Joe amaral biography

In 2002, I went to Israel for the first time. I didn’t even want to go. It wasn’t that I didn’t like Israel…it just was never on my radar. Someone sponsored my trip, so I went.

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I always knew that the Bible took place in Israel, especially all the events surrounding the life and ministry of Jesus, but I never really thought about it. Things really started to impact me a few days after I arrived. You need to remember that when I went in November of 2002, the intifada was in full swing.

There were between 2-4 suicide bombings a week in Jerusalem. And guess where I was staying?…Jerusalem!

From the moment I landed at the Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv, I knew that I was in a different world.

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A few days into the trip and Jerusalem confirmed it as well. I remember the first time I went to the Galilee. We drove by village after village that I knew from the Bible. Hebrew writing, Orthodox Jews, and synagogues…it began to hit me: Israel is totally and completely a