Visit to Teen Challenge Belgium

In September it will be two years since Teen Challenge Belgium was able to buy a beautiful building in Charleroi. Frédéric and Natacha Hensgens opened Betser House, a drug and alcohol rehabilitation center for men with life-controlling problems.

A few weeks ago we visited them again, after a long time. Of course, it was great to see and encourage each other, we had a lot to talk about, pray about, and think about!

Unfortunately, the coffee house had to close during the past year due to government regulations.

Fortunately, outreach among the homeless and addicted always continues. There are teams of volunteers doing street work in Charleroi and Namur, talking to the homeless and addicted.

Their secondhand store, aptly called Graine de Moutarde, provides some income for the running of the program. Of course, we went to see it! A very nice shop in a good location.

Business is up and the store certainly has a social function in the neighborhood as well. They are already looking for a bigger location :)

We had brought several packages with vegetable seeds, which we always get donated and hand out to the various rehab centers. One of the men started working on the garden the next day! Great 😁 Betser House is getting a very nice vegetable garden this year.

We watched a church service online on Sunday morning and then had a special worship time together in which God was really present and also spoke through us.

If you want to give a gift for the work of Teen Challenge in Belgium, you can always do that. There are ideas to build a kind of workshop where the men can work on their technical skills. There is plenty of room behind the house for expansion.

GIFTS (large and small) are always welcome and can be directed at St. Traveling Light in Papendrecht, IBAN: NL91RABO0118582275 BIC: RABONL2U. Make sure to mention: TC Belgium.

💳 You can also Give by card

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Project news

It's time for some project updates, so you can see how your gifts are being spent. Let's take a tour of Europe 😀

In April we wrote about Teen Challenge Albania and the expansion of the men's house with a number of beds and the purchase of solar panels for hot water.

The solar panels have been purchased and placed on the roof. A big job where all that manpower came in handy!

On behalf of Orges Hysenaj and the men in the program, thank you for your donations and support.

Also in April, we wrote about the expansion of Restart's coffee house in Serbia.

They have started with the renovation project: tearing down the current wall and building a new wall. They will furthermore purchase two windows and a door, and finish walls and floors.

The last phase will be painting and buying furniture! On behalf of Boris Štrbac and his team, thank you very much for your donations!

It is wonderful to see how materials are being purchased locally and how hard the teams work. Really great!

Somehow you received a message from last August about Teen Challenge Austria in your mailbox. As a result thereof we received donations for their street outreach. Beautiful! Mirko Mitrovic writes:

"We are really amazed at what God has been doing in the past months, despite the ongoing lockdown in Austria. Since we had to stop our coffee house project due to government restrictions, we started focusing on our street outreaches"

Every week the team visits the drug hotspots in Vienna and distributes coffee to the people. They get to share their testimonies, pray for the people and build relationships with them and encourage them to believe for miracles in their lives and take steps towards freedom.

"Before Christmas and Easter, we did special outreaches, where we each distributed 200 packages to drug addicts. The packages included some sweets, hats/gloves for Christmas and socks for Easter, coffee, info material about Reset (TC Austria), and two testimonies of how God has set me and another team member free from addiction."

It turns out people are really grateful and open for prayer and allow God to touch their hearts. On behalf of Mirko Mitrovic, thank you very much for your donations!

And then there's the project CIC Mission community center in Georgia. There is also a lot of hard work going on there. Last week we received some photos that clearly show how construction work is progressing.

Last month we were able to send them a gift for the construction of a community center next to the existing Bible school. This should be a space that can be used as a coffee house, children's area, and business center.

On behalf of Reza Nadirashvili, thank you for your donations!

GIFTS (large and small) are always welcome and can be directed at St. Traveling Light in Papendrecht, IBAN: NL91RABO0118582275 BIC: RABONL2U.

💳 You can also Give by card

👉Don't forget to re-subscribe to this blog. The current service that ensures that this message arrives in your mailbox will stop on 1 July.

Sponsoring Teen Challenge summercamp, Ukraine

In Ukraine, the annual summer camp will again be organized, and well from June 28 to July 2, by Teen Challenge and the Jewish Messianic congregation in Berdychiv.

The camp is intended for men and women in Teen Challenge drug and alcohol rehabilitation programs anywhere in Ukraine. Volunteers, workers, children, and family members are also very welcome.

The theme for this year's camp is 'renewed strength' (Isaiah 40:28-31). A very timely theme that will certainly be worked out spiritually and practically during this week.

Last year the camp had to be canceled, but this year everyone is thrilled to go to the camp! No need to explain any further that everyone is looking forward to getting together in the open air, dancing, singing, exercising, eating, talking, praying, and being spiritually built up through the workshops and teachings that will be presented. Usually, there are around 150-200 participants!

Unfortunately, we have to skip this year due to all the travel restrictions that apply 😨

What we can do, is support them financially. 👉It costs about 35 euro/40 dollar per person to participate in the camp. Many will have to travel far to get there. If you would like to sponsor someone in Ukraine so that he/she can participate in the camp, you can:

• Send a donation to St. Traveling Light, Papendrecht IBAN: NL91RABO0118582275 BIC: RABONL2U and make sure to mention: SUMMER CAMP.
• 💳 Give by card
• 👉When in the USA you can make your tax-deductible gift payable to EEO Inc. Make sure to mention: TC UKRAINE Summercamp