News and photo's

ETC conference 2019

Last week we were present at the annual Europe Teen Challenge conference (this time in The Netherlands) with a book and information stand. Staff, students from the rehab programs and volunteers from Teen Challenge from 43 countries were present (around 450 participants).

Always a wonderful opportunity for us to catch up with everyone, meet new friends and encourage people! We have received several invitations to visit TC programs all over Europe. Keep an eye on our calendar.

Opening TC coffee house Croatia

Among others, we spoke with Ico Matulić from the Teen Challenge Croatia team. They recently opened their coffee house in Split. We helped them in 2017 and 2018 with a gift for street work and the translation of Living Free study material. They now officially have a coffee house location where conversations and Bible studies can take place. On behalf of them, thank you very much everyone.

Ready to travel

We also spoke with Igor Budanov from Church Novi Sad. At the end of last year we wrote about the new church community that a group of believers (TC graduates) started in Serbia.

We were able to help them with a donation for the purchase of a passenger van. Recently they were able to purchase a nice second-hand Nissan van. Thank you everyone for the help.

Twinkeltje welcomes our guests

Kuanysh & Madina Akkuzova from Teen Challenge Georgia visited our secondhand shop / coffee house Twinkeltje before and after the conference. We had a very inspiring and above all encouraging mission night together. They shared their personal testimonies. Both were born in Muslim families in Kazakhstan. It is wonderful to hear how God has changed their lives (as well as the lives of family members). We prayed with them and everyone gave words of encouragement. It was awesome.

We took up an offering for the work of Teen Challenge, which came to 1,500 euro! Wow, thank you all very much.

👉 Donations are always welcome at St. Traveling Light, Papendrecht IBAN: NL91RABO0118582275 BIC: RABONL2U.

Passenger van for Teen Challenge Berdychiv, Ukraine

Last November, we wrote a blog post about the old Mitsubishi van of Teen Challenge Berdychiv, Ukraine being on its last legs.

The van is used to transport men, women and children from the rehabs, to the city, to the church, to the coffee house or to the doctor when necessary.

They needed at least 3,500 euro in order to purchase a good secondhand passenger van.

We send out their request for help through our blog and in December we were able to transfer 3,000 euro and another 600 dollars came through our friends from the USA. And so they could purchase a nice Volkswagen passenger van.

We received these photos last month, everyone is super happy with the van! Think about it, you all made it possible. On behalf of the men, women and children from the rehab homes: THANK YOU.

We love it when it works like this. Present a project, raise funds, donate the full amount and then receive feedback. Direct help, personal relationships (we hope to go to Berdichev again in July), no money wasted and happy faces. Knowing that your donations are being used properly is awesome, isn't it?

👉Mark your calendars:

Saturday April 6th we are organizing another MISSION NIGHT in our shop Twinkeltje, this time with guests from Georgia. Kuanysh & Madina are originally from Kazakhstan. Kuanysh came to Teen Challenge as an addict. He is now director of Teen Challenge Georgia. A great testimony.

Gifts for all those special projects are always welcome, you can send a donation to IBAN: NL91RABO0118582275. BIC: RABONL2U St. Traveling Light in Papendrecht.

Project Teen Challenge coffee house Sweden

A sneak peek in the new shop in Sweden

As you may have noticed we are really excited about the concept of Twinkeltje ... a combination of a hip second-hand shop and a coffee house for the neighborhood.

Wherever we go, we tell about Twinkeltje and so a similar initiative got started last year in Moldova and since last week also in Örebro, Sweden.

Last November we spoke with Christian Alderblad of Teen Challenge Sweden. He shared his desire to open a coffee house. With his team of volunteers he does street outreach among the homeless and addicts. The need for a simple meeting place for further conversations was there, but how to fund such a thing? We shared the concept of Twinkeltje with him: do not think money, think people 😁

Team TC Sweden

And so they prayed and looked out for a suitable location... and as of this year Teen Challenge is renting a store in the city. The team of volunteers worked hard to get everything up and running. Calls were made for people to help with items and materials.

Last week the "englahaket" was officially opened. It all looks very colorful and the shop has received its first visitors. Exciting of course. Click HERE for a short video.

The team now focuses on inviting people on the street for a walk-in evening or - afternoon while the shop will also be open for sales at other times. After all, rent has to be paid, and the rates are quite high in the city.

