Project support coffeehouse The Bridge, Macedonia

Last year March we were able to support the work of Jordan & Vesna Stoilovi in ​​Macedonia with the proceeds from Twinkeltje. They run a coffeehouse in Tetovo.

It's been a while since we visited coffeehouse The Bridge, but that doesn't mean we've forgotten them!

We regularly receive newsletters and stay well informed about what is going on in Tetovo, a city in the north western corner of the country where mainly people of Albanian descent live. The vast majority of the population is Muslim. Others belong to the Greek orthodox religion.

Jordan wants to reach the people in his city who do not know the love of God. He is present in coffeehouse The Bridge a few days a week, where he talks with visitors.

He also studies the Bible together with those interested and last month, in collaboration with friends from the USA, a street outreach campaign was organized which attracted many people.

They handed out more than 200 water bottles labeled with a Bible verse and The Bridge's phone number. The evenings were very encouraging for the team and for Jordan himself, who sometimes feels frustrated that he only reaches a handful of people, while in reality he could reach many more.

That is understandable, yet every person is important in the eyes of God. It is not always about large numbers, but about the love that is distributed to individual people who do not (yet) know Him.

We certainly want to encourage Jordan and Vesna to keep going and continue to invest time and kindness in people's lives in order to reach the farthest corners of Macedonia with the good news that there is a faithful God who loves all people.

Do you also want to contribute to spreading the good news in Macedonia?

Then send your gift (large & small) to Traveling Light, IBAN account number NL91RABO0118582275, BIC: RABONL2U and mention TH|E BRIDGE. You can also

💳 Give by card

Fundraising efforts, Alpha, and prayer meetings

On Thursday, September 8, we will again run the Lukassen & Boer Verenigingsrun with an enthusiastic group of walkers and runners in order to bring in funds for Traveling Light.

During the event, you will run a maximum of two (if you are younger than 15 years old) or a maximum of four (if you are 15 years old or older) rounds through the Oostpolder sports park. A round is about 2.5 kilometers long. You can run or walk. Each round yields 2 euro.

Youth starts at 6:30 PM and adults at 7:30 PM. Start at the athletics track of AV Passaat, Andoornlaan 38. Hopefully, we'll see you there.

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On Monday September 12 we will start the Alpha course again, for the third time. Do you want to know more about the Christian faith? Then sign up via janandmarja@gmail.com.

The course will take place on Monday evening in Twinkeltje (Korenbloemstraat 20) and always starts at 6:00 PM with a scrumptious meal.

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👉 Please note: For the coming season we have moved our prayer meetings in Twinkeltje from Friday evening to Sunday evening. Which means:

1st Sunday evening of the month: Regional prayer Alblasserwaard

2nd Sunday evening of the month: Re-Store (healing room)

3rd Sunday evening of the month: Praise evening De Hoop Dordrecht

4th Sunday Night of the Month: Prayer for the Nations

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Henk Swijnenburg's bicycle campaign in August raised almost 1200 euro in sponsorship gifts for Bertine House in Poltova, Ukraine. Bertine House is part of the Teen Challenge family and offers a safe place to mothers (and their children) who want to kick their addiction habits and start a new life.

Traveling Light will double that amount, so we can transfer 2400 euro to Bertine House. Fantastic, thank you all for your donations!

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During their vacation, Krijn and Cora Donk visited the work of Embrace in Hungary, Teen Challenge Armenia, and Teen Challenge Georgia. More pictures of it coming soon!

The proceeds from Twinkeltje and De Schor in September will go to the Embrace!

Donations are always welcome, you can do so in different ways, please take note:

• 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 your gift is for.

165 km cycling for Bertine House, Ukraine

We are very happy and grateful for all the loyal supporters of Traveling Light. Without donors, volunteers, prayers, and financial contributions it is impossible to support so many projects in more than thirty (!) European countries.

It is of course a great joy for us when people come up with fundraising efforts... whether that is baking cake, ice skating, running or cycling! It is always exciting when someone wants to perform in exchange for support... for an excellent cause.

