Testimonials
What our passengers are saying.
I was a member of the group of 39 from Robinson/Effingham organized by Jeff Michael.
What a wonderful trip!
The weather was perfect, food different, but good, accommodations nice, and we all traveled as a family that blended well together.
The itinerary was hectic, but so meaningful. My head is spinning with all of the information and experiences given to us by our guide.
There is so much history there that it made us realize how young and fortunate our country really is. To be in the land where Jesus lived and died is a once in a lifetime experience.
The guide’s name was Heidi (I don’t the last name) and the information and experiences she gave us were incredible. She showed no prejudices as she presented the different cultures, religions, and politics, which to me is the sign of a good guide who represents her country well.
She is originally from Ann Arbor, Michigan, and was pleased to have a Midwestern American group. It was good to hear her speaking Hebrew when needed. She also speaks German and Italian so guides many different groups. I recommend that Heidi will be a guide that Maranatha Tours continues to use.
Our bus driver was also phenomenal! The traffic in Israel/Palestine is nothing like here. The constant sounds of horns is expected. Our driver managed to get us safely through some very interesting situations.
I just wanted to thank Maranatha Tours for providing such a rewarding experience .I would strongly recommend this trip to anyone
Sincerely,
Theresa Mills
We recently returned home from the tour to Israel. My wife and I took the tour in 2016 to celebrate our 50th anniversary. Best choice ever, even beats out all cruises. We signed up our pastor and his wife to go with another 12 people. We were just going to be coordinating hosts to send our friends on the experience we had already taken. Well, it turns out that we joined them in hopes that they would not only enjoy the trip but renew their views on the biblical history at hand. They were not disappointed.
The trip started off with the flights on Turkish Air. The planes were clean and the food was good. No complaints there. We had the best bus(es) and best and cautious driver(s). The hotel accommodations were great choices and they had wonderful buffets with new choices that most were not used to. We all took advantage of trying new things.
Malcolm Cartier, the supreme guide of Maranatha Tours could not be better. So much detail. At each stop he would read the pertinent scripture and give us a history lesson of each site. The days were filled with much more than one could absorb. Still, without his lessons and knowledge we would be just looking at a site with nothing to compare it with. I can’t go into detail of each day without doing Malcolm’s job. You need to find out yourself. As each day is planned as per the brochure, you can look up each site yourself before going or just discover each day one at a time.
A boat ride on the Sea of Galilee, a cable car ride to Masada, floating in the Dead Sea, visiting the Western Wall, seeing King David’s Tomb, entering the Garden Tomb, walk the Via Dolorosa. Just a smidgen of what is in store for you.
Shay is my go to person who can not be beat on coordinating everything from stepping on the first flight to stepping of the final flight home. She helped me so much in hosting from my home church to signing up the new travelers. Can’t say enough about her as she goes the extra mile register even late comers before the cut-off date. If I get the chance to host a group again someday Shay will always be my go to girl. I can’t forget the extended help from Terri and Nancy who helped get things started and to help fill in the blanks when questions arise from new travelers.
To sum it up, if you’re going to take any Holy Land Tour, Maranatha is the way to go.
David & Sue Corrasa
Thanks to all of you for making my trip back to Israel the best one ever. Your many kind deeds like helping me with walking up & down & all around the sights!
I made new travel Saints!
May Jesus bless you daily in you work,
Health & spreading the Gospel around the world in this generation!
Dee, you & our friend from down under kept me walking … Thanks.
Merry Christmas & a Healthy New Year!
Ann Troy
Hi Jennifer and Greg,
Just want to take a moment to thank you, Greg and your entire staff for making our Israel trip a beautiful experience. This is my second trip with Maranatha and I have to say that you all have exceeded my expectations compared to other tour companies. Your pleasant communication with me and our group, administrative support and professionalism made this trip one to remember. Our entire time in Israel was not only safe, but impressive with the care we received by our guide, driver and other staff. Please extend my appreciation to Ruby and Samir for making our time memorable, filled with love and meaning for our group. We had 13 baptisms, one marriage proposal on the boat in the Sea of Galilee, many tears of love for simply experiencing Jesus in the Holy Land and people that touched our hearts.
Blessings to you and your Maranatha family for making such a beautiful difference.
Farzad
I have just returned from a long awaited trip to Israel.. and was delighted that the leader was Dr R. Bryan Widbin. He shared so much knowledge (biblical, archeological and historical) with us from his life long experiences, teachings and devotion to honoring God. Our travels to see important biblical sites were foundational for a deeply moving understanding of how God has provided and lead people over the centuries. This trip expanded my understanding of daily life in Jesus’ time and opened my heart to receive more of God’s love in my own daily life. Dr Widbin gives so much of himself with a clear desire to share his passion for Israel, its people of today and of 2000 years ago. I am grateful to have had this opportunity to travel and learn from Dr Bryan Widbin
Edward A. Decker & Josephine A. Otero-Decker
Dear Maranatha Tours:
My husband and I just returned last week from our Holy Land Tour with Malcom Cartier.
It was our first trip to the Holy Land and we are happy to report the trip was awesome!
I don’t know when you give out your “gold stars” but I do hope all involved with our trip, receives a bunch.
Thank you for all the extras too. That was very kind.
Blessings!
William & Katherine Murdock
Hi Jennifer,
Dave and I just arrived home last night from our extension to London after the Holy Land Trip with Pastor Randy Williams. I just wanted to let you know we had a fabulous time. The people on the trip were amazing and made us feel very welcome. Our tour guide Malcolm Cartier was the best and gave us an A+ educational experience. We saw incredible sights and our open air classroom was the best place to learn about Jesus. Thank you for all your help and answering all my pre-trip questions. You must have the patience of Job. May God Bless You!
