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!

Travel and project updates

Oh, how quickly time flies. It seems like only a while ago that we were in Iceland. But Jan has now also been to Germany, Slovenija, and Croatia... on his motorcycle this time.

On June 18th, he left after work heading for Slovenija. Together with the staff and students from the drug and alcohol rehab center of Teen Challenge, they drove in a van to Croatia for Čuvar Brata Svoga or the 'My Brother's Keeper' conference.

It was already the eleventh time that Traveling Light participated in this conference. It is an active weekend for men from all Balkan countries (former Yugoslavia) in which reconciliation, forgiveness, unity, and spiritual growth are central themes.

Also this year, a number of men from the TC program in Slovenija surrendered their lives to Jesus! 💓 Reason for great gratitude and joy, of course!

After the conference, Jan stayed, as usual, an extra day at the TC center in Slovenija to teach the Bible, pray with the men, work on cars, and receive prayer!

On the way home, Jan stopped by the former Teen Challenge rehab center Gutes Land in Germany. We have visited there many times over the years. It is our prayer that the farm will be used for this purpose again.

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Thanks to your fantastic support, we have now been able to transfer generous donations to:

• CIC MIssion guesthouse in Georgia (4,000 euro)
• Outreach and coffee house work The Bridge in Macedonia (2,000 euro)
• International rehab center Teen Challenge in Georgia (4,000 euro) and
• The work of Roma Ministry International and YWAM in Bulgaria (1,500 euro)

We sometimes call that a tour of Europe 😁 How wonderful it is to be part of the great commission that Jesus gave us: Go, and make disciples of ALL nations!

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For the month of July, the project in our secondhand and vintage shops is the work of Teen Challenge in Iceland. We are closed in August!

The next projects we want to support are the TOV house in the Netherlands, the work of Teen Challenge in Kazakhstan and in Berdichev, Ukraine. More about that soon.

We are always happy with your donations to support all these wonderful projects and programs. You can send a donation in different ways:

• 💛Send a donation to St. Traveling Light, Papendrecht IBAN: NL91RABO0118582275 BIC: RABONL2U and make sure to mention which project or country
• 💳 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 which Teen Challenge center in Europe you want to support.

Visit to Teen Challenge Iceland

We (Jan and Marja) went to visit and encourage Teen Challenge in Iceland from June 7-10. It was the first time they organized a conference and we were invited to speak there.

TC Iceland does not (yet) have a rehab center, but it is possible for people who struggle with addictions and want to get rid of them to follow a day program.

We were already aware of this through the meetings with Katrinn, who started the Bible studies for this group of people a few years ago. We already donated the proceeds from our shop Twinkeltje in December 2020 for the benefit of that work.

The group lessons for New Life from Teen Challenge are used in the day program. Yes, the same lessons we are currently using in our hometown Papendrecht with a group (Highly recommended for your church or home group of new believers).

Jóhann and Svava were our hosts during these days. Svava is now the director of Teen Challenge Iceland and during the Europe Teen Challenge conference in Warsaw, last May, we agreed to come and visit them.

They looked after us very well and also showed us beautiful tourist highlights. We enjoyed it, even though it was a very busy weekend.

Friday evening we went straight from the airport in Reykjavik to Vegurinn church where they can use the coffee room for studies and meetings.

The TC team regularly takes it to the streets to talk with addicts and invite them to the 'coffee house' and participate in the group lessons.

It is very encouraging to hear the testimonies of those who have accepted Jesus into their lives and the changes they have gone through. It's not just about addicts, by the way. We also heard testimonies from (young) people who came to to Jesus from New Age and Satanism. Oh, that gives so much HOPE!

👉On Saturday we spoke during a morning, afternoon and evening session about the importance of knowing and communicating with the Holy Spirit. We received many grateful responses to our simple and practical teaching.

Sunday morning we went to a church in Selfossi where Svava spoke. We were asked to invite the Holy Spirit to speak through people so that they could encourage and build each other up!

If you are ever in Iceland, there are plenty of churches you can go to!

We were extremely encouraged by the stories and people we met in this remote country where addiction is a major problem. There is a hunger for the truth, people are open to the gospel and God is working... always and everywhere!

We should remember that Jesus sends His followers to the ends of the earth with the assignment to make all nations His disciples 💓. What a blessing to be part of that.

If you also want to sow seeds in the fertile soil of the Teen Challenge work among the hopeless and desperate in Iceland...

Then send a donation in one of the following ways:

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

They are currently raising funds to purchase a van with which they can transport students to and from church services, Bible studies, and meetings.