Teresa and Brian and Tom and I would like to thank you for creating a Holy Land pilgrimage of a lifetime. Our hearts are still ablaze from our experiences.
On Mount Tabor, we heard Peter speak to us, “Lord it is good that we are here.” This became our prayer upon rising for each of the nine days. Like Peter, we wanted to commemorate our experiences. We each began a journal writing down all the stories you shared with us at the holy sites.
Upon arriving home, we created a photo book chronicling our days. But photos were not enough, we wanted to include the stories about each site that would be remembered by our families, generation after generation, just like Amer’s family tradition of visiting the holy sites and telling and retelling the stories. Using our journal notes of your daily talks, your catholicconvert.com website, handbooks and CDs, and other websites, our photo journal turned into a mini catechism.
We wanted to share our photo journal with you, Amer, and Fr. Seiker as well as our tour group. Here is the link to the Dropbox: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/y9xn1b8ligz6j4e/AACvxJtIjg9DfNLaWtZ-BtiEa?dl=0. May I ask you to forward this email to Amer as we do not have his email.
Once the photo book was complete, the fire within us was not quenched. We felt compelled to share our experiences with others outside our immediate families. We hosted a party to share our Holy Land experiences with people who may never visit Israel or inspire others to make such a pilgrimage. As you see from the attached photos, we taped pages from our photo book on the walls and served foods reminiscent of what we ate during our trip. It was an incredible evening of evangelization.
Our guests were ignited and some shed tears as the viewed the overwhelming beauty of Israel and our Catholic faith. The take-home message from our guests was that this evening should be repeated in different venues. We are praying about the next steps as we are still inflamed by the fire of Christ.
We are forever grateful to you both for enkindling within us a fervor to share the Good News with others. We are already planning our next pilgrimage with you in 2021 to Fatima and Lourdes!
Amore Christi, Nina & Tom, Teresa & Brian
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This is incredible. It brings me back to our pilgrimage with you. When people tell me they want to go to Israel, I tell them you are the only pilgrimage I would take. And I am a travel advisor! This stirs my desire to return with you and Janet to he Holy Land again. Once is not enough, but I am Blessed to have been able to visit the sites where our Lord walked, lived and died. The Holy Land is indeed the “Fifth Gospel” and I cannot thank you, Janet and Amer for bringing it to life for so many of us. God Bless you and your family and please continue to do what the Lord has so obviously called you to do.
JoAnne
STEVE RAY HERE: Thank you very much for your kind comments. We have a great group here and we’re doing holy land part 2 which is all different sites. Having a great time and I read your email on the bus and thanks for your kind words as always
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