Henk Swijnenburg from Bleskensgraaf is well known from the Weissensee ice skating campaigns. To stay fit during the summer, Henk goes cycling, as many people in Holland do.

This weekend he wants to cycle a 165 km trip with a group of friends to raise money for Bertine House in Poltova, Ukraine. A project that we have been supporting for years.

Bertine House is part of the Teen Challenge family and offers a safe place to mothers (and their children) who want to kick their addiction habits and start a new life.

Henk has also ice-skated for this project in the past, but it seemed good to him to set up a summer campaign for the mothers and children because they could definitely use some encouragement.

Bertne House was first located in Donetsk, but in 2014 they had to leave everything behind because of the war. In this blog post you can read more about the fundraising efforts we did then.

They were able, partly through an American donor, to buy a house in Poltava. In recent years, dozens of mothers and children received a new life by getting to know Jesus Christ.

Despite the fact that there is now another war, life in Bertine House continues 'as usual', children are born and marriages are planned. Hope is alive, certainly under these circumstances.

Henk is planning to cycle 165 km on Sunday 21 August, from Bleskensgraaf, via Dordrecht to Rockanje and back. A beautiful route!

Surely, we would welcome your support. Any amount is welcome, large or small. The full 100% will go to Bertine House in Ukraine, with whom we have direct contact.

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 BERTINE
• 💳 Give by card
• 👉When in the USA, make your tax-deductible gift payable to EEO Inc. Make sure to mention TC UKRAINE-BERTINE

Project children's home Teen Challenge, Armenia

For those who have been reading our news blog for a while, the work of Teen Challenge in Armenia is not unknown. In 2020, our ice skating team raised a nice amount towards the purchase of a second drug and alcohol rehab center.

The war situation and political unrest in the country led Gagik and Lusine Mkrtchyan to also establish a ministry for orphaned and at-risk children.

Over the past few years, they have been able to remove numerous children and women from burning villages and very dangerous places.

Many children are at risk to use drugs and alcohol and being out on the streets. To this end, the couple wanted to establish a school. We were also able to make a gift towards that initiative in 2021.

Last May, at the Europe Teen Challenge conference in Prague, we had time to catch up with the Mkrtchyans. They told us that, in addition to their own five children, they have taken in ten orphans.

It will come as no surprise that there is an urgent need to build an addition to their house so as to create extra (bed)rooms. The plans are there, and now the funds need to be raised.

In the month of July, the proceeds of our shops De Schor and Twinkeltje will go towards this project. But of course, it is also possible to make a specified donation for this purpose if you feel prompted.

Let's bless this special family with a substantial gift so they can start with their construction work.

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 ARMENIA
• 💳 Give by card
• 👉When in the USA, make your tax-deductible gift payable to EEO Inc. Make sure to mention TC ARMENIA

THANK YOU in advance for your donations and prayers! The situation in the country is still unstable Gagik and Lusine would like to see children grow up in a safe and loving home environment.

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.

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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!

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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.

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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.

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.

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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!

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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!

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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.

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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

Project construction new TC center Soceteni, Moldova

It has been several years since we visited Teen Challenge in Moldova. In addition to the existing men's and women's center in Falesti, we also visited the newly opened men's rehab house in Soceteni, just outside the capital Chisinau.

It is a very old country house, which has served as decor in several movies. The house was donated by the mother of one of the guys who went through the existing Teen Challenge program and got a new life!

Jura (2nd left in photo), who leads the program, was an addict himself and after completing the program in Falesti, four years ago, he was called to run the new center.

The house is full and in the past few years, many men have found new life in Jesus Christ. Johannes Müller Petersen, the founder of the TC rehab centers and various churches in Moldova, sent out a message that construction has begun for a new men's rehab center on the property of the old farm.

The new center will be about 120 m2 and will have three floors. A gigantic project that requires a lot of money, of course. 👉But what a vision, what faith and hope, and what a miracle that this project is going to take shape!

During the Europe Teen Challenge conference in Prague (beginning of May) we met again with the guys from Teen Challenge Moldova.

Our friend Krijn took a picture with them, he has raised a lot of money for TC Moldova several times with his ice skating fundraisers and they have not forgotten that.