Setting up shop

We promised to help them with the start-up. Maybe you wonder why? Surely Sweden is not a poor country? Of course it is possible to find support in Sweden. But as Traveling Light we want to encourage (creative) initiatives to reach people with the gospel, whether that is in Holland or Hungary, Germany or Georgia.

We have visited Christian and his team in Sweden and we think it is great what they are doing to change their city!

We have a 💗 for nations and people and we want to bless Sweden. And think about this... if you do not sow seed in a country, you cannot harvest either! We pray and expect the spiritual climate in Sweden to change through these young people!

If you have a heart to help homeless people, addicts and displaced persons (the municipality of Örebro has quite a few refugees and labor immigrants who often wander in the streets) then send your gift to IBAN: NL91RABO0118582275. BIC: RABONL2U St. Traveling Light in Papendrecht. make sure to mention: SWEDEN.

THANK YOU.

Project updates & agenda

Construction of the NFD rehab center in Lebanon

It is about time we post some updates about several projects we have supported. We regularly receive quite a few messages and photo's that we would like to share with you all.

Back in August 2018 we introduced Garo & Gabriela Margossian from Lebanon to you. Garo is the founder of NFD foundation, an organization dedicated to drug prevention and helping addicts to overcome their addictions. Read our full article about Garo's project here.

The Margossian family

The construction of the rehabilitation center is progressing steadily. Garo explained that they are working in stages ... every time funds comes in, they can continue to build 👍 Much is still needed to finish this project.

By the way: in September Garo and Gabriela became the proud parents of Adelina Grace. She is a true answer to prayer.

In April of 2018 we presented project church kitchen in Navazi, Georgia. It took some time before the money arrived at the right place, but at the end of the summer pastor Temuri Muzashvili was able to start the construction. The communal kitchen will be added to the church.

Construction of church kitchen in Georgia

Construction is progressing steadily. During the winter months most of the work is at a standstill. However, we regularly receive photos and messages from Temuri. Always nice to see how the building is being constructed. In the photo, the dark red roof is the new extension.

Last year January we also donated the proceeds of our secondhand store to the work of Teen Challenge in Kazakhstan.

For some years they had a desire to convert an existing barn at the men's rehab center into a automotive paint booth for spraying cars and car parts. Well, the booth is in full use!

Paint booth at TC center Kazakhstan

They purchased the materials, sheathed and insulated the walls and ceiling, conducted the light, filled the floor with a special solution and installed heating. The room was remodeled and today it is working successfully. Men who have completed the program can find a job here. Fantastic!

Agenda:

Saturday, April 6: Mission evening Georgia with guests Kuanysh & Madina Akkuzov

Wednesday, April 17: Sponsor walk for Traveling Light

Saturday, April 27: King's day free market

Donations:
Donations are always welcome. You can send your gift to IBAN: NL91RABO0118582275. BIC: RABONL2U St. Traveling Light in Papendrecht.

Project port evangelism

Alexander & Tonja Eberson

At the beginning of this year we received an e-mail from seafarers' pastor and evangelist Alexander Eberson. In search of encouragement and support, he ended up on our blog. Always nice 😃

And so we (Jan and Marja) drove down to Terneuzen (bordering Belgium) for coffee with Alexander & Tonja to get further acquainted. There was an immediate click and their little daughter Hannah thought it was great that we came to visit.

Personal contacts are the foundation for everything we do at Traveling Light.

Alexander has been active for many years as a seafarers' pastor/evangelist in the seaport of Zeebrugge, but as of January he is also doing this work in the ports of Terneuzen (Sluiskil etc.) and Ghent.

Alexander with several sailors

Alexander is affiliated with the Sailors' Society, an English organization. This means that he receives a small allowance from them, but furthermore every evangelist must build his / her own network and support.

The work as port pastor / evangelist is twofold. First, there is the regular contact with Christians on board the sea vessels and second, there are the conversations with sailors who do not yet know Jesus. Alexander enjoys both aspects and to him every meeting and conversation is meaningful.

Various materials and gifts

His question to Traveling Light was whether we can help with finances for the purchase of materials such as Bibles, books and DVDs, but also calling cards so that the sailors can call home.

Of course we want to help. As most of you know, we have supported seafarers' evangelist Guus Peters for years. After he passed away at the beginning of last year, we no longer had contact with anyone who worked in the ports of Ghent and Terneuzen.

We are therefore happy with the contact we now have with the Eberson family. Alexander also knew Guus personally.

