Monday, June 27, 2022

Project and travel updates

Greetings to all of you from Sergey Romanenko and the men at the Teen Challenge rehab home in Berdychiv, Ukraine.

Thanks to your help, we were able to transfer a generous gift for repair and maintenance work on the men's rehabilitation center there. (Click on the photos to enlarge).

They are currently working on the installation of drainage around the outer walls, quite a job that requires participation of everyone currently in the program. Repairing the stucco will be next.

Work projects are part of the daily rehabilitation program, in addition to participating in Bible studies and doing household chores. The men always love it when there is a nice job to do. It is very rewarding to see the home well maintained!

Thank you to everyone who has donated to this project.

✦✦✦✦

Last week Jan drove to Slovenia, accompanied by one of our faithful supporters. Together with staff and students from Teen Challenge they drove from there to Montenegro to attend Čuvar Brata Svoga or the 'My Brother's Keeper' conference.

It is already the ninth time that we participate in this event, as Traveling Light. It is a powerful weekend for men from all Balkan countries (former Yugoslavia) and reconciliation, forgiveness, unity, and spiritual growth are central themes. They covered a lot of miles in a week!

It is an enormous privilege for us to witness what God is doing in the Balkan countries! Music is a big part of the conference program. See this video!

✦✦✦✦

Also, many thanks on behalf of port evangelist Alexander Eberson for the donations. We were able to transfer an amount of 400 euro for the purchase of Russian and Ukrainian Bibles for the sailors on the ships.

It is always great to see how you respond to such a call for help.

✦✦✦✦

At the moment we are still receiving donations for the construction of a new Teen Challenge men's rehab center in Moldova! If you would like to make a donation, you can do so in different ways, please take note:

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

Monday, June 6, 2022

Zurich, Alpha course, TC Finland, and port evangelism

Two weeks ago we (Jan and Marja) were in Zurich for the annual meeting of Comunita Brezzano. Together with all those present, we commemorated our friend Maria Meier who passed away last February.

She has been running the Christian therapeutic community in Tuscany for almost thirty years. We have been there many times, taking different groups with us. We were invited to lead the afternoon prayer meeting in Zurich. Prayer about how to proceed... 

All in all, it was an inspiring and encouraging weekend, for everyone.

✦✦✦✦

Last week we (Krijn, Cora, Jan, and Marja) attended a business meeting of Alpha Netherlands in Driebergen. That meeting was very encouraging and inspiring as well. We are partakers in the dream of reaching 1 million people in the Netherlands with the gospel, through the Alpha course.

Anyone can become a 'dream bearer' through sponsorship, which is a great investment! Visit the Alpha website wherever you are. In the past year, we have facilitated an Alpha course in our secondhand shop twice and we want to start the 3rd one in September!

✦✦✦✦

On Monday, June 13, Cora will again participate in giving Alpha in prison, this time in the Rotterdam detention center. The Alpha course will be held on Monday afternoons.

So, please note: there will be NO Tea & Talk in our shop Twinkeltje from June 13 to July 25. Instead, we are open on Wednesday afternoons from 13:30-15:30 hours. Tell your friends!

✦✦✦✦

Speaking of our shop, in May the proceeds (from Twinkeltje and Atelier de Schor) were more than 1,000 euro, which we donated towards the work of Teen Challenge in Lithuania. For June we have chosen Teen Challenge Finland as a project.

Led by Niklas and Heidi Furu (see photo), a fantastic group of volunteers are reaching out to addicts, homeless people, the poor, lonely, and displaced persons. They don't have a TC rehab, but their street outreach is fantastic. They also run a second-hand shop. Surely, they can use some encouragement.

✦✦✦✦

Finally (but certainly not unimportant): Harbor Evangelist Alexander Eberson makes an appeal:

"During my ship visits, I experience an increasing demand for both Russian and Ukrainian Bibles. In my opinion, there is no better chance at the moment than to give Bibles to these sailors who are open to the gospel. With a Bible we give the best we can to them:  'the forgiveness and comfort of the Lord Jesus!' For 1.75 Euro you can give a sailor/woman their own Bible. Will you help?"

If you would like to make a donation, you can do so in different ways, please take note:

  • Send a donation to St. Traveling Light, Papendrecht IBAN: NL91RABO0118582275 BIC: RABONL2U and mention name of project/country.
  • 💳 Give by card