I never would have imagined I would be here! If you have been following on Facebook, you know my husband and I are in Israel right now. And wow, Israel is a dreamy place, no doubt! No question it is beautiful, but at the same time, it is so complicated. It’s strange being in a place that has the old, old history of thousands of years coexisting with current history that is still being made.

Since arriving here, I have learned an incredible amount, and I wanted to pass a note to you to share two things that have seriously impacted me.

The first few days in Israel, we stayed in a small village of roughly 400 families. The first thing that really struck me was, you see, they are building a new synagogue right now. And they are building it themselves. These 400 families do all the construction. They protect themselves. They all feed their village and take care of themselves.

In other words, they aren’t waiting for government handouts. They aren’t sitting around waiting for new building projects and outside resources to put things together. If something needs to get done, they rally the people and the money and they take care of it!

I was like, "Hello, come to America please!" It’s beautiful to see people who don’t sit around waiting for the government to do it all for them. And even more, just seeing the unity of the village! It would be great to see more people like that in my own country.

The second thing that really wowed me, is that every time I tell people I’m in Israel or I’m traveling to Israel they are scared for me! Everyone says they’re praying for me and they ask if I will be okay over here. Yet, I feel so at peace. I mean, a man offered me some camels, but I assure you it feels totally safe here. It isn’t this big, fearful, scary place the media always portrays.

In fact, I was speaking with a general manager at a local store, and he told me, "Look, half my staff is Jewish and the other half is Palestinian. And we all work together. We all eat together. We BBQ together."

This isn’t what the media tells us! I was shocked to hear that my experience is not a unique one. A lot of people travel to Israel and expect to witness hardships and tension. We have all been witnesses to the extremes, but the reality is all of these people live and work together. People still have lives to lead, they still have to go to work and take care of their families. So they work together, and they pull talent and skills from different places to make stuff happen! It isn’t perfect, but as if the U.S. is! As if any country doesn’t have its issues or even the threat of terrorism!

I am so honored and grateful to be granted this experience and for everything I have learned. I will be continuing to share my adventures and insights on Facebook as well. And I can’t wait to share more of the wonderful culture and sights of Israel on The Dani Johnson Show on Sunday at 9 pm ET/8 pm CT. I interviewed a few very important people here in Israel, and it truly is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to hear about this beautiful nation straight from them!

If you learned something new from this message, feel free to share it or leave me your thoughts and comments below.

And until next time, God bless!

In great faith,