If you have a heart for sailors and want to help Alexander to reach them, make your gift payable to: St. Traveling Light, Papendrecht, IBAN: NL91RABO0118582275 BIC: RABONL2U. Make sure to mention SAILORS.

Thank you very much for your support!

Successful fundraiser for Teen Challenge Moldova!

200 km tour on the Weissensee, Austria

We promised to give a final report on our Weissensee fundraiser 2019. Our ice skating team raised more than 8,600 euro for the expansion of the Teen Challenge rehabilitation home in Moldova! The home offers a Bible based program for men with life controlling problems.

It is the first time that such an incredible amount has been raised and we are very grateful for the support we received. On January 29th ice skaters Krijn Donk (Papendrecht), Henk Swijnenburg (Bleskensgraaf) and Henk Vlot (Oud Alblas) entered the 200 km tour on the Weissensee in Austria.

winter style bandage

It was a freezing minus 16 degrees Celsius at the start and their water bottles were filled with ice, even the bananas were frozen. Snowfall had caused  many cracks in the ice and our skaters experienced quite a few falls

Henk Vlot broke his hand due to such a fall on the ice and he had to quit. Fortunately, and thanks to many prayers, he just received news that surgery is not necessary and when the doctors replaced the cast he told them everything about the fundraiser adventure.

Krijn Donk finished the 200 km in 7:41 hours, he finished in thirty-fourth place. Not bad at all, out of thousand participants! Henk Swijnenburg finished the tour without major injuries as well! Despite the fact that the men have not been able to break their personal records, they look back at a fantastic event and successful fundraiser.

The skating team experienced an overwhelming response. Krijn entered the tour for the seventh time for Traveling Light. 'The amount that our sponsors have pledged this year is an absolute record', says Krijn, 'we are very grateful for all the positive comments!'

The amount will fully benefit the project in Moldova. The expansion of the existing teen Challenge men's home will consist of a second floor. Of course we will keep you informed on this blog.

We would like to thank everyone who has, in any way, contributed to this fundraiser. If you have not yet transferred your pledge, please do so as soon as possible at St. Traveling Light, Papendrecht, IBAN: NL91RABO0118582275, BIC: RABONL2U stating: WEISSENSEE.

Year report and results Weissensee

Traveling Light ice skating team on the Weissensee

The 200 km marathon ice skating tour on the Weissensee in Austria is behind us. We are still waiting for an detailed report from our skating team, but we can already sharethe results:

• Krijn Donk finished in a time of 7:41; not enough to break a personal record, but still an amazing performance, putting him within the top 50 of more than a thousand participants.
• Henk Swijnenburg finished in a time of 11:19. He has shown incredible endurance and perseverance. We are proud of his performance even though he has not been able to break his personal record.
• Henk Vlot started out well, but unfortunately he had to step out of the race after about 75 km. He broke his hand when he fell on the ice. Pretty disappointing for him, as he was doing so well. But, let's hope and pray he can show off his skills some other time.

keep going

If you promised to sponsor our team, please send your donation to St. Traveling Light, Papendrecht, IBAN: NL91RABO0118582275, BIC: RABONL2U stating: WEISSENSEE. We will post a more extensive report and the final results for the expansion of the Teen Challenge men's rehabilitation home in Moldova on this blog.

What we also have to post publicly as a non-profit, is our annual financial report.

Our treasurer Martin deHaas takes care of this every year. A short report can be found on our website. We have also created an infographic for your convenience; a small card showing our activities and results at a glance.

The amount of money we can give away is important, of course. But we never want it to be, or become, our focus. We have a 💗 for mission, for nations and people and for outreach. Everyone who supports us in any form: THANK YOU! Without your help it is not possible.

Update Weissensee fundraiser for TC Moldova

As we wrote earlier, the Weissensee fundraiser 2019 for the expansion of the Teen Challenge men's home in Moldova is in full swing.

Our ice skating team will leave for Austria this weekend and skate the 200 km long tour on Tuesday January 29th!

A lot of pledges have come in and many donations have already been made.

It is great to receive such nice responses from everyone!

Several local newspapers published favorable articles about the fundraiser, for which we are thankful. We have made a simple chart of the pledges so far ... and the thermometer is still increasing, daily 😀

Next Tuesday you can follow the performances of our skaters Krijn Donk, Henk Swijnenburg and Henk Vlot LIVE via this link: http://live.ultimate.dk/uploads/2019/iceskating/weissensee/ and then choose the 3rd alternative Elfstedentocht. You can enter our guys as your favorites and follow them all day.

