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.

Extreme ice skating for Teen Challenge Moldova

Skating on sea ice! That is possible in Sweden. From February 24 to March 5, Grand Prix ice skating competitions will be held on the Gulf of Bothnia near Luleå in Swedish Lapland.

Besides the Grand Prix race, an ice skating tour will also be organized with various distances. On February 24th, Traveling Light skater Krijn Donk hopes to participate in the tour in the far North together with his daughters Esther and Marieke. 

Krijn will take on the 200 km and both ladies the 75 km tour.

Father and daughters would like to link their sporting achievements to a project that Traveling Light supports, namely the completion of the second floor of the Teen Challenge men's rehabilitation center in Falesti, Moldova. The center offers a Bible based program for men with life controlling problems.

Back in 2019, our skating team collected a wonderful amount for the construction of a 2nd floor on the existing rehabilitation house. You can read that amazing story HERE!

After that fundraiser, we transferred some smaller amounts for materials and further construction. The work was carried out with the help of a team of men from Teen Challenge in the Czech Republic. The planning was that the final finishing phase would take place in 2020/2021... but that has not happened (travel restrictions, lockdowns, quarantine, etc.)

The photos show that many building materials have already been purchased, but that a lot of work still needs to be done before the floor is ready for use.

With the skating campaign, Krijn, Ester and Marieke Donk want to make it possible for contractors, electricians, plumbers, etc. to finish everything so that the capacity in the center can be increased. How beautiful would that be!

👉It is possible to sponsor Krijn, Esther, and Marieke as a team or individually:

• with an amount per kilometer,
• with an amount for reaching the finish,
• with a general amount, or
• with your own idea (e.g. for improving a PR)

If you decide to participate, please send an email stating the amount you want to give to krijncora@gmail.com

Of course you can always send a gift directly to

• St. Traveling Light, Papendrecht IBAN: NL91RABO0118582275 BIC: RABONL2U and make sure to mention TC Moldova. Or
• 💳 Give by card, or
• 👉When in the USA, make your tax-deductible gift payable to EEO Inc. Make sure to mention Teen Challenge Moldova

We hope it will be an exciting event with a great outcome in many ways!

Visit to Teen Challenge Albania

Earlier this month Jan and Merijn (from Atelier De Schor) visited Gesi & Blerina Hysenaj from Teen Challenge in Albania.

It was wonderful to spend a few days together and to catch up, listen, pray, and get around in Tirana.

Of course, they visited the rehabilitation center where men with addiction problems can live and follow the Teen Challenge program. A touch from God is something most of these men have never experienced before.

Running such a rehab center demands a lot. Sometimes men come in totally devastated and without hope and after a few days decide that they can handle life again and they leave... back into the city, back to their addictions. Some have been staying in the house for months and suddenly run away.

And fortunately, there are also men who do complete the program, they are baptized, join a church, and are often reunited with their families. We must always keep in mind: every life counts!

During Prayer for the Nations last Friday evening, Jan and Merijn showed photos and shared more about their visit. The proceeds from Twinkeltje and Atelier De Schor this month will go to the work of Teen Challenge in Albania.

Gesi would like to see an extension of the coffeehouse work, which is often the first place where addicts and homeless people come into contact with the gospel. There are churches that have indicated that they want to start a coffee house.

The photo shows Gesi talking through the bars to drug addicts in the basement of a hospital where there is a detox center. A special form of street evangelism!

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

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

At the beginning of Febrary we hope to meet Gesi & Blerina during a training/symposium "Best Practices for Running a Day and Evangelism Program" at Europe Teen Challenge in Portugal!

Project fruit trees Teen Challenge Lebanon

We are supporters of the construction of a faith based drug and alcohol rehabilitation center in Lebanon.

About two years ago, our friend Garo Margossian began the construction of a drug and alcohol rehabilitation center in Beirut. Garo is the founder of the nonprofit organization No For Drugs (NFD), an organization dedicated to promoting drug prevention. They offer awareness campaigns, prison ministry, and legal aid.

NFD is part of Global Teen Challenge and we have known Garo for years from the Teen Challenge conferences in Europe.

The construction of the center is taking place in phases. Every time funds are available, the work continues.  The roof is on the building now, all windows and doors have been placed.

The center is expected to open this year!

Garo is good at thinking ahead 😀 He is currently raising funds to plant fruit trees around the house, preferably as soon as possible, so that when the house is occupied, harvesting can be done within a short time. 

