Project Streha home Teen Challenge Albania

About a year ago, we wrote about the Teen Challenge drug and alcohol rehabilitation center that was due to open its doors in Albania. The center has now been running for several months and the first students are living there.

The house has been thoroughly renovated and refurbished and in the picture you can see how beautiful it has become.

Two weeks after the official opening of the house back in March, Albania faced a lockdown (as did many other countries) and no students could be admitted. In June the first guest was allowed to finally enter. Blessings!

Orges Hysenaj, the director and founder of Teen Challenge Albania, oversees four coffee houses in the country, where homeless and addicted people are welcome and often have a first encounter with the Bible and God's love.

If they desire so, they can sign up for the residential program (which consists of individual and group lessons, Bible studies, and practical work in and around the house). They must make the decision to really want a new beginning in  life.

Teen Challenge's work in Albania can continue thanks to donations. Traveling Light would like to bless them this autumn with a donation for running this center (think of food, gas, light, rent, materials, transportation, etc.).

Will you help us again? If you have a heart for Albania and want to bring hope to the hopeless...  you can send a gift to IBAN: NL91RABO0118582275 BIC: RABONL2U St. Traveling Light in Papendrecht and make sure to mention ALBANIA.

👉When in the USA you can make your tax-deductible gift payable to EEO Inc. Make sure to mention: TC ALBANIA.

THANK YOU for your gifts and prayers!

Laptops for Teen Challenge Ukraine

As you probably know by now, each month the proceeds from our coffeehouse/shop Twinkeltje and the retro/vintage shop in Atelier-Café De Schor are going towards a Traveling Light project.

The proceeds from July went to the work of Teen Challenge among drug addicts and homeless people in Ukraine to buy 2 laptops for the Simcha women's home in Berdichev and one for the Freedom rehabilitation home in Kovel.

The laptops have now been purchased and put into use. The men and women in the program can now take online classes, church services, and Bible studies, when travel is not available.

For many of them, it is the first time they are coming in contact with the gospel, often after years of addiction. In addition to daily Bible studies, counseling, and group lessons are part of the program.

Thanks to you it is possible for them to stay connected online with others, especially with the coming winter just around the corner. The pictures show how happy they are with the laptops.

This month, the proceeds of our stores will go to the work of Radko Kratsov among the Roma community in Bulgaria. We always have a practical and manageable goal for our donations ... and personal contacts of course.

Come and visit us on Friday in De Schor or on Saturday afternoon in Twinkeltje. Twinkeltje's door is currently open for prayer every evening from 7:00 PM to 8:00 PM. We participate in the 10 days of prayer and fasting as part of The Return (to God).

Donations are always welcome at St. Traveling Light in Papendrecht, IBAN: NL91RABO0118582275 BIC: RABONL2U. Our next project is Teen Challenge Albania.

Travels in Italy

For the past 7 or 8 years we have organized workweeks in Italy. With a group of volunteers we would stay in Casa Shalom, the guesthouse of Comunita Brezzano.

Unfortunately, we did not succeed in getting a group together this year. Nevertheless, we (Jan and Marja) decided to go to Italy and visit a number of people within our network. Perhaps, encouragement is more needed than ever before!

We first went to visit Francesca Spataro who translates Marja's books into Italian. We listened, talked, laughed, and prayed together. Very nice. Nel mio Nome is now available online through the distributor as well as in Italian bookstores. 

Then, we drove on to Comunita Brezzano in beautiful Tuscany, where we spent some delightful days. We did some small jobs, but mainly talked with and listened to our friend Maria Meier who runs the community.

The Italians went through a lot this year and many conversations are about the pain their nation is experiencing.

Marja also wrote the first (draft) chapters for a new book in the series about the Ten Commandments in the 21st century.

Years ago, Traveling Light made a donation for the completion of the jam kitchen in the Comunita. Maria is always inventing new recipes: fig and grape jam with cashew nuts. The jam is mainly sold in Switzerland.

And finally, we spent time on the east coast of Italy with Roberta Rapezzi (see picture below). We have known her for years from the Teen Challenge conferences where she is always working as an interpreter. She is a proofreader of Marja's Italian books. It was very good to meet and spend time together.

We realized again, more than ever, that the 💓 of Traveling Light is a spiritual ministry. Meet people, keep in touch, talk, listen, pray, and above all encourage ... whenever and wherever!

And yes, financial support of course. After all, it is more blessed to give than to receive.

Donations are always welcome at St. Traveling Light in Papendrecht, IBAN: NL91RABO0118582275 BIC: RABONL2U. We are currently raising funds for Teen Challenge in Austria.