We would like to support and encourage them to continue this project and we hope that you will again help invest in a healthy future for Moldova.

All donations, large and small, are welcome. We look forward to your response!

 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.

Europe Teen Challenge conference Prague

From May 5-8th, we (Krijn, Cora, Jan, Marja) attended the Europe Teen Challenge conference in Prague. The last international conference was in May 2019, so you can imagine the joy to see everyone again.

Staff, students, and volunteers from the Teen Challenge programs from almost all European countries attended! We estimate there were about 250 people.

We set up a large book table and had the opportunity to talk to many friends, to pray together, and encourage one another.

Of course, we received updates on the various ongoing projects and many group pictures were taken 😁 It was really fantastic for Krijn to meet the people behind the projects he did his ice skating fundraisers for.

We also spoke with various people about current needs and projects. So you will see messages about that in the coming months.

We also gave a presentation about running our secondhand shop / coffee house as a community center. We received a lot of positive reactions to our TC Talk.

We really want to let you know that everyone is extremely grateful for the regular help they receive to keep their rehab centers for people with life-threatening problems running. In all of this, Jesus Christ is the answer!

It was also great for us to get so many enthusiastic responses and to see so much gratitude.

We are currently raising money for the men's center in Berdichev, Ukraine. The project of the month in Twinkeltje and de Schor is the men's home in Lithuania. The next project is a new men's home in Moldova.

All donations, large and small, are welcome. 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 you want to support.

Project maintenance Teen Challenge men's home Berdychiv, Ukraine

The Teen Challenge rehab centers in Ukraine are all running according to the latest reports, including the ones in Berdychiv. Our friend Sergey Romanenko informed us this week that the men's house is pretty full!

Together with the women from the other two centers in the village of Raygorodok, they celebrated Passover. A festive event, despite circumstances, as you can see in the photo.

It's really worth re-reading this blog post about our visit to the men's center in 2019 and the beautiful meeting room/chapel they had just finished.

Sergey always has plans for expansion while at the same time the home is in constant need of regular repairs and maintenance, which is understandable when you live with so many people in one house. We are happy to support him in this and hopefully, you will also want to help.

Let's send them a nice donation for the daily expenses in the men's center and also to be used for maintenance, repair, and expansion plans of the existing building.

Remember that construction and renovation projects also provide work for the men. Work is part of the daily rehabilitation program, in addition to participating in Bible studies and performing household chores.

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 TC Ukraine - Berdychiv

Project Roma support, Bulgaria

In our previous blog we shared the 'Roma Bread Basket' project in Macedonia. We will stay with the Roma population for a while and reflect on the work of Radko and Nevin Kratsov in Bulgaria.

In their most recent newsletter, they shared about the birth of their third daughter Melissa. We are all thankful that mother and baby are doing well.

Last January Radko and his team were able to distribute tons of warm clothing to more than five hundred families. Currently, the Christian Roma community in Bulgaria is joining forces to help their brothers and sisters in Ukraine.

That is quite remarkable, writes Radko in his newsletter because many Roma are among the poorest in Bulgaria, and yet they are now doing their best to help others in need.

There are several large Roma communities in Kharkov and Kherson. Radko was supposed to give a conference there for about fifty Roma pastors in April, May, and October, but unfortunately, that cannot take place now because of the war. They stay in touch with each other as much as possible!

Conferences, training sessions, and youth meetings in Bulgaria and Macedonia are again on the calendar for the coming months. In his work with YWAM (Youth with a Mission), Pastor Radko focuses first and foremost on the spiritual development of the Roma population. He knows from his own experience that receiving God's love is the beginning of a new life... for everyone!

His personal story can be seen in this very interesting documentary.

Radko provides education and leadership training in Bulgaria and surrounding countries and helps Roma to develop a Biblical view for every area of ​​life: relationships, work, health, finances, etc.

If you would like to support the work of Radko and YWAM in Sliven, Bulgaria, please make your gift payable to: St. Traveling Light, Papendrecht IBAN: NL91RABO0118582275 BIC: RABONL2U and make sure to mention: ROMA BULGARIA.

👉You can give by card as well.