The COVID pandemic officially reached Latvia on March 2, 2020 with our first positive case. This case was followed by several days without new cases until there was a marked increase. The government here moved swiftly and declared a state of Emergency on Thursday, March 12 which moved all school to online education and banned public gatherings of over 200 people. During the first several days, there were a number of rumors going around, including that there would be a severe shortage of food. However, those rumors proved to be untrue and the various EU states figured out ways to continue shipments of food and other goods between member states.
A friend of Luke’s sent this picture of a family in a local store on the night that the state of emergency was declared 
Luke ventured to the store the day after the state of emergency where many foods were sold out. Here are all the empty crates that once held potatoes.
Then two days later, the government announced that, effective March 17, all international travel would be halted. While they planned for borders with other EU countries to remain open, they could not promise how long that would be the case. Although we did have some discussions and spent time praying about whether or not we should explore a return to the States, we did not give it much consideration. Latvia has become our home in many ways, and while at the time there were some serious concerns about Latvia’s ability to handle the pandemic due to its health system, we did not see how we could leave. Many of our brothers and sisters face persecution and death on a daily basis around the world. How could we leave our field of ministry to return to the States?
And so we “sheltered-in-place” for over two months. All organized public activities including church services were banned. Private gatherings were outlawed and people were not allowed to gather together with anyone who was not living with them. Luke was the only one who left the house, and he only went to the store every couple of weeks for a large grocery run.
Caroline helped Patty sew some masks from scrap fabric that we had around. 
It fits and is stylish, too!
Life was not easy, and we will be the first to admit that there were some very difficult nights and days. We are grateful for our family’s support and for many of our friends who took phone and FaceTime calls to shepherd us through this time. Also our mission organization was very pro-active in helping us navigate the crisis. Our European leadership was fantastic and cared for us well, even organizing an online conference with a children’s counselor so that our children could learn how to understand and work through their emotions.
Life was chaotic at first as we all adjusted. Overnight we were trying to figure out how transition our ministry and the girls’ school online. However, we slowly found healthy rhythms that gave life to our souls during this time. Firstly, we made spiritual vitality a priority in our lives. Every Sunday, we gathered together with our Latvian church for worship and then on Sunday afternoon we would often watch the live stream of our sending church, Malvern Hill Baptist Church. We continued to emphasize our personal daily devotions and we had regular family worship evenings.
One of the blessings of living in Latvia are the beautiful countryside and plethora of national parks and forests. We were still allowed to leave the house as long as we maintained a 2-meter distance from anyone else. We tried to go on daily walks around our apartment complex (though not to the playgrounds since those were closed). And we also tried to journey occasionally a little farther for afternoon or day trips. The exercise, peacefulness of nature, and reminders of God’s creation were helpful for our souls.
One of the other ways that we processed during this time was by cooking. We tried some new recipes that we normally wouldn’t have time to do because they are so time consuming. The girls especially loved picking out new recipes, helping with the cooking, and enjoying the fruits of their labor.
Homemade donuts 
The finished products! 
A strawberry bundt cake 
Homemade chicken pot pie – completely from scratch! 
Breakfast rolls 
Cutting out some buttermilk biscuits 
Since we couldn’t go to the store every couple of days, Patty had to keep us supplied with bread for our lunches. I don’t know that we ever grew tired of it!
We pray that one day, our girls will look back on this time and see God’s hand of faithfulness during these months. Right now, most of the everyday restrictions in Latvia have been lifted; however, Latvia is still not accepting many non-EU visitors, including Americans. There is still much unknown, especially as we hear talk about a second wave and preparations for fall/winter and flu season. However, we have seen God’s faithfulness and we know that we can trust Him in the months and years to come, regardless of what they might bring.