Christmas packages 2024

Every year, Traveling Light supports a number of 'Christmas package' campaigns from various organizations. It is a blessing to be able to give to people who, for whatever reason, are not doing so well, perhaps because they are refugees, addicted, homeless, or far from home. Surely, one of these projects has your heart 💓!

Winter packages Moldova

Winter is approaching again in Moldova. The first snow has arrived and the Pilgrims and Teen Challenge team is getting ready to help people in need! Johannes writes:

"Last year we were able to distribute 450 food packages and almost 35 tons of wood and coal. By visiting the houses, we can see if there are any more needs, and in a dilapidated house in one of the villages we met Andriana, a 12-year-old girl who really needed help. She is now with us in "Pilgrim House" in Riscani and is flourishing!"

A standard aid package consists of 2-3 bags of coal or briquettes + a large food package of 12-13 kg; that is equivalent to a full month's pension. They start the practical part of the project immediately after New Year and continue until the beginning of February.

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Christmas bags for sailors in the ports of Ghent and Terneuzen

For port evangelist Alexander Eberson, the Christmas period is the best opportunity to show the seafarers in word and deed that God also cares for them. He wants to give a Christmas package to the sailors he visits.

Such a package contains a hat, a pair of socks, a patience game, a notebook with pen, a bar of chocolate, a roll of Mentos fruit, a bottle of shower gel, a homemade Christmas card and a Christmas message. A Christmas package costs approximately €7. He can only distribute packages with your help.

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Operation Christmas Joy in refugee camps

Transform Iran wants to show vulnerable children the love of Jesus this Christmas. They are doing this with Operation Christmas Joy (OCJ).

OCJ was founded in 2015 and at its core is about sharing the joy of Christmas with children living in difficult circumstances. OCJ began as a response to the needs of refugees from conflicts in the Middle East and has grown into a major operation that continues to impact children in many countries including Turkey, Armenia, Greece, and Pakistan.

Today, OCJ has grown from a single event to a series of weekly outreaches that allow the Transform Iran team to build relationships with these children, provide them with a loving community, regular educational and recreational activities that build their confidence and strengthen their understanding of who Jesus is and how to relate to Him.

Give the gift of real help this Christmas! If you like to sponsor a Christmas package, you can send a donation to:

• St. Traveling Light, Papendrecht IBAN: NL91RABO0118582275 BIC: RABONL2U, or 
• 💳 give by card, or
• donate directly via our website!

Project Hope Boxes for prostitutes in Berlin, Germany

Each year we raise money for Christmas packages distributed by various organizations.

For example, to the sailors in the ports of Antwerp and Terneuzen, to the widows in Moldova, and to Iranian children in refugee camps. We will post about that next week.

But first, we would like to highlight a special Christmas package campaign in Berlin, Germany. A few weeks ago we were in Solingen for a meeting with team members of 'Alabaster Jar', a project under the flag of Samaritan's Purse that offers help to prostitutes in Berlin.

We were already in contact with Sandor Hofäcker of Samaritan's Purse in Germany by Email and WhatsApp, following the donation we had sent in early 2023 for humanitarian aid after the earthquake in Turkey/Syria. It was time to meet each other.

The team members of Alabaster Jar help women in Berlin who are trapped in prostitution. Many of them were forced to leave their home country and are now stuck in the red light district - a difficult life, especially in winter. Did you know that there are three hundred brothels in that city alone? 😢

Kathrin and Mari work part-time for Alabaster Jar and go out on the streets together with volunteers to talk to prostitutes and offer them a perspective for a better future. They also have a brothel outreach where they visit and hand out cards and presents to the girls/women.

In their coffee house on the Kufürstenstraße, they welcome the women for coffee/tea and a chat and every year they also organize a Christmas party. At the moment the team is busy filling Hope Boxes. The boxes, filled with love and personal care items, will remind the women that they are important to the team and, even more so, to God.

