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A Good Word
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June 2009—St.
(Click on http://www.flickr.com/photos/stpaulmp/ to see photos of the
Camp’s work and life. These photos will
not remain here indefinitely as Flickr is no longer a free service for me. The most recent 200
So temperatures in St. Petersburg have been record high and dry. Russia is suffering from severe forest fires in the Volga valley region that have wiped out whole villages and people have died. So why does God allow such tragedy? I won't answer that today--if you already trust in God, you don't need the answer, and if you don't trust in God, then my answer won't make sense. That we live in a world where evil exists and affects our daily lives, sickness and death and so forth, this is a fact we face. Sickness and death, tragedy and so forth are not God's will, God's will is life. In our sinful, egotistic natures, however, we chose death and now live with the consequences of choosing rebellion. God, in His mercy and love for us, does not leave us without hope--yes, our sinful bodies must die since evil cannot have the victory. But in our death, those who trust in God's promises made and fulfilled through Jesus Christ, we pass from life to life rather than life to death. We walk through the desert of this life, but God promises that He walks with His people, guiding us if we will follow, providing us with daily manna for our bodies and souls, protecting us until such time as we can in trust cross over into the promised land He has prepared for us. Yes, we face snakes, hot days, battles with enemies; yes, we walk through the valley of the shadow--that is unavoidable in a fallen world. For those who trust Him, our trust allows Him to comfort and sustain us; for those who still do not trust, He calls to you, seeks you, so that He might comfort you and sustain you as well.
So why this talk of death and life? This month a great friend and supporter, Marilyn Wolf, after a battle with Pancreatic cancer has been "planted" and her soul awaits now with the rest of the Church triumphant for the Resurrection when she will be given a glorified, sin-free body. I will miss Marilyn, not for the financial support--although that was such a great blessing--but more so for her prayers and encouragement. She was always just a phone call away. And to be honest, she had a high opinion of me--which gave me a standard to try to live up to! Now she has run her race and received her Crown (2Tim 4:7-8). When a Christian dies, it is a strange thing--we grieve our loss, the love and care we will miss, but we rejoice in the victory that has been won. Marilyn was a rare example of a person who served, sacrificed and strived for excellence in that service, but always with fun and joy as part of the process of service. What an example.
I won't go on about this.
This month has been busy, although I am officially on "vacation." A lot of meetings--no pictures of such things, but some interesting things as well (not to say meetings are not interesting). There was the annual men's retreat--I did not have to lead a Biblestudy, only preach the Sunday sermon and help with organization. I also took the time to visit several parishes for Sunday services--St. Michael's, The Parish in Koltushe, Pushkin and the Parish in Turyo. Tomorrow I preach at Koltushe in Russian so I have been busy translating my sermon--but I will save that for next month's prayer letter. We also celebrated both Zhanya's and Nastya's birthdays, and had a nice visit with Slava Boichenko and his family. Slava is the pastor in Nizhniy Novgorod and the good news is that He was able to extend the Church's claim on the piece of land they are hoping to build a Church on. He is on his way to finland--and we had a good time talking Lutheran theology and so forth.
By the way, I will be gone the next two weeks with the Scouts--I am hoping this trip will help build some bridges, build some trust with the youth and through that allow me to share the Gospel more with them.
Also, forgive me that I did not get the usual prayerletter done--I ask you to pray for Nizhniy Novgorod and Slava's visit to Finland, some of this is hoping to raise some money to build a church. Pray for my preaching at Koltushe (I also have an invitation to preach in Scvoritza at the end of the month). Pray for the work I need to get done for the restart of English services next month and the planning for next year's work. Doors may be opening in several places--Pskov, St. Annes in St. Petersburg, getting a men's group started and continued work with Turyo.
Attached are several pictures: 400years--the Lutheran Church of Ingria will celebrate 400 years of service next year as it was founded in 1611. Yes, it was repressed during the 70 years of Communism--actually the last official service was held either in 1937 or 38 depending on the history you read, and the first parish was re-opened in 1970 in Petrozavodsk, so only a 32 year break. But services in kitchens and barns were held throughout that 32 year period. The first events are happening this year--one was an automobile excursion driving from one parish to another from Karelia to St. Petersburg. I was invited to attend the ending ceremonies at Turyo on the 25th where I took a picture of this sign--400 years--the Church of Ingria, the way of faith along through the centuries--life of the Church in our day.
Bday--Nastya's birthday cake with Nastya.
boichenkokids--Nastya and Karl with two of my "God children"--Iliya and Leon Boichenko. As I had time with pastor Slava, they had time to play together.
gnalexs, gnkarelia and gnmensretreat--at the retreat we handed out the GoodNews journal in Russian on the them of being one in Christ--these three pictures show people reading and interested in the material.
laptevkoltushe--Deacon Ivan Laptev leading liturgy at Koltushe. He invited me to preach next month (tomorrow) so I am busy preparing.
mensrereatBiblestudy--This year the Bible studies were led by a Finnish missionary, Hannu Vuorinen, who is also working to establish a men's movement within the Church. This would be a good thing for the Russian church as religion is still seen as something for grandmothers and children. He has asked from my help in this.
preaching--two pictures of me preaching. I was going to translate my sermon, but God was good and provided a translator--my good friend and former ministry partner, Pastor Alexander Schmidt.
Pushkin--two pictures, one of the Karl and Nastya ringing the church bell to announce the beginning of services and the other of the altar. The writing is Finnish and means "God is Love." This is so true.
TuryoZandkids--we went as a
family to Turyo and I took this picture of Zhanya and the kids.
In Christ,
Leif & Zhanya Camp
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Click on http://www.flickr.com/photos/stpaulmp/ to see photos of the
Camp’s work and life. These photos will
not remain here indefinitely as Flickr is no longer a free service for me. The most recent 200
CONTACT ADDRESSES Feedback, questions, whatever are most welcome.
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Our Russian home address: Leif and Zhanya Camp 18 line V. O. dom 43 Kv. 7 St. Petersburg, |
Stateside contact address: Leif and Zhanya Camp, C/O Marli Camp 902 N. 12th |
Ev. Bolshaya Konyushennaya dom 8 St. Peterburg, |
Telephone: after getting an international line by dialing 011, dial 7- 812 (our area code) 321-1508(our phone number)
Note—Between St.
E-MAIL: lzkcamp(at
symbol)mail.ru & leif.camp(at
symbol)elci.ru. Prolife web
site with Russian materials you can down load: prolife.elci.ru. Other websites: Lisa Stapp has set up a website which has some of our last newsletters
(with their cover letters and pictures): http://www.worthywomanpage.com/camp/index.html. Also my
mother's home congregation has our newsletters--the latest can be downloaded
from: http://www.stpaulmp.org/camp/
a second site archives our past newsletters since 2002 http://www.stpaulmp.org/archives/ . Please feel free to share this newsletter with
your Church, friends, or enemies if it might help (just please do not quote
things out of context or edit my words in such a way as to change their
intent). If you would like to receive a
copy via e-mail, simply email me directly and ask!
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