Good times and bad times

The Russian invasion of Ukraine is world news. As you know we have many contacts and friends in that country. The Teen Challenge network is now looking at how they can help (Zoom prayer, collecting and getting money there, helping TC centers and churches in border countries to take in refugees, etc.)

Please pray for peace, wisdom, and protection) Monday will be a day of prayer and fasting!

In the meantime, our brave skaters Krijn, Esther, and Marieke skated 200, 100, and 76 km respectively on the Gulf of Bothnia in northern Sweden last Thursday. A tough, memorable day, according to Krijn.

With their action they want to collect money for the completion of the second floor of the Teen Challenge drug and alcohol rehabilitation center in Falesti, Moldova. Almost 5,000 euro has already been pledged!!!

You can still donate towards this cause. We have now heard that refugees from Ukraine also arrive in Moldova and are offered shelter. Any amount is welcome.

Meanwhile, the Christian Evangelical Community Issacar, just outside Torino in Northern Italy, is busy installing a roof on the shelter next to the church. Traveling Light was able to send a donation towards this project at the end of last year.

We are receiving various photos of the progress of the construction project. The center will be used for practical and humanitarian aid (preparation and distribution of meals and emergency shelter).

From Italy we received the sad news that our friend Maria Meier from Comunita Brezzano in Tuscany has passed away from a cardiac arrest. Her passing is a shock to all who knew her.

Every year we visited her therapeutic community (with or without a group of volunteers) and she was a guest in Twinkeltje on several occasions for a mission night. She will be missed by us and many others!

Please pray for her children (Tobias and Manuela) and fellow worker Boris. We are going to Zurich at the beginning of May for a meeting with the board of the Comunita...

And then this: The project of the month we are raising funds for in Twinkeltje and De Schor is the work of Embrace in Hungary.

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

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

Project solar heating Comunita Brezzano, Italy

Recently, we visited our friend Maria Meier in Italy. Maria runs Comunita Brezzano, a Christian therapeutic community in the interior of Tuscany. People with all kinds of problems (psychological, addiction etc.) can stay there for an extended time, rest, and get to know God better.

Comunita Brezzano exist thanks to donations, partial government support for each guest, and the sale of local produce.

They also receive people doing community service, they are put to work in the surrounding villages maintaining flower beds and painting village benches, nice work!

We (Jan and Marja) rented guest house Casa Shalom for a week and enjoyed a wonderful vacation. It was also a great opportunity to catch up and gather some information to support a new project.

On the roof of the men's house Casa Nuova they want to place two (used) solar collectors for hot water supply. This will make a significant difference in the electricity bill.

In addition, they want to connect the existing hot water boiler (which is also heated by solar energy) to the central heating and radiators in Casa Shalom.

So no more wood-burning stove to heat the radiators, but solar energy. In this way, the house can also remain better heated in the winter months.

Traveling Light would like to help with funds. If you want to join us, please

• Send a donation to St. Traveling Light, Papendrecht IBAN: NL91RABO0118582275 BIC: RABONL2U and make sure to mention BREZZANO, or you can
• 💳 Give by card

Work week Italy & project Casa Shalom

During last year's work week

Summer vacation is almost there. For Traveling Light it means ... preparing for the work week in Italy.

[If you want to know what a work week is like, you can read HERE about previous years.]

From Monday August 27 to Monday September 3rd, 2018 we will be in Comunita Brezzano in beautiful Tuscany.

We still have room for 1 or (max.) 2 strong men who want to join us. Please contact us if you want to come.

The theme for the coming work week is 'Hope for the future'.

Afternoon break

We also made a promise to Maria Meier, who runs Comunita Brezzano.

The bathrooms and showers in Casa Shalom (where we stay every year) have to be remodeled to bring everything up to code. They need around 1,500 euro to get this job done.

It would be nice to help her not only with wood cutting, but also with the maintenance of this beautiful Tuscan guest house.

And back to work...

Renting out Casa Shalom brings in funds to run this Christian therapeutic community, a small-scale rehab facility that is largely sponsored through donations. People with serious addiction and / or psychological problems can live and work here for an extended period of time.

They can find peace and get to know God.

Your cheerful gifts are always welcome at St. Traveling Light, Papendrecht IBAN: NL91RABO0118582275 BIC: RABONL2U and make sure to mention: CASA SHALOM.