Last year they provided almost a hundred women in the red light district of Berlin with beautiful and lovingly wrapped Hope Boxes. No woman left the Christmas outreach without a gift and a big smile on their face.

It is possible to sponsor a Hope Box by donating 40 euros.

• You can transfer 40 euros or any other amount to account number NL91RABO0118582275 in the name of Traveling Light, make sure toe mention HOPE BOX.
• You can give by card.
• You can also donate directly via our website!

Project updates, news, and travels

A quick update on projects, travels, and news.

We were able to send a donation to Teen Challenge in Lebanon. Due to the ongoing war with Hezbollah, many people in South Lebanon, as well as in Northern Israel, have been driven from their homes.

Garo Margossian offers humanitarian aid (food, water, medicine, etc.) where possible. He has already received the funds, for which we are grateful.

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We will be in Albania in the coming days for the Europe Teen Challenge (ETC) leadership conference in which directors from most European countries participate.

Every year it offers a great opportunity to meet each other, catch up, and receive updates about the projects we have sponsored.

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Our dear friends Alex & Janet, who met in our coffeehouse Twinkeltje and got married recently, love flea markets. They regularly have a booth or participate in car boot sales with all kinds of nice stuff.

The proceeds will go to the projects of Traveling Light. We are very thankful for their help of course!

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Atelier de Schor will be holding shopping nights on November 22 and 29th. The store is full of Christmas decorations, so cozy. There will also be a pop-up café for coffee, chocolate and tea during those evenings.

In December, in addition to the (normal) Fridays, they will also be open on Saturdays. So much nice (Christmas) stuff, you don't want to miss that. And of course the proceeds will also go to Traveling Light.

Come and enjoy shopping that supports the projects of Traveling Light in this way.

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Two weeks ago we (Marja and Jan) were in Solingen, Germany for a meeting with team members of the 'Alabaster Jar' project from Berlin.

A project under the flag of Samaritan's Purse that offers help to girls and women caught in prostitution. More about that soon!

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Donations, large and small, are always welcome. You can send your gift in different ways:

💛Send a donation to St. Traveling Light, Papendrecht IBAN: NL91RABO0118582275 BIC: RABONL2U and make sure to mention country/project/general.

💳 Give by card

👉You can also donate directly via our website!

Visit to Teen Challenge, Romania

We promised you a report of our trip to Bucharest, which we made at the end of September.

In January of this year, Krijn Donk and Albert vd Graaf ice-skated 200km on the Weissensee. This sporting event raised over 8,800 euros in sponsorship money for the Teen Challenge women's home in Bucharest, Romania.

So it was the right time for us (Jan and Marja) to visit them again. At the end of September we flew to Bucharest. We stayed at the beautiful rehab center for men, where we were very well cared for and had the opportunity to spend time with the men in the program.

We had wonderful meals, slept well, and we were even able to use their passenger van to go to the women's home.

We provided Bible study during the 'chapel' time, had many conversations, and were able to pray with the students for personal needs.

We were also able to share encouragement from the Bible with the ladies and had nice conversations. We were really able to take the time for such personal minsitry. A delicious lunch was also provided.

At the back of the garden at the women's home, the completion of the classroom and studio has  progressed quite well.

It may be difficult to see in the picture, but the two containers (the classroom on the left and the studio lengthwise on the right) are connected by a roof.

There will also be a porch. In the classroom, the ladies receive their group lessons and Bible studies and in the studio, jewelry, soap and candles are made for sales in churches and at conferences (a creative source of income).

The sanitary facilities on the ground floor of the house still need to be renovated, that is definitely on their list of things to do.

But the home is completely full of women and girls who are dealing with life-threatening problems (drugs, alcohol, human trafficking, etc.) and currently they can't miss the use of a bathroom, to be honest. As soon as that work is done, we will show photos.

On Sunday we went to the church of Teen Challenge (Biserica 43) and there we were allowed to share a word, which was  a great honor. The church is full of ex-addicts and their families, which is a beautiful sight to see.

