Earlier this year I had the amazing opportunity to travel to Israel for a 10-day trip throughout the country. I was invited by my friends at Socality to take part in a trip hosted by Israel Collective — an organization “dedicated to building vibrant relationships between American Christian leaders and the people of the Holy Land” (from their website).

In retrospect, one of the biggest blessings was that I hadn’t previously thought much about or really ever planned to visit Israel, thus I went in with no expectations of what I would experience. This lead me to be pleasantly surprised by EVERY aspect of our trip, and especially the people and culture we were able to experience while there.

The food was amazing, the landscape beautiful, and the conflict in the middle east (both at large and within Israel alone) was more complicated than I formerly could have understood. You can read a short blog post about our time in Jerusalem and the history of unrest in the area HERE.

All in all, the trip left me with innumerable questions and an odd sort of optimism despite clear pathways to peace. I guess it was Israel Collective and others we were able to hear from on our trip who were earnestly looking to find common ground and build relationships.

Below are a handful of images from the trip. You can view more photos on my VSCO Journal.