Depart the USA on an overnight flight.

Welcome to the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan! Upon arrival in Amman, collect your belongings, meet your guide and driver, and go for a relaxing walk and a vista from the heights of Mount Nebo. Continue to Madaba for dinner and your overnight stay.

Rise and shine and travel to Jerash on this first full day of touring. Walk the roads of one of the best-preserved Greco-Roman sites in the East. Return to Madaba and visit the Church of St. George, where a famous map of the Holyland, the Madaba Mosaic, is preserved. Afterward, meet with local believers, learn about their ministry in Jordan, and worship together. Stay overnight in Madaba.

In the morning hours, travel to the site of Petra, a site carved from stone as old as time itself. Ride a carriage or walk into this Nabatean capital. In the evening, continue to the Wadi Rum. “Glamp” overnight in a Bedouin tent. Enjoy the campfire, the stars overhead, the sand underfoot, and an unforgettable night in an austere desert landscape.

Cross the international border from Jordan to Israel and ride up the Wadi Aravah. Reach Masada, a spectacular mountain-fortress of Herod the Great, and take a cable car to the top of this mountain mesa. Look down from impressive fortifications upon the remains of the Roman camps and consider the incredible story of this place. Return to your hotel in the late afternoon and go for a swim in the Dead Sea. Have dinner and stay overnight in Ein Boqeq.

Drive by Qumran and learn about the Dead Sea Scrolls and the people likely responsible for writing them. Visit Kasr El Yehud and experience the Jordan River, where John the Baptist ministered and Jesus was baptized. Continue to Jericho, where walls came a’tumblin’ down. Drive uphill through the Wilderness of Judea to Jerusalem. There, stop for an afternoon vista from the Mount of Olives. Continue to Bethlehem for dinner and a bed.

Return to Jerusalem, pass through its gates, and consider the role of this sacred place to Jews, Christians, and Muslims. Visit the Temple Mount where YHWH’s glorious temple once stood, and Muslims continue to pray today. Experience the Western Wall, a place of meditation and celebration. In the Davidson Center, walk up stairs that Jesus and the Apostles undoubtedly traveled as they visited the temple. Go underground at the City of David excavations and witness Jerusalem’s earliest remains, including several monumental structures. Explore a network of underground water systems (conditions permitting) that terminate in the Pool of Siloam. Return to Bethlehem for dinner and your overnight stay.

Begin this day by walking into the Old City of Jerusalem and visiting the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Archaeology and tradition suggest that this is the place to celebrate the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Explore other aspects of Jerusalem’s Old City in the morning hours. After lunch, return to the area of Bethlehem to visit the Shepherds’ Field, where the good news of our Savior’s birth was first heard, and the Church of the Nativity, the likely place where Jesus was born. Finally, visit Bethlehem Bible College in the late afternoon and hear about the work and ministry of this modern institution. Have dinner and stay overnight in Bethlehem.

Bus up the Lower Jordan Valley to the Sea of Galilee. Discover sites associated with the ministry of Jesus, including Capernaum and the Mount of Beatitudes. Visit Magdala, hometown of Mary Magdalene, and consider this impressive site in the context of the fishing industry from the first century. At nearby Nof Ginosar, see a first-century fishing vessel before boarding a boat of your own! Enjoy a special time of worship on the water. Afterward, drive to Nazareth for dinner and your overnight stay.

On this relaxing day, spend the morning hours picking olives with local believers. In the afternoon, visit the Church of the Annunciation, built over the boyhood home of Jesus. Stroll through the shops of modern Nazareth before returning to hotel to clean up and rest. In the evening, participate in a worship service and share a meal with local believers.

On this last day of your tour, take a step back in time at Nazareth Village, a re-creation of the hometown of Jesus. Continue to Megiddo, an Old Testament-era fortress that guarded the crossroads of the country. Continue to the Mediterranean shore and explore Caesarea-by-the-Sea, a city erected as the imperial center for the Roman government. Its harbor, theater, and marbled streets signal the arrival of foreign occupation in the Heartland and, not surprisingly, the beginning point for Christianity in the Gentile world. Return to Nazareth for packing, dinner, and relaxing. Transfer to Tel Aviv for an overnight flight to the USA.