It was a very busy weekend but at the same time very encouraging to see how so many lives are being changed forever, how much love and attention staff and volunteers are giving to people who have sometimes lost all hope.

By the way, we saw that one of the passenger vans at the women's center really needs to be replaced. They often drive those things until they almost fall apart, because there is simply no money for something newer.

We would like to encourage them with a donation for another van.

If you want to help, you can send a donation in different ways:

💛Send your financial gift to St. Traveling Light, Papendrecht IBAN: NL91RABO0118582275 BIC: RABONL2U and make sure to mention TC ROMANIA women's home.

💳 Give by card

👉You can also donate directly via our website!

🔔When in the USA, make your tax-deductible gift payable to EEO Inc. Make sure to mention TC ROMANIA WOMENS HOME.

Project juvenile home Teen Challenge Kazakhstan

This August, our board members Krijn & Cora Donk visited Maxim and Evgenia Buzinovskiyi from Teen Challenge in Kazakhstan.

We had seen each other during the Europe Teen Challenge conference in Warsaw in May of this year. There, we introduced Krijn & Cora to them and they discussed the plans for the visit later in the summer.

Maxim and Evgenia (Jenja) care for boys who, for whatever reason, cannot live at home or do not have a home. They also have three children themselves.

By the way, we were able to give them a nice donation last year to renovate the room where the boys spend their free time. Floor insulation, new windows, furniture. The money was well spent, as we saw in the pictures that Krijn took!

Krijn & Cora spent a lot of time with the youngsters: talking, practicing English, playing games, cycling, walking etc.

They also visited the Teen Challenge drug and alcohol rehab center for men in Almaty, the women's center, the church, and beautiful places in and around the capital. The hospitality they received was enormous. They were given Maxim & Jenja's car to travel around and were spoiled with delicious food.

How good it is to be able to spend time together like this, it is encouraging for everyone. Maxim and Jenja and the boys felt seen and heard and knew that we support their work. We would therefore like to bless them again with a nice gift.

They have been saving for a new passenger van for some time (really needed!) and have plenty of other plans, including opening a coffee bar for young people at the church.

In 2016(!) Krijn skated the 200 km on the Weissensee for a new kitchen in the juvenile home in Kazakhstan. How great is it that he could now see with his own eyes how much everyone still enjoys preparing food in that kitchen!

If you want to help to make this work among  young people in Almaty possible, you can send a donation in different ways:

💛Send your financial gift to St. Traveling Light, Papendrecht IBAN: NL91RABO0118582275 BIC: RABONL2U and make sure to mention TC KAZAKHSTAN.

💳 Give by card

👉You can also donate directly via our website!

🔔When in the USA, make your tax-deductible gift payable to EEO Inc. Make sure to mention TC KAZAKHSTAN.

THANK YOU IN ADVANCE!

PS: You can read older messages about the work of Teen Challenge Kazakhstan, our donations, and visits HERE.

Project and travel updates

September went by so quickly, have you experienced that as well? So, let's take time for some updates.

The September proceeds in our secondhand shops Twinkeltje and De Schor, together with several specified donations, were almost 2,000 euros.

We will double that amount and transfer a love gift of 4,000 euros to benefit the work of Teen Challenge in the rehab houses in Berdichev, Ukraine. A huge thanks to everyone who made this possible.

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In August we donated 3,000 euros to Teen Challenge in Iceland for their outreach and coffee house work among addicts and homeless people. They had been saving up for a long time for a 7-seater car with which they could pick up these people to take them to church and Group Studies, among other things.

And yes, we received a message that a car could be purchased thanks in part to this gift! Very nice.

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Last week we (Jan and Marja) visited Teen Challenge in Bucharest, Romania. A report about that visit with some more photos will follow soon. It was very encouraging, both for them and for us!

We stayed in the rehab center for men and also visited the women's house and the church.

