Are you interested in learning more about how you can take a trip to Israel and see some of the actual sites you have read about in the Bible?
Great Awakenings is partnering with Heartland to Holy Land Tours and Lipkin Tours to provide you a trip Israel.
It is scheduled for November 2-14, 2024 through Lipkin Tours. They will actually be leading the tour in Israel. When you go to their website you will learn about cost, details of what the trip includes and you can register today. Click on Lipkin Tours for more information.
Dwight and Anita Widaman, with Heartland to Holy Tours, are organizing the trip and they have written an article on some of the sites that will be visited. Click here to see their article.
Contact Great Awakenings for any questions.
Due to the Hamas attacks on Israel that has led to Israel’s declaration of war, below is a statement from the Widaman’s regarding the 2024 trip…
After the attacks on Israel by Hamas, you may be wondering how this will affect our tours next year.
Like you, we are praying for the safety of Israelis and a quick resolution to the hostilities, and an elimination of the threat.
From the public comments of the Israeli government, and private discussions we’ve had with people in the Isareli goverment and diplomatic corp, we believe Israel is committed to once and for all, eliminating the threat of terrorism from Gaza.
In our 35-plus years of working with Israelis, we have never observed the current sense of moral outrage and righteous anger of everyday citizens there. They are unified, unlike any time since their founding. There is no Israeli who does not know someone who has been murdered or wounded or taken hostage. They are mobilizing as a unified people, ending generational political disagreements to defend their nation. The children of both our tour company owners and our tour guides have been called up to active service. It is all hands on deck.
The next weeks will be difficult to watch and there will be a significant loss of lives.
First, we encourage everyone to pray for the safety of Israelis and for the peace of Jerusalem. We pray that innocent Palestinians will rise up against their elected Hamas government and demand they stop placing missile batteries in residential neighborhoods and that they return the Israeli hostages, including toddlers separated from their parents and Holocaust survivors. We pray for a swift victory over the terrorists and an end to the war. But it must be on Israel’s timing. Only they can decide when they believe security has been achieved.
Upcoming Tours
So what about our 2024 tours? With our November tour more than a year away, we are almost 100% confident it will not be affected by the current situation. We continue to take reservations and the tour is about 1/3 full.
If, on the outside chance it must be canceled or postponed due to the situation on the ground, payments can be returned or applied to a future trip.
We are not yet in the window to make our group or individual airline reservations for guests. That will come in December. Our airline agreement will allow us to cancel seats with no risk to our guests as late as the spring. After that, for some months, the airline will allow us to cancel with a small penalty of $150. If the airlines cancel flights, then it is a totally different story to the benefit of travelers.
The reason we love working with a smaller company on a personal basis like Lipkin Tours is how they handled several canceled tours during Covid. Not a single guest lost 1 cent.
As always, we encourage guests to purchase travel insurance to cover all unexpected situations. We will inform you of the airline ticket cost in December and, based on that info, you can purchase your insurance in the following months. You cannot do so until airline reservations have been made.
If you have questions and would like to chat, please call us at 816-540-5517 or email us.