Pledges have been made for starting the tour, for finishing and for breaking personal records.  The current personal records are as follows:

Krijn Donk: 7:21

Henk Swijnenburg: 9:18:59

Henk Vlot: 10:57:53

👉 You can still sponsor our skating team by sending a direct donation to St. Traveling Light, Papendrecht, IBAN: NL91RABO0118582275, BIC: RABONL2U stating: WEISSENSEE or by making a pledge via krijncora@kpnmail.com.

The entire proceeds will go towards Teen Challenge Moldova!

Project industrial workshop CIC Mission, Georgia

New shed at the farm

Our Weissensee fundraiser is in full swing, the pledges are coming in fast. You can still participate!

So, we have some time to share a new project.

Early last year we visited the Bible school and farm of CICMission (check out the website!) in Georgia. We then helped them with fundraising for the growing, harvesting and packaging of garlic. A practical project that literally yielded a great harvest.

Welding works

The Bible school is full with (new) believers from countries like Iran and Azerbaijan and there are already plans to build a new dormitory. We have an open invitation to come and teach some lessons in the school ...

The farm offers employment for the students and the people in the area and generates some income to run the school. Everyone is working hard and the villagers are seeing that too!

Reza N. (founder of CIC Mission) recently emailed us with a request for financial support for the construction of an industrial workshop at the farm.

A shop where students can learn to weld and do ironwork and repairs. The villagers could join for some technical lessons as well. A nice way to generate income and to grow goodwill in the village.

Harvesting time at the farm

The motto of CICMission fits perfectly with that of Traveling Light: Go, and make disciples of all nations.

We are grateful to see the beautiful work that is being done in that region by a group of passionate people with a 💗 for their land and village.

You can (indirectly) help to fulfill the great commission in that area by supporting this practical 'project workshop'. You can send your gift to IBAN: NL91RABO0118582275 BIC: RABONL2U St. Traveling Light in Papendrecht. Make sure to mention CIC MISSION.

Weissensee 2019 for Teen Challenge Moldova

From left to right: Henk Vlot, Henk Swijnenburg, Krijn Donk

January is always an exciting month for Traveling Light, because we have our largest fundraising campaign of the year! On Tuesday January 29th the Traveling Light skating team will be ice skating on the Weissensee in Austria.

Our ice speed skating team has been in training for the 200 km tour for months. From October on, the men train a number of times a week on the ice skating rink in Breda.

This year Krijn Donk (Papendrecht), Henk Swijnenburg (Bleskensgraaf), Henk Vlot (Oud Alblas) and Adrie Swijnenburg (support & care) want to raise money for a great building project: the expansion of the Teen Challenge men's house in Falesti, Moldova.

The farm in Falesti (which we visited recently, namely this last October) is a Christian rehab home for men with addictions and other life-threatening problems. They can live there, work with their hands and above all have an encounter with the living God and start a new life!

We have encouraged them in the past with donations for the purchase of a dairy cow, the construction of a dairy kitchen and with personal visits.

This type of Christian help usually depends largely on donations. The program in Falesti is pretty self-sufficient though. They grow their own vegetables and keep animals.

Teen Challenge men's home in Falesti

In the picture you see another house in the background, that is a rehab house for women. Moldova is struggling with large numbers of alcohol and drug addicts and there is an urgent need to expand the number of beds.

The intention is to build a second floor on the existing house. The men in the program will do as much of the construction as they can, with the help of a team of men from Teen Challenge Czech Republic 💪

For the men in the Czech Republic program (who often have a background in construction work) it will be a great mission project ... going on a trip to help others! How beautiful is that? Helping hands extended, it will be a wonderful joint effort.

dorm room

We are expecting a great response to our Weissensee fundraiser. The full amount of donations coming in will benefit Teen Challenge Falesti.

You can sponsor Krijn, Henk and Henk as a team or individually:

• with a donation per kilometer,
• with a donation to finish,
• with a general donation, or
• with a donation according to your own idea (for example for breaking a pr or last year's time result)

If you decide to participate, please send an e-mail with your pledge and encouraging words to krijncora@kpnmail.nl.

With the Teen Challenge team at the Falesti church

Of course you can send a direct donation to St. Traveling Light, Papendrecht, IBAN: NL91RABO0118582275, BIC: RABONL2U.

May records be broken in every possible way!

We look forward to your heart-warming reactions and we wish the ice skating team lots of success and likewise perseverance.