Letter from Lockdown

Greetings from the beautiful springtime Riga in lockdown!

Our sabbath year ended in June 2019, and since then we have been back at our home in Riga, continuing our full-time work with Wings for Wheels. We constantly get surprised questions about us being back in Latvia, so I wanted to make this clear right away. 😊

We are doing well. Nobody is ill, Rasmus manages well with his schoolwork and we have a garden where the three kids can run around and let out their energy. It is true that the constant noise at home is driving us, the parents, somewhat crazy, but we have agreed on a ‘schedule’ so that when one of us is with the kids, the other can work on what they need to work on. That has kept us more or less sane. 😊

Wings for Wheels
2019 was concluded by a special event on 9 December – a festive afternoon in Klīversala restaurant. It was our annual special get-together on the International Day of Persons with Disabilities, complete with good food, good music and a Christian message. You can read more here.

Starting from autumn last year, a small group of people with disabilities has been gathering regularly, led by Kaspars. The lockdown has not cancelled the small group gatherings, although the group now meets through different screens.

Wings for Wheels also has its own podcast now, and it has been welcomed well. Unfortunately for our English-speaking friends, the podcasts are only in Latvian. The podcasts can be found here.

Up until the lockdown, we were actively planning the Wings for Wheels summer camp. This year, the camp is planned to be held at a past camp site, the Raiskums Boarding School, from 26 June to 2 July. The spread of coronavirus, and the resulting lockdown have set many challenges before us. Firstly, we do not know if by that time, it will be possible to hold events for up to 50 participants, especially for people at higher risk for infection. Secondly, due to the economic situation of the moment, all our regular supporters have said they will unfortunately not be able to give us money this year. Of course, we have been in similar situations in the first years of organising a camp. We have had to trust God 100% in order for the camp to happen, and all the missing resources have arrived at the last minute, but the situation we are in now is different. We need a clear discernment as to whether we should keep planning and looking for supporters or cancel the camp and put all our energy into planning the next year’s camp. Please pray for our camp and for the decisions that we will soon have to make!

Wings for Wheels has an accessible van and a small rented storage space for storing disability aids, camp equipment, and other necessary things. We need to pay rent for the storage space and buy fuel for the van, as well as pay for its insurance and technical check-ups. Normally, we can do this with the money left after the camp, but this year, we are in difficulties. The owner of the storage space lowered the price after we explained our situation, but even considering the lower price, we are running out of money for that. Please pray for this situation. If you wish to support the work of Wings for Wheels, or if you know someone else who would be happy for the opportunity, you can find the account number at the end of the newsletter.

The future
As mentioned above, people are often surprised at us being back in Latvia. This is quite understandable, since we in our last letter mentioned our plan to ‘retire’ from full-time missions work in August 2022. This is still a bit more than two years from now, and until that, we will continue our work in missions. It is very likely that Kaspars will remain the leader of Wings for Wheels even after that, and that we will continue working part-time with Wings for Wheels. We see the period we are in right now as a time of transition, and we are preparing ourselves for returning to ‘ordinary’ life. We take courses, try to sharpen our professional skills, keep an eye on real estate advertisements, save up money. Of course, we are a bit worried about how all of this will go.

A while ago, I talked to my bank about getting a loan. Not surprisingly, they said they are not able to give a loan to a freelance missionary, even though my ‘salary’ (i.e. support) would suffice. They promised to take another look at our application after I have held a job as a social worker for three months (even though I have been doing social work for the past 20 years 😊). Even if we do get a loan, we will need money for the first payment. That is why I have created a separate bank account for fundraising for our future home. The account number can be found at the end of the letter. We believe that God can fulfil our dream of having our own home with enough space for the five of us, and we trust that after 20 years of service in His kingdom, He will also provide a time of ‘retirement’ for us. I am going to write more about looking for and raising funds for our home on our website, too. (more information coming soon).

Let us know how you are doing – we would be happy to receive e-mails from you! Thank you for supporting us and praying for us. We truly need your prayers to handle this new situation we are in, and to come out of the crisis in a way that glorifies God.

Wishing you blessings,
Evelyn, Kaspars, Rasmus, Karola and Rebeka

W4W official bank account
WINGS FOR WHEELS BIEDRĪBA
LV55HABA0551044510872 Swedbank AS
Reg. Nr. 40008271198

Estonian bank account (works with TransferWise)
Evelyn Apinis
Swedbank
SWIFT: HABA EE2X
IBAN: EE622200001101584136

Estonian bank account for our home
Evelyn Apinis
Swedbank
SWIFT: HABA EE2X
IBAN: EE132200221073564132