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The project for October in Twinkeltje and the Schor is the work of Teen Challenge in Lebanon. Due to the ongoing war with Hezbollah, many people in South Lebanon, as in Northern Israel, have been driven from their homes. Garo Margossian of Teen Challenge offers humanitarian aid (food, water, medicine, etc.) where possible.

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Donations, large and small, are always welcome. You can send your gift in different ways:

💛Send a donation to St. Traveling Light, Papendrecht IBAN: NL91RABO0118582275 BIC: RABONL2U and make sure to mention country/project or general.

💳 Give by card

👉You can also donate directly via our website!

Visit to Teen Challenge Czech Republic

Last weekend we (Jan and Marja) visited the Teen Challenge men's center in Sluknov, Czech Republic.

The center offers space for about 12-15 men who struggle with addictions. It is a beautiful old country house with lots of land around it. The house has a shared kitchen, study room, and large vegetable garden.

Friday morning and evening we had the opportunity to talk with the men in the program about Biblical principles and truths, especially when it comes to using our talent(s) for God.

There was also time and opportunity for personal conversations and prayer. And all that with the patient help of Martin, our interpreter.

Saturday we drove to the TC rehab center in Poštovice (near Prague) for the wedding of our friend Jaroslav Jasso, whom we have known for several years from visits and conferences.

He and his wife Marcelka are Teen Challenge graduates and are now working as staff members. It was great to see them like this, at the beginning of a new phase in their lives. God is good!

You may wonder if it makes sense to put time, effort, and money towards the rehabilitation and discipleship of addicts, criminals, the homeless, and people with all kinds of problems. Our answer is YES.

God changes people's lives, every day! There is always hope, even if a situation seems hopeless. And it is our desire to see more and more people change by the grace of God and become useful participants in society.

As Traveling Light, we want to encourage, inspire, bring hope, and offer simple Bible teaching that they can use in everyday life!

If you have a heart for offering a new beginning to men and women who thought there was no hope for them, then...

💛Send a donation to St. Traveling Light, Papendrecht IBAN: NL91RABO0118582275 BIC: RABONL2U and make sure to mention TC CZECH.

💳 Give by card

👉Or donate directly via our website!

Project Teen Challenge rehab centers Berdichyv, Ukraine

As we reported in a previous post, the project for our secondhand shops Twinkeltje and de Schor for the month of September is the work of our friends Sergey & Irina Romanenko from Teen Challenge in Berdichyv, Ukraine.

It is very encouraging for us to see and hear that the work in the various men's and women's rehab centers continues, despite the challenges of an ongoing war.

Many have recently completed the rehabilitation program, which is always a reason to celebrate. Most of them walk in depressed, addicted, and distraught. They are in the center for about twelve months, reading the Bible, following group studies, and learning to live again. Sergey wrote to us about this (his daughter-in-law translates for us in English):

"Shalom, dear friends, I want to share news from the rehab centers. God is alive, amen! We have good news, thirteen students have successfully completed the program, eleven of them have made a covenant with God (Twila, the baptism).

God is working in Ukraine and saving people who were on the way to death. New spiritual leaders are rising up in the centers. Three students have been called up for the army. We pray for them and maintain relationships."

How nice to hear they continue, with unstoppable passion, to help people overcome their addictions and traumas and start a new life with Jesus Christ.

There is, of course, always a need for financial support. To make repairs and build expansions, to buy beds and food and furniture, to renovate the kitchen etc. etc. We have been supporting them for years and will continue to do so.

If you want to help bring joy and good news to those who are helpless and hopeless in Ukraine, make a donation and in a joint effort we will disciple the nations! See, what happy faces that will produce 😁You can send your gift in different ways:

💛Send a donation to St. Traveling Light, Papendrecht IBAN: NL91RABO0118582275 BIC: RABONL2U and make sure to mention TC UKRAINE BERDICHYV

💳 Give by card

👉You can also donate directly via our website!

