrow.
TUESDAY- Sept 23rd--Rosh Hashana Holy Day
Today we will experience a day of reflective rest in the holy city. No touring, ministry, guide or bus. You are welcome to explore on your own, if you choose.
WEDNESDAY- Sept 24th- Nature outside Jerusalem Morning
Today we begin with a 30-minute ride outside the city to Neot Kedumim, a vast garden where the biblical species of plants are being cultivated. We will tour with a specialized guide and even have a chance to dig and plant a tree in Israel's soil and add to her restoration. Lunch will be a chance to rub elbows with locals as we get dropped off at the shuk to procure your own taste of lunch. The afternoon will offer another opportunity to provide spiritual accompaniment with ministry leaders.
Please check out the preparations under Trips Tab and "B-4 YOU GO "above. 
COST $ 3300 USD per person
based on double occ. & minimum of 20 people traveling. Includes tips! and half-board. Single room supplement charge $1080.
Trained Spiritual Directors participating in the ministry offerings will receive a $500 scholarship off the cost above.
Does not include your flight or travel insurance.  Downpayment must accompany your registration from above. (card or check). Let Kim know if you want to raise funds and need a fundraising page created in your name. ​

Down payment

$515.00

$500 + 3% credit card fee= $515.00.

Down payment for trip.
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$1000 payment on trip

$1,030.00

$1000 + $30 admin fee= $1030. Use this purchase feature to make your down payment after filling out the application and use it for your mid-payment too.