Of course, in addition to purchasing young trees, an irrigation system is also needed. We believe with him that this is a nice investment that will pay for itself in years to come.

The plan, according to the project application, is to use part of the proceeds from the fruit sale to help the poor. With his team, Garo has been supporting 200 families since the country has been in a serious economic and financial crisis.

If you want to help, please choose one of the following ways:

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

2021 was a blessed year!

Just before Christmas, we would like to give you some project updates. Always nice to see how gifts are spent! 😀

We received photos from our Teen Challenge friends in Berdychiv, Ukraine.

Thanks to the help of Traveling Light, they were able to have the Volkswagen van repaired.

Can you tell they are happy?

We also got pictures from our Teen Challenge friends in Winiarczykowka, Poland. They have used our latest donation to buy a number of beehives, among other things.

A competition was organized in collaboration with several schools to see who could paint the boxes the most beautiful. They turned out very colorful.

The project where the proceeds of Twinkeltje en de Schor will go this month is Pilgrims / Teen Challenge Moldova.

They will, as every year, deliver food and coal parcels to widows, the elderly, and the poor.

We can look back at a blessed year and we are very grateful for that. Just to name a few things:

• Thanks to your donations we have been able to support many projects
• We have been able to receive many guests in Twinkeltje on a weekly basis
• We gave an Alpha course for the first time in Twinkeltje and recently started a new group
• The baptism service at the end of September was one of the highlights of the year!
• We have received several international guests during a number of mission evenings

And so we could go on and on. Of course, this will all be specified in the 2021 annual report. If you want to send a year-end donation, please do so! You can:

• Send a donation to St. Traveling Light, Papendrecht IBAN: NL91RABO0118582275 BIC: RABONL2U, or
• 💳 Give by card

Project women's home Teen Challenge Georgia

We have supported the work of Teen Challenge in Georgia throughout the years with various donations and visits. Directors Kuanysh and Madina Akkuzova visited us in Twinkeltje back in 2019.

Teen Challenge Georgia staff and volunteers run a drug and alcohol rehabilitation center for men in Tbilisi, a women's home and training center in Batumi, and an active and vibrant church and Sunday school in Tbilisi.

They also do street work and are involved in activities for children from refugee camps.

Not so long ago, thanks to donations, they were able to buy a house in Tbilisi that already functions as rehabilitation and shelter for women who, for whatever reason, are not safe elsewhere.

However, there is still a lot of renovation work to be done to make the house habitable according to the rules for a larger group of women and their children.

Think of insulation, expansion of sanitary facilities (there is now only 1 toilet and shower), good heating, upgrade kitchen and equipment, furniture, painting, and wallpapering. They also depend on donations for such a project!

We are of course happy to help make that possible. Every human life counts and it is precisely these kinds of small-scale projects that have a major impact on families and their environment.

It is very encouraging for us to read the newsletters and to see that the work is expanding, yes despite the difficult circumstances (lockdowns, political conditions, economic malaise etc.) everyone is dealing with at the moment.

The message is always: Don't give up, there is a lot of work to do!

If you want to help, please choose one of the following ways:

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

Christmas packages for sailors and refugee children

As we do every year, Traveling Light wants to support several Christmas packages campaigns, namely those of harbor evangelist Alexander Eberson and that of 222 Ministries.

Alexander writes in his latest newsletter:

"Christmas is the time for me to show the sailors in word and deed that God loves them too. I want to give a Christmas gift to every sailor I visit. Will you help me with this?

What's in it? A turtleneck scarf or hat, a pair of socks, a bottle of shower gel, a notepad with pen, a roll of Mentos fruit, a Mars, a Christmas card, and a Christmas tract. Each package costs about 6.00 euro. Will you also help me with this this year?"

And then 222 Ministries, they are organizing Operation Christmas Joy (OCJ) again this year. 222 Ministries is convinced that they must invest in children, that they must give them good education and good influences as they develop. As the next generation, they are the carriers of change for the future.

An important way in which they serve children is through OCJ. 222 now has many Afghan children in need as a result of the recent crisis. OCJ's goal for 2021 is to deliver packages to at least 1,000 children, 500 each of Iranian and Afghan descent.

OCJ needs to expand to reach refugees not only in Turkey, but also in Pakistan, Greece and the Balkan countries. Until now, the focus has been on Christian refugees, but 222 wants to take advantage of the opportunities for the families to share with other Farsi-speaking friends and neighbors. This proves to be a fruitful way to expand the Church's mission.

