Tour Leader’s Blog

Last evening, TourMagination held an open house at the Bird-in-Hand Restaurant in Bird-in-Hand, Pennsylvania. We had a delightful evening with approximately 75 persons participating in our event.

The enthusiasm was high as persons came wanting to talk to Janet and me about specific tours in 2008, 2009 and 2010.

This event allowed TourMagination to feature our Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, tour leaders who assist as Bible teachers and storytellers. Edgar Stoesz, who serves as our storyteller on our tours to South America will be leading a tour in 2008 and two tours in 2009 in connection with Mennonite World Conference. Susan Godshall will serve as the storyteller for our Churches and Safaris in Kenya and Tanzania tour; previously led by Don Jacobs, who introduced us to Susan and asked her to serve in this role. Also, Paul Zehr, has agreed to serve as the Bible teacher for our Following the Steps of Moses tour, November 2-14, 2008, and will be serving as storyteller for our September 2010 European Heritage tour which includes the Oberammergau passion play.

We invited these local tour leaders to share their excitement and vision for the tours that they are leading and give their vision as it relates to TourMagination’s mission of building bridges among Mennonites and other Christians and faiths around the world.

The attendees had specific questions, especially after they learned that Edgar Stoesz’s tour to Mennonite World Conference (MWC #6) is sold out and several of the other MWC tours are over one-half subscribed. They were somewhat surprised to learn that one of our fifteen tours to Oberammergau in 2010 is already sold out. One attendee, at the end of the evening, worked with Wilmer and Janet on a specific tour to Oberammergau, as he already has two-thirds of a group committed to travel in 2010.

The refreshments and conversation were enjoyable. The noise level in the room was high as persons shared stories of traveling on previous TourMagination tours, as well as anticipating traveling on one of our six tours to Mennonite World Conference in 2009.

If you are interested in traveling to the Mennonite World Conference Global Assembly or to Oberammergau, please email or call and talk to one of our staff.

~ Wilmer Martin