Attached is a letter from Pastor Zinta, dated November 29, 2024 and sent to Ron and Carol Werker.  Some of the information comes from Zinta, who confirmed the receipt of the $1000 1st UMC sent them.

Pastor Gunta is the Pastor at Tasi UMC and is the Pastor on a 1 year maternity leave.  Her new baby is Jemma.  Gunta was here at 1^st   UMC sometime ago (around 2012).   Zinta has responsibility for Kuldiga as well as Tasi during this time.  The 2 churches are approximately 1 hour car drive apart.

Alice is Zinta’s daughter with husband Gvido.  They have joined the Latvian Army during this time.

Best regards to you this past Thanksgiving! With a heart full of gratitude, I want to share the happy news that the money donated by your church for the purchase of a car was credited to the church account yesterday. Once again, a big thank you from me and the entire Kuldīga congregation.

We recently celebrated the birthday of Latvia (Nov. 18, 1918) and also the celebration of the foundation and restoration of our church. We had guests from the Taši church and also pastor Gunta with her little girl Jemma. Huge joy for all her family. While Gunta is on maternity leave, Edgars Schneider (current Latvian D.S.), I and some church members are trying to help with the organization of church services. Their congregation is very active and they successfully deal with many things themselves.

We were praying for Carol's health and the surgeons who performed the medical manipulations. Praise be to God that the tumor was found so quickly and we hope that the recovery process, with God's blessing, will be successful. We are praying for you!

A few days ago, we also received money for the car from Richard's (Wear’s Valley) church. We have received a total of $3,550. This is a great support and we will start looking at car offers in the near future. We want to buy one that does not require high operating costs and does not consume a lot of fuel. Thanks to my husband Edgars, because right now he takes me both to Tāši and to serve people in homes, nursing homes, on Sundays he brings the seniors of our church to church services and also helps with the car to deliver products and other things for our social service. During the winter, it is easier for him to do, because there is a little less work on the farm.

Thank you very much for your prayers for my family as well, as the situation in the neighboring country gets scary from time to time and it also breaks my heart for Alice and her husband Gvido who are serving in the armed forces. Praise and thanks to God, for the safety and peace that only He can give us all!
Sorry for the English language, because I translate with Google, but I also study very hard myself, so that when I meet you, I can have a sincere conversation.

Zinta and Edgars Dzintara

It is a great pleasure to receive a letter from you every time and to know how you and your loved ones are doing. We have been praying for your health and glad you are doing well.

We are pleased to say that thanks to your prayers and financial support, our shower, meal and laundry ministry continues successfully. Thank you for your donation for the washer, dryer and roof repair. The washing machine works wonderfully and the roof repair will start soon as the documentation is still being sorted out (it takes a lot of time as we are in the old town and many approvals are needed).

With your support, we were able to organize a trip to an amusement park for children from Ukraine and our Sunday school. The children and their parents thank you very much for this.

From time to time we also enjoy fellowship events, taking advantage of the warm and sunny summer weather, Vivitiņa organized a wonderful camp for elderly parishioners. As you can see from the photos, the program was active and exciting.

Children's camps at Wesley Camp will also start very soon. With your kind support and that of the church, five children of our church will also be able to attend it, as the parents alone cannot pay the participation fee.

Since the majority of visitors to our congregation's shower and meal service are low-income, Roma, ex-prisoners, homeless or single seniors, we have realized that for a large part it is not so important to receive food and wash, but to feel accepted by God and the people around them. heard, not rejected. It is very important to let them feel like one of us - important, accepted without judgment, loved. We ask God for wisdom on how to serve these people. We want to start a project that would help these people to integrate both in the surrounding community and in the whole society. We want to start practical training in the congregation in cooking, washing clothes, tending the garden and other activities that seem self-evident to us, but not to many. Celebrating various holidays together and inviting people to participate in picnics and outings, we have experienced that working together and various joint events help people to increase their self-confidence and understand that God can change their lives too. In this way, being together also becomes the practical evangelization of our church.

At the beginning of a Autumn, we are planning a children's evangelization event in Vārme - 25 kilometers away in the parish of Kuldīga district.

Our personal life is also full of nice events. Both of our grandchildren, with God's blessing, have already grown up. Alice's daughter Kate is already one year and four months old, and Artur's son Ansi will soon be five months old. Edgar and I are very happy to see how God has richly blessed us with children and grandchildren. This is also a special year for my parents. We recently celebrated our father's 80th birthday, and we will celebrate our mother's 80th birthday in October. At the beginning of August, we will all get together to celebrate my parents' 60th wedding anniversary.

Thank you very much for being with us, so that with your prayers and support we can serve and fulfill God's plan in our community.

Zinta, Edgars and the whole Kuldiga Congregation.