Sharon and Dave Kiesel
Hello, Maranatha Tours – I just returned from my 2nd trip to the Holy Land with Global Celebration (led by Georgian & Winnie Banov) arranged through Maranatha Tours & wanted to let you know how happy we were with our wonderful tour guides, Yehuda Zabari & Olga Smoldyreva. Yehuda led our tour last year, and was extremely attentive to all our needs – from tracking down luggage lost by my airline to all the practical needs of 35 people moving from place to place with great understanding of sites & relevant information, as well as inspiring personal testimony and excellent knowledge of the scriptures. This year, as our group was twice the size, we were delighted to experience Olga’s abilities as well – she, too, brings great knowledge of the sites and scriptures as well as kind & professional attentiveness to every detail of the tour. In addition, many of us noticed how well Olga and Yehuda worked together as a team – needless to say, managing a group as large & energetic as ours (72 people, 2 busloads) is no small feat, and these two guides coordinated every detail with great professionalism, ability & personal attention which contributed greatly to our joy in the Holy Land.
I wanted to let you know that, based on my experiences the past two years with Holy Land tours led by Yehuda & Olga, I would recommend them highly to any company or tour group.
Thanks for everything your staff has done to make these wonderful experiences possible for us as well!
Sincerely,
Georgina (Gina) White
Jenni, (and Mike)
I am SO tardy in saying, “thank you,” again, for your patience in helping me tag-on to the Jordan-Israel tour with pastors Dan and Gregg and the rest of the great Palmcroft group!! I had a tremendous time and I am just blessed that I could make that trip one more time.
I wanted to also add a couple of things: I think this was my 4th trip to the Holy Land with Maranatha and I have always appreciated the good tour guides that you provided while we were in Israel or Jordan or Egypt, etc. I especially remember Malcolm; and Abed (by the way, I asked at the usual Jericho stop—gift shop and fruit/vegetable market–about Abed and was told that he is seriously ill. I guess at his home in Ramallah (?); Johnny from Nazareth; and a very nice man, a teacher, in Cairo (can’t remember his name). The two we had this time (Jordan, then Israel) were outstanding: Fadi Haddad was low key, but so knowledgeable, courteous, kind—he will remain in my memory. And George Horesh was the best I have ever heard at not only giving information but putting it in historical context. He has a broad perspective that adds so much to each place in Israel that we visited. Outstanding tour guide.
Best wishes for continued blessings for the work you do that spreads good will for all of us.
REBA
We just wanted to take a moment to thank you so much for making the trip of a lifetime possible! We won the drawing last year at the SBC for the free trip to Israel. We were so surprised, but thrilled/ We went in January and are still talking about it. We shared with one another the places of Jesus and the Word became even more alive to us. We will never be the same! We encourage all to sign up this year and have the chance for one of the greatest blessings they will ever experience! Thank you for offering such a precious gift. We will be forever grateful!!!!!
In Christ,
Pastor Mike and Kim Thompson
Jennie, we are all home safely except the Stutheit’s who remained in Italy for another week. Thank you and your staff for the excellent support in planning and supporting the recent trip to Israel and Rome. Once again, kudos goes to Malcolm. I do not believe any guide could surpass him in skills and knowledge. He was exceptional! One needs a recorder to help remember the wealth of knowledge he shared at each site.
I was glad we added the Herodian to the trip. Malcolm also made it possible to spend time at both the Dead Sea and En Gedi so everybody was pleased. He adjusted the schedule from time to time due to circumstances occurring in the Jerusalem area.
The escort in Rome was also excellent and deserves high praise. Gada went above and beyond the call of duty to serve our group. She even escorted four of our group to the Vatican while the rest of us took advantage of the free half day to enter the Colesium. She was friendly and even shared meals with us in Rome. Everybody loved and appreciated her. Because there was no porterageor guide at the airport in Rome I added that part of the tip to Gada who deserved it.
If ever I take another trip, I would definitely go with Maranatha again and would again request Malcolm. But, my body may not be up to another trip. Already, I believe some of the people who backed out of the trip now have regrets when they have heard about the trip from our members.
Thank you again.
pressing for the mark,
Syd Brestel
Hello, we are the Sweats who were on the Holy Land Tour with Pastor Brian Price May 13-22
Greetings from Tennessee and many thanks for taking such good care of us when our flight to Istanbul was delayed causing us the need to stay in Turkey 2 extra nights. We were quite tired and stressed but your company turned it all into a blessing
By entertaining us you provided a service for which we are most grateful.
The tour bus and guide you provided us with did a great job showing us the beautiful city of Istanbul
with lots of historical attractions. Thanks again for your thoughtfulness. That’s why Maranatha was recommended to us and that’s why we’ll choose Maranatha for future travels.
Jerry and Jettie Sue Sweat
Dear Sir,
I would like to take a moment to tell you just how excellent our tour guide, Roman Tyutnev was on my recent trip to Israel. His knowledge of the history of the Holy Land was astounding to me. He gave me an understanding of teh Holy place of the Holy Scriptures. As I traveled through, listening to him, I was amazed at how alive Jesus' day was for me. He was polite, religious, knowledgable, patient, and kept us all together, which was no easy feat. It was obvious to me that he loves the Lord and loves this land.
The tour was well planned and I am tired, but alive in the lord.
Yours Truly,