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CURRENT PROJECTS:

Project Teen Challenge women's home Slienava, Lithuania

Project sponsoring summer camp, Ukraine

Project Casa Shalom, Italy

Work week 2017 Italy

A few weeks ago we headed down to Italy for another great work week. We promised you some pictures and a short report. By the way, it was the fourth time we organized a work week in beautiful Tuscany

With much enthusiasm and zeal we chopped, saw, split and piled up a huge amount of wood. Twice as much as  last year, Henk Swijnenburg claimed ... :)

In doing this, we are helping Maria Meier who runs the therapeutic community Comunita Brezzano.

This year we came with eight people, six from the Netherlands and two from Slovenia: Ervin and Andreas. These two men have a lot of experience in cutting trees through their work for Teen Challenge in Slovenia, so we were very happy with such extra manpower.

The temperature was around 35°C, so the Italians thought we were crazy for working that hard in the summer heat ... but we had planned to fill the basements with firewood for the winter!

The best thing is to see how quick we learn to work as a team and how a relationship develops between people who do not even know each other. The theme for the week was 'living victoriously'. We talked about it every night, read the Bible and shared experiences.

Of course we also went to the beach for a relaxing day. Wow, such temperatures :)

We can look back at a beautiful week in which we learned a lot from each other and certainly from God Himself, who gave us the words to pray for one another through the Holy Spirit.

Thank you very much to Adrie, Andreas, Anja, Ervin, Henk, Jan, Marc and Marja, for your hard work and servanthood. It was really nice to spend this week together. Who knows, there will be another chance next year!

We enjoy hard work as well as fundraising for the various projects. By the way, it was good to see the professional job they did on the repairs of Casa Nuova, we donated for that project last year.

Thanks also to Adrie Swijnenburg for the pictures (click to enlarge).

Gifts for our current projects are always welcome at IBAN: NL91RABO0118582275 BIC: RABONL2U St. Traveling Light in Papendrecht. 

Project Teen Challenge, Armenia
Project Brian Slater, Israel

PS: Last week we were in Romania, a very special visit! More about that soon.

Work week Italy 2016

Italy group 2016

We all returned safe and sound from a wonderful work week in Italy, which we organized for the third year.

With a small group of volunteers we stayed at Casa Shalom for a week. It is one of the houses in the Christian therapeutic community Comunita Brezzano in beautiful Tuscany.

Massa Marittima

We all worked very hard, sawing, chopping, cutting and stacking firewood to replenish their supply for the winter. The three houses in the residential community are being heated by wood stoves, and this requires quite some wood before winter begins.

With the help of Adrie, Anja, Arno, David, Henk Jan, Johan, Marja and Michael the job was done.

hard work with a smile!

The theme for the week was more than conquerors and each night we did a Bible study on that topic. It was a good combination of fun and seriousness... a day at the beach, a visit to the medieval town of Massa Marittima, and praying, talking, and singing together. We got to know each other better each day and also to function as a group.

We can truly say that all of us gained some new insights about gaining and keeping the victory!

We were able to let our light shine in Italy and it is our prayer that it will have a great and positive effect on the lives of the people there as well as on us as a group!

It is so much more fun to give than to receive.

See our photo album on Facebook.

Inside Comunita Brezzano, Italy

At work in the kitchen

We are currently raising money for project roof repair Casa Nuova, one of the houses within the Christian residential therapeutic community Comunita Brezzano in Tuscany, Italy.

The community consists of three houses where people with psychological or other life controlling problems are offered a safe place to rest, to come to know God and get a renewed perspective on life.

Casa Nuova

We wholeheartedly support this work because we have personally seen how lives can be transformed in this environment. Yes, such a residential community is a small scale initiative, there are usually only three or four people in therapy, but we believe that every human life counts and is worth the time and effort in order to be restored.

It is this kind of initiatives that we want to support, because they often receive little or no government funding and yet produce beautiful and positive results.

Quite often, people stay in the community for months at the time. Spending time outside, enjoying nature, working in the open air and taking time to talk and pray will bring balance in the lives of the guests.

Bible study

August 22-29, 2016 we want to go back to Comunita Brezzano for another work week and help to chop wood for the winter and do other chores. If you want to come along and help us (or know someone who would want to), send an email to janandmarja@gmail.com. Don't wait too long, because space is limited! Cost: max. 250 euro + travel.

So far, we have received more than 2,500 euro for project repair Casa Nuova and donations are still welcome! Make your gift payable to: St. Traveling Light, Papendrecht IBAN: NL91RABO0118582275 BIC: RABONL2U and don't forget to mention: BREZZANO.

Below is a video of the Passover celebration in Comunita Brezzano, two years ago.

