Sponsoring summer camp Ukraine

A few weeks ago we announced our project summer camp Ukraine 2012 on this blog. Each year the camp is being organized by Teen Challenge Ukraine in cooperation with a Messianic Jewish congregation. A gift of 20 euro (about $25) was enough to pay for one person to attend the summer camp.

We are delighted to announce that we were able to donate 240 euro towards this camp. It may not seem like a large amount according to western standards, but when converted to human lives.... it means that, thanks to your help and generosity, we were able to pay for 12 people to attend summer camp.

Most of them are men and women who are currently living in Christian drugs- and alcohol rehabilitation homes all over the Ukraine. They have never been on vacation before and having fun and fellowship is a real blessing for them.

The photo's show how much fun they are having this week and how the love of Christ is able to change any man or woman! Maybe this was not a grand, earth chattering project, but it was certainly one with eternal impact. Wow, just seeing these pictures makes us very happy. Thank you so much for helping us.

PS: In August there will be another summer camp in Ukraine, so it is still possible to donate. Please make your gift payable to:

St. Traveling Light, Papendrecht, The Netherlands
Rabobank nr. 1185 82 275
IBAN: NL91RABO0118582275
BIC: RABONL2U
Make sure to mention: UKRAINE SUMMER CAMP

TC Netherlands, De Spetse Hoeve

Information stand Teen Challenge Netherlands

Traveling Light offers more than financial support to ministries in need. We will also try to offer practical help, but most of all spiritual encouragement. 

A few weeks back we celebrated Pentecost, which is a public holiday in Holland, with more than 50.000 people during a four day festival. We took turns volunteering at the Teen Challenge stand, which could be found in the world expo tent where hundreds of non-profits and organisations presented their work. Hundreds, if not thousands, of people came by to ask information, to pick up the news letter from Teen Challenge Netherlands or just to share their testimony. Many young people asked interesting questions, like: 'can I get addicted to my phone or the internet?' and 'How do I know when I am addicted?' etc.

Jan talks with a young boy about the danger of addiction

The questions were not only about alcohol and drugs, but often about gaming, chatting and messaging. We had many good conversations, sometimes quite moving... as with the little boy you see in the picture.

Saturday September 8th, 2012 the Spetse Hoeve is organizing an open house. Everyone is welcome. From 11 am until 5 pm you will be able to see the property, to enjoy a good bbq, to browse our info stand and sales stands and talk with many friends and supporters. There will be games for kids as well, so bring the family!

It would be great if we were able to hand them a cheque for 3,500 euro for the purchase of a new (second hand) passenger van. We still need about 2,000 euro to reach that goal. We have received the question why De Spetse Hoeve doesn't get more financial support from the government. Well, the answer is simple: because evangelism & dicipleship is part of their program, the government cannot support it. They do get a subsidized amount per student, but that is not enough to keep the program running., so please help!

Result of your gifts

Last April Traveling Light was able to donate 2,500 euro to Teen Challenge Ukraine. The money was used for the organization of their annual conference in Kiev. Leaders, staff, students, volunteers, pastors and counselors... anyone connected with Christian rehabilitation programs was welcome. About 200 people from Ukraine, Russia, Kazachstan, USA and Holland (that was us!) attended the conference. How awesome that we were able to support this important work.

The Teen Challenge team made a short video about the conference, so you all can see what your donations have accomplished. Thank you very much everyone for your faithful support and prayers.

News & Prayer

Poster Serbia Conference

Next week Jan is planning to go to Slovenia and Serbia. Pastor Steve Telzerow from Ljublijana invited him to come to the My Brother's Keeper Conference which will be held in Serbia this year. Hundreds of men from all former Yugoslavian countries will come together for prayer, forgiveness and reconciliation.  This will certainly be an interesting event. Please, pray for a safe journey, but most of all that people will be touched by the love of God. We found a short message on Youtube about the upcoming conference, by  Nik Vujičić. You will find it at the end of this post, click to watch.

Last week there was a nice article in our local newspaper about  Teen Challenge Serbia and our efforts to help them. You can find the article HERE, try Google translate and see if you can make sense of it :) We hope that local media coverage like this will bring in new supporters!

Bible study group at summer camp

From June 25-29 2012, Teen Challenge Ukraine, together with a local Jewish Messianic Congregation, organizes their annual summer camp for people from rehab centers all over Ukraine. Men, women, children, everyone is welcome. For many of them it will be the first time to go on a summer camp and have fun. They offer Bible studies, music, games, sports and good, safe fellowship. Let us pray that many hearts will be touched during this week and that many wounds from the past will be healed. For a gift of $25 you can send one person to the summer camp where they will have the time of their life.You can send your donation to:

Rabo bank nr. 1185 82 275 St. Traveling Light, Papendrecht, the Netherlands

IBAN: NL91RABO0118582275

BIC: RABONL2U

For those in the USA, you can donate HERE.

Make sure to mention: Ukraine summer camp

Last week we heard that the two mini vans that belong to Teen Challenge, the Spetse Hoeve in Groningen (Netherlands) broke down. Ouch! That makes our Project Passenger Van all the more urgent. There simply is no extra money to pay for new vans. That is why they have asked for our help. The gifts thermometer currently stands at 1,300 euro. We want to bless them with a gift of 3,500 euro. Without your faithful and generous support we cannot do this.

New beds for Teen Challenge Slovenia

Dejan & Renata

This past April we visited Teen Challenge Slovenia, we went to see the Dennis Griffith House in Nova Vas, a residential program for men with life controlling issues. When the house opened in October 2010 they received some military cots along with blankets from the Red Cross, which was great. But as time passed, some of the cots fell apart and the guys were in need of new beds. Staff member Dejan, who used to struggle with addiction himself, contacted his family. His father and brother own and operate a small wood work shop in the Slovenian Alps.

By the way, if you take a look at the picture of Dejan and his wife Renata and daughter Bianca, it is hard to believe that at some point he had lost hope. It is hard to believe that most people did not believe he had a future. He is living proof that with God all things are possible! His life is one of the many reasons why we sponsor Teen Challenge programs. Each human life is precious and it gives us great joy to see lives restored.

Jan & Dejan at the wood workshop

Anyway, Dejan's dad and brother made new beds for the Dennis Griffith House. We drove up to the mountain village where they live to visit them and to see the work shop. The beds are custom made, beautiful old fashioned quality that is hard to find nowadays. They will last a long time, no doubt. We decided to help Teen Challenge Slovenia to pay the bill for the new beds. They were 650 euro short of the total bill. We have donated that amount last week. Thank you everyone for your faithful gifts. By the way, Jan is planning to go to Slovenia again later this month.

Dorm room with the new beds!

We just LOVE practical projects such as this one. It is even better when local businesses can benefit as well. The men in the program (who sometimes slept on the streets for years) are happy with the new beds and Dejan's family did a great job.

Don't forget our current projects:
* We need 3,500 euro for the purchase of a passenger van for Teen Challenge Netherlands
* For 20 euro (25 dollar) you can send someone in Ukraine to summer camp