Press, projects, and activities

Hopefully, you all had a nice summer vacation time, wherever you went and whatever you did.

Our friends Krijn and Cora Donk have been in Kazakhstan and visited the juvenile home of Teen Challenge, the rehab centers and the church in Almaty. Of course, we will share more about that in an upcoming post.

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On Thursday, September 5th, we will partake in the 'Lukassen & Boer sponsor run' again (as we do each year) with an enthusiastic group of hikers and runners. This event will bring in cash for Traveling Light.

During the event you run a maximum of two (if you are younger than 15 years old) or a maximum of four (if you are 15 years old or older) rounds through sports park Oostpolder in Papendrecht. One round is about 2.5 kilometers long. You can run or walk. Each round you run is good for 2 euros.

The youth will start at 6:30 PM and the adults at 7:30 PM. Start at AV Passaat's athletics track, Andoornlaan 38. Hopefully, we'll see you there. We have entrance cards!

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A comprehensive and favorable article about the missionary work of Traveling Light appeared in the VVP Magazine (the magazine of AG Churches in Belgium). It is great that we can also (hopefully) become better known in the Flemish-speaking part of Belgium in this way.

We are always grateful for opportunities to tell a little more about our work. We would also like to come to your church by invitation, to inspire you!

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We are still raising money for the prison work in Albania. If you would like to make a donation for that, you can always do so!

The project for our shops/coffee house Twinkeltje and the Schor in September is the work of our friends Sergey & Irina Romanenko from Teen Challenge. All proceeds will go towards their work. It is amazing what they and their team are doing in these difficult times among addicts and traumatized people in Berdichev, Ukraine.

Recently, many have successfully completed the rehabilitation program and that is always a reason to celebrate. More about that in one of the next blog posts.

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Donations, large and small, are always welcome. You can send your gift in different ways:

💛Send a donation to St. Traveling Light, Papendrecht IBAN: NL91RABO0118582275 BIC: RABONL2U and make sure to mention country/project/general.

💳 Give by card

👉You can also donate directly via our website!

Project prisonwork Shkbsk, Albania

As most of you know, we have been in contact with the Teen Challenge team in Albania for years. Jan has visited the country several times. We hope to go together later this year.

During his visits, Jan also came into contact with Fred Westerink who has been living and working in Albania with his wife since 2008. Fred is the director of Shkbsh Prison Fellowship Albania.

The organization has been around for 22 years and they are now active in 20 prisons and also help hundreds of children and families of prisoners. All in close cooperation with local churches. The team consists of 25 people, half of them full-time, the other half part-time.

Fred wrote to us a while ago with a request for financial support for their project 'Chaplains bringing Hope'.

The tasks of the Shkbsh chaplains are clear: Share the gospel with as many prisoners and their families as possible, and involve the local church in this forgotten and often marginalized group of people.

The prison chaplains are Albert, a chaplain with his workplace in Korca, Arber (himself a former prisoner) who is active in the prisons in Durres and Rrogozhine, and Zamira, who works in the prison hospital in Tirana among female prisoners with mental problems.

The government does not support spiritual aid in any way. Unfortunately, this is a remnant of the post-communism era, when the first democratic government decided that each religious community had to arrange for itself how and where it wanted to organize its aid programs.

In recent years it has become increasingly difficult to pay the chaplains, partly due to the devaluation of the euro against the Albanian lek.

As Traveling Light, we are involved in prison work in the Netherlands and we know how important sharing the Gospel is in the rehabilitation process of prisoners.

We would therefore like to help Prison Fellowship Albania with a nice amount so that their chaplains can continue to do the work. Would you consider sowing a financial seed?

Donations, large and small, are always welcome. You can send your gift in different ways:

💛Send a donation to St. Traveling Light, Papendrecht IBAN: NL91RABO0118582275 BIC: RABONL2U and make sure to mention PRISONWORK ALBANIA

💳 Give by card

👉You can also donate directly via our website!