Photo's Coffee bus Teen Challenge Czech

TC Director Petr Ministr and Jan: very happy with the bus

Well, here it is.... the mobile coffee bus of Teen Challenge Czech Republic. Your gifts made it possible to purchase and upgrade this camper. The outreach team of Teen Challenge Czech will go into the streets of Prague to connect and share the good news with the homeless, the addicts and the prostitutes.

Last week we visited the Teen Challenge center in Czech Republic. The men's rehabilitation home is just outside the city of Prague in a beautiful 12th century, former monastery. One of the buildings on the premises has recently been converted into a women's home. About eight women live there now in safety. Thank God! We were also pleasantly surprised to finally see the new coffee bus. Wow, what an eye catcher. This will certainly attract the attention of many people.

praying for the outreach work

Inside the coffee bus are two seating areas, a kitchen and bathroom and outside, under the awning, two tables and chairs will be placed as well. Enough room to invite people for coffee, a copy of the book The Cross and the Switchblade and counseling. By the way, we were visiting Prague to attend the annual Europe Teen Challenge Conference. Staff members, volunteers, students and graduates from more than thirty countries came together to connect and to be encouraged.

Curious crowd around the coffee bus

With a big, international group we walked around the coffee bus and prayed: that many people will be reached with the good news that a new life is possible in Jesus Christ. Such powerful and effective prayers. We were also happy to see our donations so effectively put to work. If you're ever in Prague, look for this bus!

The coffee bus project is a good example of a practical, small scale project that will have great impact. Who knows how many people in need will be reached this way. It is our desire to continue to sponsor these kind of projects and in this way to shine our light in dark corners all over Europe. More supporters means: more projects, more countries, more people.... Not necessarily bigger projects, but certainly more projects.

We were able to donate 6.500 euro towards this project

Thank you very much for your support. Please, tell your family, friends and co-workers about the work of Traveling Light. Show them our website or Facebook page. We would love to welcome new sponsors and good ideas. 

Within Europe make gifts payable to:
Rabo bank nr. 1185 82 275
IBAN: NL91RABO0118582275
BIC: RABONL2U

Project Playground Tetovo, Macedonia

Jordan, Vesna and Jakov Stoilovi

For our next project we will take you to Macedonia again. This time to a city in the north, called Tetovo, where Jordan Stoilovi lives with his wife Vesna and little son Jakov.

This past January we visited Jordan in his coffeehouse The Bridge. A place where people can come and talk, have coffee and follow Bible studies. The population in Tetovo is predominantly from Albanian descent and about 83% of the people are Muslim. In one of next blog posts we will share part of Jordan's testimony. He has an incredible story to tell!

The Bridge Center, Tetovo

Jordan desires to let the light of Jesus shine in his town and well in a very practical way. He wants to do so by cleaning up public parks and places in the city. Last year he did a project with the help of a team of volunteers from England; they painted a bridge and cleaned up the area around it. Just watch this film on Youtube, it is very inspiring! The painting of the bridge created a lot of curiosity among the locals, a great opportunity to make new friends, talk with people and pray with those in need.

Jordan's plan for this spring is to fix up a small park near that same bridge and to create a children's playground. He has received a permission from the municipality to place some tables and benches and toys there. He has asked for helping hands among his friends and he has even managed to raise some funds. Jordan still needs 1,000 euro for the realisation of this project. We would just love to help him out!

If all goes according to plan he will start this project in the second week of May. We won't be able to go there to help him, because we have planned a visit to Ludwigslust, Germany in the same week. We will however try to plan a visit very soon. For now, we can all offer our support by donating towards this project. We are looking forward to your gifts!

Start construction chapel Teen Challenge Slovakia

Construction prayer chapel has started!

A few months ago we donated 2,500 euro to Teen Challenge Slovakia. That money was  designated for the building of a chapel at the Teen Challenge grounds in Sered, where there is a men's rehabilitation home.

Well, they have made a start with the construction. Teen Challenge Slovakia opened a special page on Facebook where you can follow the building process (even if you don't have a FB account). They have already posted several great photo's showing the preparations, for example the removing of an old structure. By the way, the chapel will be called David Wilkerson Chapel, after the founder of Teen Challenge.

You can help and encourage the guys by visiting the David Wilkerson Chapel Page, and if you have a Facebook account you can leave a comment and clicki on LIKE of course. The construction of the chapel is a great work project: the guys in the program are helping! We hope to support them again, later on in this construction process, with a financial gift, so keep an eye on this weblog as well.

Isn't it wonderful to see how our gifts are being used? Once the chapel is finished, you will all be able to say: 'wow, I contributed to the realization of this prayer house...'

PS: we are about halfway our desired goal for Project VW Sharan Europe Teen Challenge. We want to get them going (literally) as well!

