Visit to Moldova + Christmas packages 2023

At the beginning of December, we (Jan, Marja, Krijn, and Cora) visited Moldova. We were invited by Ivan Velinchuk (director TC) and Alexandr Lukiyan (Pastor church in Falesti) to the 20th anniversary of Teen Challenge.

We visited the various drug and alcohol rehabilitation centers and had every opportunity to encourage the guests in the program with something from God's Word and also to pray with them personally.

Some of them said they had read Marja's Russian books, which are on the bookshelf there!

The Traveling Light ice skating team has skated several times for the Christian rehab centers in Moldova on the Weissensee in Austria, so that made a visit extra fun...

To see with your own eyes how money has been spent and, above all, to hear how people's lives have been changed by the love and grace of Jesus Christ.

They spoiled us each morning with a delicious extensive breakfast in the church in Falesti, after which we set off.

We visited the new rehab center (under construction) in Soceteni. A beautiful 4-storey building that stands behind the old farmhouse where 8 men currently live + another 5 men in a nearby cottage. They can't wait until they can move into the big house. But there is still a lot of work to be done!

During the 20-year celebration, there was room for lots of music and singing, testimonies, and encouragement from the Bible. We were kindly invited to share the Word there.

We also visited the mission post of Johannes and Charlotte Petersen and the girls' home that they lead. They are the founders of Teen Challenge Moldova and of the churches in Falesti and Riscani.

If you would like to know which projects in Moldova we have collaborated on as Traveling Light, take a look HERE.

It was wonderful for us to be there, to be welcomed so warmly, and to be so encouraged by all the stories.

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👉We thank you very much for all the donations, support, and prayers we received over the past year. As for the Christmas packages project this year... we were able to divide 8,000 euros between the three projects. Amazing, right?!

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If you would like to make an end-of-year gift, don't hesitate! We want to help:

• TC Ukraine with the purchase of a house (5,000 euros) near the women's house in Berdychiv. They want to use it as a house for the staff (now the workers live in the rehab houses themselves which is not so convenient) and for visitors, a kind of mission house.
• TC Albania with a donation for their coffee house work in Tirana.

Your donations are always welcome. You can send a gift in different ways, please take note:

• Send a donation to St. Traveling Light, Papendrecht IBAN: NL91RABO0118582275 BIC: RABONL2U and make sure to mention 'general' or otherwise which country or project.
• 💳 Give by card

Travel report Lithuania

"It's for a good cause," people often say, especially in December. But what is that good cause? As far as we at Traveling Light are concerned, it is clear: we invest in human lives!

👉Thanks to your support, we can support Christian organizations and initiatives in more than thirty countries in Europe that provide help to people in need. These could be addicts, homeless people, the poor, displaced, widows, and orphans. The support we offer consists of financial help but also of encouragement on a relational and spiritual level through visiting.

For example, we (Jan and Marja) were in Lithuania last October. We were invited to speak at the annual Teen Challenge conference in Kaunas. Prior to the conference, we visited the women's and men's rehabilitation centers. We also visited there in 2018 and 2019. It's nice to see what has changed in the meantime.

The second floor of the women's center is now completely finished from the inside. What beautiful spaces they have become: bedrooms, sitting room, sanitary facilities, and a beautiful classroom!

There was time to share God's Word and to personally pray with all the women currently going through the rehab program. These are always very special moments and it is an enormous encouragement for the women that 'foreigners' come along to share a word of knowledge, wisdom, or prophecy with them. The tears flowed frequently.

The Friday before the Teen Challenge conference was a special day for the staff and volunteers. We stayed in a farmhouse in the woods and had plenty of time for conversations, prayer, music and singing, and sharing meals together. We had the opportunity to share an encouraging word and personally pray with many for healing, recovery, strength, and vision.

On Saturday we spoke at the Teen Challenge conference in Kaunas. Several former addicts shared their testimonies. 😁Ah, that's why we do what we do: to see lives cahnged for eternity!

On Sunday we spoke in the church in Kaunas, Kauno Krikščionių Bažnyčia. A church led by pastor Rytis Berūkštis with a big heart for the work of Teen Challenge! After the service, we talked and prayed with people for hours, thanks to our interpreters.

Every donation that goes to Traveling Light, whether it is 5 or 500 euros, benefits the projects we support. We call them 'projects' for convenience's sake, but ultimately it is about people stepping out of darkness into the light.

Edvardas and Rasa Kleinas are the directors of Teen Challenge Lithuania. Edvardas knows what it is like to be addicted and in prison. He also found his true freedom in Jesus Christ and has been committed for years to helping others find that path, that truth.

💓Jesus gave the command to disciple all nations and in this way, we all help. So do not see your gift as money that you 'give away' but as seed that you sow in God's Kingdom. The changed lives are the result!

Your donations are always welcome. You can send a gift in different ways, please take note:

• Send a donation to St. Traveling Light, Papendrecht IBAN: NL91RABO0118582275 BIC: RABONL2U and make sure to mention 'general' or otherwise which country or project.
• 💳 Give by card

THANK YOU!