Travel and project updates

Last week we (Jan and Marja) attended, on behalf of Europe Teen Challenge, an official event in the Kreuzkirche in Ergolding, Germany.

Our friends Dirk and Meike Hellmann received an honorary prize from the Sinn statt Sucht foundation as an appreciation for their years of work among the addicted.

For more than 28 years, they opened their hearts and home in Gutes Land, a farmhouse in the countryside of southern Germany, to men with addiction problems. The work was part of Teen Challenge Germany.

We have visited them several times over the years and always received a warm welcome. We were also given the opportunity to encourage and teach the men from the Bible.

Dirk has been battling bone cancer for a number of years now. It was therefore good to spend time together, pray with each other, and encourage them.

Gutes Land is currently no longer a rehab center, but who knows, maybe that will happen again in the future.

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In April we sent a donation to the Teen Challenge drug and alcohol rehabilitation center in Zaporozhye, Ukraine. We previously helped them with a donation for the purchase of a generator and heaters.

The staff and students had come up with the idea of ​​starting a cleaning company and using the income to open a coffee house.

With our donation, they were able to purchase various professional vacuum and pressure cleaners which they will use to clean out the stairwells of apartment complexes.

We like such practical ideas to generate income. And to rent space for a coffee house where they can reach more people is always a good idea! Moreover, working is part of the therapy. We wish them many blessings.

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Our friends from the Teen Challenge rehab centers in Berdychiv, Ukraine, are busy renovating, expanding, and refurbishing the men's and women's centers.

Partly thanks to support from Traveling Light, they were able to thoroughly renovate the kitchen in the men's home (where we have been several times). It looks beautiful and the extension creates much more space!

(In the photo at the top the old situation and below the new situation. Click on the photo to enlarge.)

The floor in the women's center has been partly replaced and cabinets were purchased and installed, much to the delight of the mothers and children who live there.

Despite the challenges, difficulties, and frustrations the war brings, the team continues to do their work. They see often that pain and loss bring people to the feet of  Jesus where there is healing and restoration.

In addition to the spiritual encouragement we provide during our visits, we can also provide financial support thanks to your help. We love combining the spiritual with the practical!

We also love to provide you with regular updates about our visits and the projects we support. This way you will stay informed.

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We are always happy with your donations to support all these wonderful projects and programs. You can send a donation in different ways:

• 💛Send a donation to St. Traveling Light, Papendrecht IBAN: NL91RABO0118582275 BIC: RABONL2U and make sure to mention which project or country
• 💳 Give by card
• 👉You can also donate directly via our website!
• 👉When in the USA, make your tax-deductible gift payable to EEO Inc. Make sure to mention which Teen Challenge center in Europe you want to support.