COEUR d’ALENE — Paul Van Noy has led group tours to Israel for 20 years.

But with a war going on, this year’s was unexpected, and unlike any other.

“There has never been a trip to Israel like this one. Most unusual,” he said. “When was the last time I stood on a balcony and watched the Iron Dome take out rockets from Iran?”

The pastor of Candlelight Christian Fellowship in Coeur d’Alene recently returned from a three-week trip to Israel, where he led about 20 people around the Middle East country.

Their travels took them to the Gaza Strip, the site of the Nova Music Festival attack Oct. 7, and the graveyard of cars that belonged to the victims of the attack.

They bought Israeli soldiers coffee, prayed with people in their homes and stood in silence at memorials. There were times of joy and times of tears.

“We experienced quite a bit,” Van Noy said.

As it was a teaching tour, Van Noy guided the group to places of the Bible, like Galilee and Jerusalem, and outlined history and prophecy.

“When you’re taking people there, you’re going to read your Bible differently than you’ve ever read it before,” he said. “When you’re standing at a location described in the Bible, you’ll never read your Bible in the same way.”

Getting there in itself was almost a miracle.

Van Noy schedules the trips well in advance and had planned this year's trip for late March to early April. It all was going according to plan, he said, “and then the war.”

After the attacks on Oct. 7, most domestic airlines said they would not go to Israel. Still, Van Noy said, he didn’t want to cancel the trip and some in his group had already made their own travel arrangements.

“I had to figure out how to get over there,” Van Noy said.

He found it, via Amsterdam on the way in and France on the way out, using KLM and Air France airlines.

Israelis were surprised to see Americans, as tourist groups were rare with the war, but they received them well. Most approached the group and asked why they were there during a war.

 Van Noy was happy to explain.

“They felt the support of American Christians, which is exactly what we wanted,” he said. “We want to support peace in the Middle East."

But peace was elusive. When they were in Gaza, Van Noy said, they could hear tanks, cannons, bombs and machine gun fire. And on April 13, when the group was at a hotel in Jerusalem, Van Noy awoke to what he thought was a large explosion.

“What was that?” his wife, Brenda, asked.

Van Noy responded that perhaps it was someone just slamming a door to calm her fears, but then there were more explosions.

“I don't think that’s someone’s slamming a door,” Brenda Van Noy said.

Paul Van Noy said he went on the balcony and looked up in the sky.

“I could see the Iron Dome taking out those missiles and rockets and drones right there in Jerusalem, which I didn’t think would be a likely target," he said.

After watching more balls of fire in the sky and hearing more explosions, Brenda Van Noy told her husband to get back inside.

“I didn’t have enough sensibility to be afraid. I just was in awe,” he said.

A hotel staff member knocked on their door and told them to go down to a safe house, which they did. After a few minutes, they were cleared to return to their room.

“It’s all over," a worker said.

Van Noy said they later shared a Passover meal with Jewish families. He said they were surrounded by men and women, dressed well, singing hymns and some with machine guns around their necks.

“It was quite an experience,” he said.

Van Noy said the tour group wanted to bless the people of Israel, and he believes they did. He also had the opportunity to teach Israeli soldiers about the Old Testament.

“We did this all over Israel," he said.

Van Noy is planning a 2025 excursion to Israel but doesn’t expect it to match 2024’s.

“A trip like no other, definitely once in a lifetime,” he said.