Monday, February 25, 2013

News + thank you notes

Bible study with ex-heroin addicts in Tuscany

We have just returned from a vision trip throughout Northern Italy where we visited and encouraged believers. The people we visited are putting their faith into actions in different ways: evangelism, outreach, rehabilitation, church planting etc. We wanted to see and experience how God is at work in, sometimes hidden corners of, Italy.

During this trip we found ourselves smack in the middle of the Book of Acts. People opened their homes to us, shared their delicious food and even let us sleep in their beds while they camped out on the couch! As written in the Bible each one had a word, a song or a prophecy to share as God spoke through His Holy Spirit to all of us. Sometimes about very specific situations. It was such an encouragement to have fellowship this way. We will write more about it on this weblog.

A little more than a week ago we announced our new project Messianic Congregation Kiryat Gat in Israel. Their meeting place burned down after an arson attack where someone threw a molotov cocktail inside. There is much damage to the building and equipment. We would love to help them by sending a gift of 2,000 euro. In the past week almost 1,000 euro came in, so that's going well. Please help us to bless the believers in Israel by sending your donation to Rabo bank nr. 1185 82 275, St. traveling Light, Papendrecht, IBAN: NL91RABO0118582275, BIC: RABONL2U

Having dinner at Sokrat & Lena's house
A project is so much more than just sharing some news on this weblog and fundraising. We try to keep regular contact with the people behind the projects through e-mail, Facebook, Skype, phone- and mailtraffic. Traveling Light received a thank-you note from Sokrat and Lena from Macedonia for the gift resulting from the extreme ice skating event we had earlier this January: "We are positively surprised to discover the amount of money which you have managed to collect for us and our ministry in such a short time. We do not know how to thank you properly. The least we can do is to invite you to visit us again and to enjoy some more great time with us. Meanwhile, we will thank God for you and for all you have done for us."

Also Petr Ministr from Teen Challenge Czech Republic emailed Traveling Light with words of thanks: "Thank you for this wonderful news [the 1,500 euro as follow-up project]. We are excited to see that this project is finishing. The camper is now in a wood shop to be redone from the inside a little... We have the car already written on Teen Challenge and the paper work is done. It is amazing what God does. Thank you for all your support. God Bless you and see you in April"

Friday, February 15, 2013

Project Messianic Congregation Kiryat Gat


The 1,500 euro for Follow-up Project Coffee bus Teen Challenge Czech Republic came in super fast. Thank you very much for your quick and generous response.

We are currently on a tour through Northern Italy, where we are visiting believers who are doing wonderful work. We will write about this in a later post. For now we want to introduce to you to a new project in Israel.

Our church De Hoeksteen in Etten-Leur has good relationships with Messianic Congregation Beit Hallel in Ashdod. Pastor Israel Pochtar is the pastor there. They also have a smaller sister congregation in Kiryat Gat, a town to the South East. A few weeks ago someone threw a gasoline bomb (Molotov cocktail) through the window and a fire broke out. It did great damage to the building where the believers meet and also to the instruments and furniture, everything was destroyed.

Thank God, help is coming from all sides and Traveling Light would love to offer a token of love and encouragement as well. It would be great if we could bless them with a gift of 2,000 euro for the restoration of their building and the purchase of new instruments. The believers (whether they have a Jewish, Arab, Bedouin or Christian background) are being persecuted there. This is our chance to encourage and bless them. Do you want to join us in this effort?

Friday, February 8, 2013

Follow-up Project Coffeebus Teen Challenge Czech


coffee bus for TC Czech
Well, this will be the coffee bus for Teen Challenge Czech Republic. A beauty, isn't it?

At the end of last year we donated 5,000 euro towards the purchase of a second hand city bus. It tuned out buying and importing a second hand city bus was more complicated than we first expected. So, we all started looking for a minivan or motor home. In the meantime Teen Challenge received some more gifts towards this project and a few weeks back they were able to purchase a motor home which will be used as a mobile coffeehouse for outreach purposes. Hooray!

A camper will be much easier to drive around and to park. No special drivers license is needed and of course a camper will be much cheaper in gas, insurance and taxes. So, all in all, this is good option. They will still need an additional 1,500 euro for winter tires, logo's and adjustments to the interior. Surely we want to help them with that.

coffee bus TC London
Some other Teen Challenge programs in Europe have similar coffee buses, It is a great practical way to reach the homeless, addicted and prostitutes where they are: in the streets. 

coffee bus TC Ireland
This is a great follow-up project for Traveling Light. We have plans to visit Teen Challenge Czech Republic in April, so we will be able to see the bus with our own eyes :) We already received more than 1,000 euro in donations, so we're getting close to our goal! If you think this is a good project, please make a donation and help Teen Challenge in Czech Republic to reach more needy people with the love of Jesus Christ!