Project roof repair Casa Nuova, Italy

Casa Nuova

Several months ago we received a request for financial support from Maria Meier. She is in charge of the daily happenings at Comunita Brezzano, a Christian residential therapeutic community in Tuscany, Italy.

The community consists of three houses and Maria offers people with psychological or other life controlling problems a safe place where they can rest, to come to know God and get a renewed perspective on life.

We have visited the community on several occasions and twice we organized a work week in which we came with a group of strong men to cut wood for the winter. We would like to organize such a week again in August.

Meeting up with Maria last December

The houses are beautiful, classic Tuscan farmhouses, but they also require a lot of maintenance. One of the houses, Casa Nuova, suffers from a leaking roof. It is necessary to replace a portion of the roof.

Comunita Brezzano is a non-profit organization that exists largely thanks to donations. There is also income from the sale of jam, olives and fruit and they receive some compensation from the government for taking in guests.

The upper layer of the roof needs to be replaced

We love the work Maria Meier and her team are doing in Tuscany. They takes care of the needs of other people and invite those who are weary and burdened to seek peace with Jesus.

Living and working in the countryside is a welcome and healthy break from the hectic life in a city many people are used to. Maria receives people from Germany, Israel, Italy, Austria and Switzerland.

If you have a heart for this kind of work, please make your gift payable to: St. Traveling Light, Papendrecht IBAN: NL91RABO0118582275 BIC: RABONL2U and don't forget to mention: BREZZANO.

Project tractor parts Tuscany

That's him...

Our Weissensee 2015 fundraiser for the girl's home in Moldova is in full swing. In the meantime we will take the opportunity to present (as announced earlier) our next project, namely financial support for therapeutic community Comunita Brezzano in Tuscany, and well for the purchase of tractor parts.

The grader

Maria Meier runs this christian therapeutic community in Italy, where people with life controlling problems can live for a while. In 2013 and 2014 we did organize work weeks during which we came with a group of young and strong people to cut firewood for the winter.

Loading container

While we were there last September, we asked Maria if there was anything else we could help her with. She told us that for several years there has been a need for two big tractor parts: a grader and a loading container.

The grader is much needed to make road repairs. Comunita Brezzano is situated in the Tuscan hills and the three homes (men's home, women's home and guest house Casa Shalom) are connected by unpaved roads. During winter time the roads suffer from ice, snow and rain and are in need of repairs. The loading container will be used to transport firewood, building materials etc. etc.

Roads in need of repairs

The purchase of these parts will cost 2,700 euro. Apart from some government support and client participation, this community (like many other christian initiatives) can only exist because of donations, the sales of jam and other products and rental income from Casa Shalom. Often there is no room to make big investments, like this one.

That is exactly the moment Traveling Light want to come alongside and help.

Bible study

This is a practical project, that will benefit us as well... We do have plans to organize yet another work week in Tuscany at the end of August/beginning of September this year. 

Lives are being changed here, forever! And that is something we like to invest in. You can help us by sending your gift to St. Traveling Light, Papendrecht IBAN: NL91RABO0118582275 BIC: RABONL2U. Make sure to mention: TRACTOR.

Work week Italy 2014

Working hard and always smiling

As we did last year, Traveling Light again organized a work week in Italy. Offering practical help with a group of volunteers in Communita Brezzano, a Christian Therapeutic community in beautiful Tuscany.

[click on the pictures for an enlargement]

Camfire

Communita Brezzano consists of three old Tuscan homes in the mountains. Maria Meier (a German widow who has been in charge of the community for many years) lives in one of the houses and receives women with emotional, psychological or addiction problems.

Her long-time helper Boris lives in one of the other houses and receives men with similar problems. The third house, Casa Shalom, is being rented out as vacation or groups home, which brings in some income to keep the work going. We rented Casa Shalom for a week.

pizza from the wood oven

Each day the guys disappeared into the woods to cut trees and chop wood. They did a tremendous amount of work and stacked enough wood for the upcoming winter in the cellar of the men's home. A very labor intensive job, that would cost Boris weeks and weeks to accomplish.

All three houses are being heated through wood heaters, and so they need a huge supply to survive the cold months. Thanks to the help of David, Jan, Menno, Nick and Teun this job was done in several days. Thumbs up for our faithful volunteers!

The theme for this week was 'spiritual warfare', we did Bible studies on this subject every night. Those were precious evenings, sitting together talking, praying, discussing, and singing songs. Teun brought his guitar and was leading the group each night in worship. He did an awesome job!