Thank you note from Israel

Every now and then we post thank you notes on this weblog. We receive all kinds of cards, emails and Facebook notes from the people behind the projects we sponsor. We love to share their thankfulness with you of course, because we believe that after donating to a project it is nice and encouraging to get positive feedback.

So, here's a note from pastor Israel Pochtar from Ashdod, Israel. Thanks to your quick response we were able to donate 2,000 euro for their sister congregation in Kiryat Gat. They had major damage to their building after someone threw a molotov cocktail inside.

Shalom

I was touched by your generosity, thank you and to your organisation for this support.

Your gift and prayers are helping us to continue share the word with people of Israel even in the middle of difficulties that we face now.

Blessings

This is how simple and direct we can offer a helping hand, and this is how sinple and direct we want to keep it.

Project VW Sharan Europe Teen Challenge

Tom & Terry Bremer

A few weeks ago we received an email from Tom Bremer. He is the director of Europe Teen Challenge, ETC for short. Tom and his wife Terry are the driving force behind this organisation. They are doing what we desire to do as well: traveling around Europa, visiting the Teen Challenge staff members and students everywhere and encouraging them.

They do this work with a lot of love and passion. They also organize the annual conferences where staff, workers and volunteers from all over Europe come together. They live and work in Portugal where the ETC office is located.

Tom emailed us about the problems they are having with the ETC vehicle, a Volkswagen Sharan. The car has always been maintained by the ETC mechanic... but it now needs a new clutch and the injectors need to be replaced. A job that will cost around 1,900 euro. Such unexpected expenses are never funny, for no one :) Whether Traveling Light is able and willing to help...

Of course we want to, we LOVE to! Paying car repairs may not be the first thing that comes to mind when talking about offering a helping hand, but we know from our own experience that such help can be a huge relief. After mailing back and forth about technical details, we have decided to raise 2,000 euro for Europe Teen Challenge. We pray that this will give them a good night's rest, so that they can spend their time and energy on more important matters: helping the down and out and addicted.

News and prayer

HOORAY! You have done it again. In record time we received the donations for our latest project in Israel. It is heart warming to see your responses.

• About two weeks ago we announced that we wanted to bless the Messianic Congregation in Kiryat Gat with a gift of 2,000 euro... well, thanks to you all, we are able to do so today. Thank you very much everyone. As a result of an arson attack their building caught on fire and lots of damage was done. We are happy and thankful that we can encourage them with a financial gift. It is good and certainly necessary to keep praying for the Messianic believers (Jews and Arabs!) in Israel, because they are being persecuted by several Orthodox groups.
• We have a new website. At this point it is only in the Dutch language, sorry :( But we will do our best to add an English translation in the future. In the meanwhile you can use Google translate and just enjoy the photo's. Please help us to get more (international) supporters by telling others about us and by sharing the posts on this weblog on Facebook and Twitter.
• We would love to support projects in all countries in Europe with gifts and encouragement, but we will take it one step at the time. For our next project we will go Portugal, to the Europe Teen Challenge office. They are having car trouble... more about that in our next post.

Investing in human lives

Maksim, Sergey and Gena, set free by Jesus

Once addicted, always addicted. Once a thief, always a thief. That's right, or isn't it?

Thank God, at Traveling Light we know this is NOT true. Every year we encounter tens, if not, hundreds, of people who have received a new life against all odds. Men like Maksim (do you recognize him?), Sergey and Gena from Kiev. (Please check our projects tab to see how you were able to help them in 2011 and 2012) 

They can tell you bizarre stories of their lives on the street, in prison, on drugs and alcohol. Horrible stories of a life in hell on earth. Condemned or ignored by society because of their wrong choices. If we wouldn't know any better, hopeless cases...

Maksim in New Dehli, India

Maksim used injection drugs for sixteen years and has been in prison twice (five years). Gena lived on the streets and was involved in criminal activity for thirty years. He also used injection drugs for twenty years and was in prison. twice. Sergey used drugs as well. Hopeless cases? That's what most people would think.

Somehow they came in contact with Teen Challenge. During their time in the rehabilitation program they encountered the love of God. A God who showed them unlimited grace and picked them up from the deepest pit of darkness. 

Gena has many reasons to smile again

Maksim has been clean for more than three years, Gena more than four years and Sergey even longer. Last week Maksim returned from a mission trip to India with YWAM as part of the DTS (Discipleship Training School) he attended. Gena travels all over Ukraine and gives drugs prevention classes. And, oh yes, Sergey is the National director of Teen Challenge Ukraine.

Hopeless cases? God has a different opinion and so do we at Traveling Light. Please, never forget that your gifts are so much more than just funds to support a program or project. Humans lives are being changed, forever, for eternity! There is no better investment... this is literally storing up treasures in heaven. (And by doing so you will never be in a financial crisis).