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 Checks should be mailed to
Ruth Israel Initiative
9 B Chatham Court
Pelham, AL 3524 
(It's 9 b as in boy, not 98)
2 TEAM meetings: Calendar these [5-weeks pre/post travel dates]
1. Sunday August 10th, at 5 EDT, 4 CDT, 4 MDT, 2 PDT we will meet for 90 minutes on a video call to meet, and cover cultural ed., and Q&A to prepare for our trip and ministry time. 
2. Sunday Nov 9th at 5 EDT, 4 CDT, 4 MDT, 2 PDT we will meet for 90 minutes to debrief and reflect on the trip and how you are returning.
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THURSDAY--Sept 25th-Transition to Dead Sea & Desert Day
We check out of our Jerusalem hostel this morning and drive south.  St. George's Monastery (video) for an overview of a monastery carved into the cliff maybe meet some Bedouins selling their wares. (a.k.a. the Mount of Temptation & Psalm's 23's Valley of the Shadow of Death).  From there, we'll drive the road of beautiful views along the Dead Sea to Qumron, where the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered. Then continue on and ride the cable car to the top of Herod's desert fortress of Masada (video). We'll explore the area and God's question to Isaiah "Can these dry bones live?" Then we will enjoy a remarkable Dead Sea Float (rinse showers & change rooms available, bring towel) at Ein Bokek public beach. Early evening for reflection and dinner back at the hostel in the shadow of Masada.
FRIDAY--Sept 26--Transition to the Galilee Day, also Erev Shabbat
Check out. We head to our first stop for a hike up Ein Gedi, an oasis preserve in the desert wilderness where David hid from King Saul and passed the test of waiting for God's timing on his calling to be king of Israel. We can stop at the pools and little waterfalls along the way. We continue driving north and stop at Bet She'an. Then have a fun walk or relaxing swim at the gorgeous, Eden-like Gan Ha Slosha (the 3 pools/3 gardens that looks like Eden with freshwater spring-feed swimming holes of turquoise lined by green lawns with landscaped palms and flowers.). We'll drive through Tiberias and around the lake before checking into our home for the next 5 nights at my favorite Sea of Galilee-front hostel, Karei Deshe. We will enjoy Shabbat dinner together tonight in the Galilee. Along the route we will stop to try your hand at shopping for tomorrow's picnic lunch from a local grocery store. (Tomorrow is shabbat and restaurants will be closed)
SATURDAY (Shabbat) Sept 27--Galilee with Jesus Day
After a quiet personal morning by the sea of Galilee, we will continue with a contemplative theme at  Magdela , a newly uncovered (2009) fishing village where Mary Magdalene lived and visit the Boat Chapel for silence and solitude.  Then just before we are headed over to the ​Mount of Beatitudes. Then drive up the east of the Sea of Galilee mountains of the Golan Heights to Gamla (a beautiful, spacious National Park where Jesus may have gone to retreat from the crowds).  We will have time for a picnic and refilling water bottles before a longer hike (mostly flat), but also some good climbs, in quietude. And see if we can find a waterfall or two. Then on our way back to the hostel for the evening, we stop at St Peter's Primacy, a 900+ year old church built on the seashore where Jesus restored Peter. 
SUNDAY Sept 28-- Mount Hermon and Golan Day
​In the Golan Heights we will drive past some ancient volcanos(!) to Banias waterfall Nature Preserve and see a waterfall and countryside on a 90 minute moderate hike to Caesarea Philippi ("Who do you say that I am?" site) and enjoy an included Lebanese lunch on site. In the afternoon we will go rafting with Kfar Blum down the Jordan River, with a meet up when we pull off to the riverbank for an optional time of baptism. Then back to the Sea of Galilee in time to eat dinner, to reorganize, pack and have either personal or group reflection time al fresco.
MONDAY Sept 29--Galilee Part 2 Day
 Today is a light day of exploring with time on site and at our hostel for reflection in groups and individually. We have planned a visit to Capernaum. and a visit to the Jesus Boat museum and with an included boat ride on the Sea of Galilee! If someone still wants to be baptized in a more formal Jordan River atmosphere, we have time for that this afternoon.​
TUESDAY Sept 30--Finale Day
We will have a late checkout today and then we drive west over the mountains  and stop atop Mount Arbel for a mini hike to a final view of the Sea of Galilee and region. Then we continue through Megiddo (Valley of Armageddon) and up Mount Carmel to a Carmelite Monastery to interact with the Elijah & prophets of Ba'al story. We will go to a local inclusive winery to enjoy a winetasting. Then we will stop at the Roman Aqueduct on the Mediterranean Sea, then on to the ancient Port of Caesarea to explore. We will stop at an early finale dinner before we head to the airport. We will get some security instructions and saying goodbye to Sonia, and then be dropped off at TLV Ben Gurion Airport to catch your overnight flight home. (9 pm to 1 AM departure times). [drop off will occur 3 hours prior to the 1st flight for getting through security]
WEDNESDAY October 1--Travel Home Day
Hopefully you'll sleep like logs on the plane and arrive home sometime in the mid-morning or afternoon. 
 The Fine Print
Inclusions: Breakfasts & dinners in the land, bus, driver, certified guide (Believer), accommodation. Sites and experiences entrance fees, standard tips of $7/day/person for the guide and $5/day/person for driver $3/day/person for hotel handlers & staff. (Any additional tips you'd like to give are welcomed, but not required.) One lunch and a wine tasting are included. A copy of Kim's book A Spiritual Journal Through Israel will be mailed to you about a month before departure. Bring it with you.
Exclusions: You will need travel insurance that covers health and accidents. Please purchase your own flight to arrive in Tel Aviv to coincide with our arrival & departure from the airport. Almost all lunches are on your own. Snacks and personal incidentals, such as water during the day, wine at dinner, and spa visits are on your own too. There is a pre-approval (non-visa) needed to enter Israel. That will need to be obtained at least a week before traveling and is good for two years. AND if you have a layover in the UK or EU country, by summer of 2025 you'll need to have approval to travel through. ​more info to follow. 
Our Guide
Sonia Waters
Exceptionally experienced, Cambridge-educated, tri-lingual guide and personal friend since 2015. Sonia is a sabra, (born as an Israeli citizen) and mother of three sons, and a new grandma in 2022. Quick-witted and fun, she is an intercessor and natural leader that you want to follow (because you never know what you are going to see or hear next!).