Sunday brunch with Maria and Boris

Thank you very much David, Menno, Nick and Teun for your endless energy, humor and enthusiasm. Together we were able to let our light shine in Italy and it is our prayer that our time given will bring forth much fruit in the lives of the people there, as well as in our own lives.

It is indeed so much better to give than to receive.

Check out our photo album on Facebook.

Work week Italy

Beautiful place to chill

The mission of Traveling Light is three fold: to offer financial support, spiritual encouragement and also practical help. Sometimes that happens all at the same time :) as with our project Casa Shalom in Italy. This July we donated 5,000 euro to this therapeutic community in Tuscany and last week we went there with a group of nine people to work and to give Bible studies.

Team work week Italy

It was the first work week we organized as Traveling Light. We (Jan and Marja) drove in our car to Pisa. Along the way we visited the lady who translates my books into Italian and we were also invited to speak at an evangelical church in Genoa. Monday afternoon September 2nd we arrived at Pisa airport, meeting with Alen Grasinar. Alen is a Teen Challenge graduate from Slovenia. He overcame his heroine addiction and just finished the program and wanted to join us for this work week. He drove all the way from Ljublijana.

Lots of chainsaw work to be done

We picked up six other volunteers who flew in from Holland. Nine people + luggage + guitar + groceries in two cars.... needless to say we had a blast! We rented Casa Shalom for a week, a beautiful old Tuscan house in the mountains, only accessible through an unpaved winding road several miles long. We had a wonderful and intense week together. Every day the seven men disappeared into the woods to cut trees, saw blocks and split them into smaller parts.

Practical help

The guys worked like horses and they must have cut more than 5 m3 of wood which they stacked in the cellars of the women's and men's home. A huge job done, which really surprised and pleased the directors. They were very much impressed with the fact that our guys were willing to unconditionally sacrifice their time, money and labor to help Comunita Brezzano. We also picked kilo's and kilo's of raspberries. Maria makes jam and juice which she sells elsewhere.

Each evening at eight o'clock we would all gather at the peaceful patio for Bible study and talks. The directors (Maria and Boris) and the three men that are currently there for rehabilitation joined us. They were very thankful and enjoyed the time, attention and fun that we shared with them as a group.

Great bbq with the whole gang

We can really say that we were able to shine our light in the lives of these people. They asked us when we would come again :) As a group we also learned from each other. We hope to organize more trips like this in the future.

A big thank you to Alen, Andreas, Frank, Geert-Jan, Menno, Sjanna and Teun (aka Antonio) for their unlimited energy, humor and enthousiasm. The theme for this week was Giving it all. And that's what we all did. What we do for others, we do for the Lord!

The photo's of this work week can be viewed by clicking on this LINK.

News items & prayer

At the women's home, sharing love

Well, it may be vacation time here and there, but Traveling Light has plenty of new stuff going on! We just returned from a short trip to Poland. We were invited to join the celebration of 25 years Teen Challenge in that country. We visited two locations: the rehab men's center in Lekini and the women's home in Broczynie. Wonderful to see what a great work is happening there. We will write more about it soon, because we have a good and practical project coming up there. Please pray for an increase in supporters, so we will be able to accept more small scale projects all over Europe.

Casa Shalom

We received a long thank you letter from Maria Meier in Italy on behalf of Comunita Brezzano, as a response to our gift of 5,000 euro. She writes: 'We want to thank you from all our heart for your generosity and love to us - even if we did not know each other personally. But Marja and Jan described our community and social work in Tuscany marvelous to you, we must add no more... We want to say that your offers are a great help for us to finish and bring two projects forward. Both projects have to do with our production and with self-financing our work: the marmalade kitchen and Casa Shalom....' In the first week of September we are planning to go to Italy with a group of five young volunteers to help Maria with work on the land and around the community. We will stay in Casa Shalom and make many pictures of course. Please pray for that this trip will be fruitful.

Artist impression of interior prayer chapel

The construction of the prayer chapel in Sered, Slovakia keeps going, as do the gifts that come in towards this project. We still need 500 euro's to reach our goal of 2,500 euro. it is very encouraging to see how you are all responding to this. Thank you so much. Here is an artists impression of the roof construction on the inside of the chapel. It is so great to realize that we can be part of this house of prayer, all work is being done by the students who are in the Teen Challenge program. Please pray that the men who come to faith here will let their light shine in all corners of their country!

And then there is project Code Red in Amsterdam. We would love to support this event organized by Victory Home and Victory Outreach to reach abused, mistreated, homeless and addicted women with the love of Christ, with a gift of 500 euro. Your gifts are certainly appreciated and welcome.

Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no commandment greater than these. [Mark 12:30-31]

Rabo bank nr. 1185 82 275 St. Traveling Light, Papendrecht

IBAN: NL91RABO0118582275

BIC: RABONL2U

Background information project Casa Shalom, Italy

Communal kitchen in Maria's house

As promised some photo's and a bit of background information about the people behind project casa Shalom in Italy. We are currently raising 5,000 euro for this Christian Therapeutic Community in the hills of Tuscany. The money will be used for the renovation and upgrading of several buildings. The community can only exist thanks to donations and the sale of produce.

This past February we visited Comunita Brezzano (as it is officially named) upon request of Maria Meier. She is the director of the work and the people. Her long time staff member and helper is Boris, a Jewish tailor from Odessa.

Staff member Boris

Boris grew up in the Ukraine, became addicted to heroine en finally decided to make aliyah to Israel. But his problems came along, it didn't take him long to find heroin in Israel. He ended up in deep trouble and asked for asylum in Canada. Again, he tried to escape his problems.

Canada did send him back to Israel and there he came in contact with messianic believers and he got to know the Jewish Messiah. Through a pastor he ended up at Maria's place in Italy where he slowly received healing of his addiction, hurts and wounds.

Living room in casa Nuova

He has been living and working there for ten years now. He works the land, prunes the trees, sheers the sheep and lives in Casa Nuova where he is like a father to the new guys that come in.

Angelo was such a guy coming in. He was totally strung out on drugs and alcohol. His addiction was not only destroying him, but also his young family. He came to Maria through the mission-work of Cristo é la Risposta. Angelo grew up in Southern Italy, in Naples, and later moved to Tuscany.

Angelo

Thank God for a place like Comunita Brezzano, where he felt welcome. Through many trials and errors he is finally walking the road with God and he made a new start with his wife and children. He works part time for Maria in the community and he is an expert woodworker and carpenter.

At this moment Maria houses an abused woman from Macedonia and, again, a man from Israel. We mention this, just to show you that everyone with life controlling problems who is willing to change is welcome in Comunita Brezzano. A place where they will encounter the love of the heavenly Father.

Casa Shalom

Such small scale work often seems a drop in the ocean, yet... we met with the mother of Andrea (her only child) and to her Comunita Brezzano was an answered prayer. She got her son, who was lost, back! And that touches our heart deeply. 

For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in...

[Mattew 25:35]

Project Casa Shalom, Italy

Maria Meier

We are happy to introduce you to Maria Meier, a widow of German descent, who has lived in Italy for years. This past February we visited her in the mountains of Tuscany and we were very much impressed with the work she does. She gave up her life to help those in need. Her house is truly a refuge!

Maria helps people with life controlling problems, whether addictions, mental, social or psychological disorders. It is possible to come to this Christian therapeutic community (Comunita Brezzano, a Swiss non-profit) for a short or long term stay and work on the land. The sheep, chickens, olive trees, vegetable garden, grape vines and maintenance of the houses and grounds provide enough work to stay busy. The group is small, most of the time no more than 3 or 4 people.

This community is a member of the Evangelical Alliance in Italy and the Association of Christian Life Support in Switzerland. They are also connected with the Messianic movement. Maria has a big heart for the Jewish people and she regularly receives people in need, from Israel, into her community. When we visited many languages were spoken (Italian, German, English, Hebrew and Russian).

Marmalade kitchen

The rehabilitation work in this community, three homes, is being financed through donations. Maria lives with her two grown children in one house. This is also the communal kitchen and the place where she shelters troubled women. Next to this house a new small building is being constructed: a marmalade kitchen. The sale of biological jam brings in some money, but the production has to comply with European Hygiene standards. So, a separate work and bottling kitchen is being erected.

Casa Shalom

Another home is Casa Nuova, a little bit further up in the mountains. Staff member Boris lives and works there and shelters men with various problems. The third house is called Casa Shalom. This house is even higher on a hill and it is rented out as a guesthouse to families and church groups. This brings in some income as well. All three houses are old, authentic Tuscan homes, beautiful of course, but always in need of maintenance, renovation and upgrading according to European safety standards.

Currently they are working on finishing the marmalade kitchen and on upgrading Casa Shalom. Quite a financial burden. We believe it will bless and encourage Maria when we help her with a gift of 5,000 euro. Are you willing to help too?

PS: In one of the following blog posts we will share some more photo's and testimonies.