So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. [John 8:36]

News + thank you notes

Bible study with ex-heroin addicts in Tuscany

We have just returned from a vision trip throughout Northern Italy where we visited and encouraged believers. The people we visited are putting their faith into actions in different ways: evangelism, outreach, rehabilitation, church planting etc. We wanted to see and experience how God is at work in, sometimes hidden corners of, Italy.

During this trip we found ourselves smack in the middle of the Book of Acts. People opened their homes to us, shared their delicious food and even let us sleep in their beds while they camped out on the couch! As written in the Bible each one had a word, a song or a prophecy to share as God spoke through His Holy Spirit to all of us. Sometimes about very specific situations. It was such an encouragement to have fellowship this way. We will write more about it on this weblog.

A little more than a week ago we announced our new project Messianic Congregation Kiryat Gat in Israel. Their meeting place burned down after an arson attack where someone threw a molotov cocktail inside. There is much damage to the building and equipment. We would love to help them by sending a gift of 2,000 euro. In the past week almost 1,000 euro came in, so that's going well. Please help us to bless the believers in Israel by sending your donation to Rabo bank nr. 1185 82 275, St. traveling Light, Papendrecht, IBAN: NL91RABO0118582275, BIC: RABONL2U

Having dinner at Sokrat & Lena's house

A project is so much more than just sharing some news on this weblog and fundraising. We try to keep regular contact with the people behind the projects through e-mail, Facebook, Skype, phone- and mailtraffic. Traveling Light received a thank-you note from Sokrat and Lena from Macedonia for the gift resulting from the extreme ice skating event we had earlier this January: "We are positively surprised to discover the amount of money which you have managed to collect for us and our ministry in such a short time. We do not know how to thank you properly. The least we can do is to invite you to visit us again and to enjoy some more great time with us. Meanwhile, we will thank God for you and for all you have done for us."

Also Petr Ministr from Teen Challenge Czech Republic emailed Traveling Light with words of thanks: "Thank you for this wonderful news [the 1,500 euro as follow-up project]. We are excited to see that this project is finishing. The camper is now in a wood shop to be redone from the inside a little... We have the car already written on Teen Challenge and the paper work is done. It is amazing what God does. Thank you for all your support. God Bless you and see you in April"

Project Messianic Congregation Kiryat Gat

The 1,500 euro for Follow-up Project Coffee bus Teen Challenge Czech Republic came in super fast. Thank you very much for your quick and generous response.

We are currently on a tour through Northern Italy, where we are visiting believers who are doing wonderful work. We will write about this in a later post. For now we want to introduce to you to a new project in Israel.

Our church De Hoeksteen in Etten-Leur has good relationships with Messianic Congregation Beit Hallel in Ashdod. Pastor Israel Pochtar is the pastor there. They also have a smaller sister congregation in Kiryat Gat, a town to the South East. A few weeks ago someone threw a gasoline bomb (Molotov cocktail) through the window and a fire broke out. It did great damage to the building where the believers meet and also to the instruments and furniture, everything was destroyed.

Thank God, help is coming from all sides and Traveling Light would love to offer a token of love and encouragement as well. It would be great if we could bless them with a gift of 2,000 euro for the restoration of their building and the purchase of new instruments. The believers (whether they have a Jewish, Arab, Bedouin or Christian background) are being persecuted there. This is our chance to encourage and bless them. Do you want to join us in this effort?

Follow-up Project Coffeebus Teen Challenge Czech

coffee bus for TC Czech

Well, this will be the coffee bus for Teen Challenge Czech Republic. A beauty, isn't it?

At the end of last year we donated 5,000 euro towards the purchase of a second hand city bus. It tuned out buying and importing a second hand city bus was more complicated than we first expected. So, we all started looking for a minivan or motor home. In the meantime Teen Challenge received some more gifts towards this project and a few weeks back they were able to purchase a motor home which will be used as a mobile coffeehouse for outreach purposes. Hooray!

A camper will be much easier to drive around and to park. No special drivers license is needed and of course a camper will be much cheaper in gas, insurance and taxes. So, all in all, this is good option. They will still need an additional 1,500 euro for winter tires, logo's and adjustments to the interior. Surely we want to help them with that.

coffee bus TC London

Some other Teen Challenge programs in Europe have similar coffee buses, It is a great practical way to reach the homeless, addicted and prostitutes where they are: in the streets. 

coffee bus TC Ireland

This is a great follow-up project for Traveling Light. We have plans to visit Teen Challenge Czech Republic in April, so we will be able to see the bus with our own eyes :) We already received more than 1,000 euro in donations, so we're getting close to our goal! If you think this is a good project, please make a donation and help Teen Challenge in Czech Republic to reach more needy people with the love of Jesus Christ!