The packages contain clothes and shoes, especially for winter, multivitamins. baby milk, toys, and educational materials. Whenever possible, 222 children will gather for celebrations, but in smaller numbers. Celebrations are really important because most children had to stay isolated due to the Covid crisis.

If you would like to sponsor a package, you can

• send a donation to St. Traveling Light, Papendrecht IBAN: NL91RABO0118582275 BIC: RABONL2U, or 
• 💳 Give by card 

Don't forget to mention whether it is for SAILORS or for 222.

Projects of the month in our stores

As most of you know, in addition to the projects we announce on this blog, we have a specific project each month that we support with the proceeds from our 2ndhand shop Twinkeltje and vintage store De Schor.

In October it was Bertine House in Poltava, Ukraine. Thanks to you, we were able to transfer a wonderful gift of 2,100 euro to them.

Bertine House operates under the Teen Challenge flag and offers a safe place to mothers (and their children) who want to kick destructive habits and start a new life.

On behalf of all of them, many thanks for your contributions, in whatever form!

As a project for the month of November, we have chosen the Teen Challenge juvenile home in Kazakhstan.

Maxim and Evgenia Buzinovskiyi are no strangers to us. They take care of children who, for whatever reason, cannot live at home.

They are currently raising money to renovate the common room. It has to be painted, electricity replaced, moldy walls repaired, new tables purchased (the children have been homeschooled for a year and a half) etc. etc.

By the way, congratulations are in place, because recently Maxim and Evgenia were delighted with the birth of a daughter: Victoria.

So come and visit us in De Schor (on Friday) and/or Twinkeltje (on Saturday afternoon). We have a lot of nice Christmas stuff and, as always, the coffee is ready.

Donations are always welcome. You can make us happy with your prayers and a financial gift anytime!

• Send a donation to St. Traveling Light, Papendrecht IBAN: NL91RABO0118582275 BIC: RABONL2U, or 
• 💳 Give by card

PS: next week you can read more about the annual Christmas packages on this blog!

Project coffee house Teen Challenge Croatia

It's been a while since we got news from the Teen Challenge team in Split, Croatia. For several years they have been running a coffee house ministry there on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

The team does street outreach and this is how most of the first contacts with the homeless and addicted are being established. There is now need for a location that they can rent for the whole week, and not just on those two days.

Coffee House is a support group for people who struggle with life-controlling problems, it also ministers to their friends and family. Dozens of addicts have received help, advice, and encouragement to change their lives. Some even went to rehabilitation centers and successfully completed their programs.

The demand for help is increasing, which is nice on the one hand... people know where to find Teen Challenge. On the other hand, it is also sad to see that addiction and hopelessness are on the rise.

Anyway, they have now found a nice rental space that is not too expensive (300 euros per month).

We would like to help them with a donation, so that they can at least pay the rent for the time being. Let's hope that many find their way to freedom!

If you want to help, please

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

THANK YOU SO MUCH ALREADY!

Project updates en lots of creativity

It's time to share some news about the use of your donations! Always nice of course 😁 First of all, we'll go to Belgium.

Last summer we sent a donation to the Teen Challenge rehab center in Charlerois, Maison Betser.

They used the money, among other things, to place a roof on the side of the center where all kinds of tools, firewood, and building materials can be stored. In the photo, you can see the first setup.

The proceeds from Twinkeltje and Atelier De Schor from September went to Teen Challenge Winiarczykowka in Poland. They used the gift to purchase beehives and a honey centrifuge/extractor.

The beehives will be decorated in collaboration with school children, a nice way to interact with the local community, and also a piece of education about the importance of balance in nature.

The project is called "Life Challenge" and our logo can also be found on the posters distributed locally to draw attention to this bee project.

The project for the month of October in Twinkeltje en de Schor is Bertine House in Poltava, Ukraine. A Teen Challenge shelter and rehab home for mothers and children.

Earlier this month one of our donors gave a workshop at her home where a group of ladies made beautiful autumn wreaths. The proceeds were for this project! And this week we organized a macramé workshop in Twinkeltje, the proceeds also benefit this project.

These creative meetings are not just a nice way to get together for a great evening and fellowship, but they also bring fun back in fundraising.

Donations for all our beautiful projects are always welcome. You can make us happy with your prayers and a financial gift anytime!

• Send a donation to St. Traveling Light, Papendrecht IBAN: NL91RABO0118582275 BIC: RABONL2U, or 
• 💳 Give by card