March 2005— Russia   A GOOD WORD FROM CAMP from Leif & Zhanya Camp

 

ОЧЕРЕДЬ—Och-er-redt—queue, line

Luke 2:25 And behold, there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon, and this man was just and devout, waiting for the Consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. (with reference to James 5:7)

      This month we stood in line—stood in line at the doctors to get the kids signed up for their necessary check ups for school next year, stood in line in the Metro, in the food stores (but not too much longer than in the USA), and most importantly (and for the longest time) to submit our the last documents to the OVIR (the Russian equivalent of INS) hoping to receive three year temporary living permits for myself and our children (which after one year we can apply  that they be lengthened).  Standing in line is one impression that many foreigners have about Russia is standing in line.  Partially this is because of the news clips of bread lines after the fall of Communism, and partially it is because there are still many lines we have to stand in during our daily lives here.  Of course, my wife defends Russia against those who criticize her countries lines by recounting standing in line in America—at theme parks, to buy tickets for popular movies,  for ice cream in the summer, etc. 

      We stand in lines because we are waiting to receive something that is important to us—in Russia in the 90’s that was bread, now it is documents and special items.  Waiting in line reminds me of two things: first, it is too bad that we don’t have people lined up in front of our Churches longing to receive what is most important—the Gospel: the Word of God and His means of grace that bring faith, forgiveness of sins and Salvation in and through Christ Jesus alone!  Second that a very real sense our present life is waiting in line—waiting for our Lord’s return, waiting for the final resurrection on the last day, waiting for our own call home to receive the crown of Glory Jesus won for us on the Cross and proclaimed in the empty tomb.  The Lord is Risen!  He is Risen indeed! 

Visas, Lines, Documents and a Name

Acts 4:12 "Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved."

For the last year we have been waiting in lines, both to gather and submit documents to the Russian Visa authorities (OVIR) that will give me and our two children (Karl and Nastya) temporary living permits good for three years.  With the help of Pastor Martin Frusti and his wife Karen stateside and the faithful prayers of many, we finally received the last necessary document with the proper US government stamps.  So we called the inspector who had been handling our case—as I had just talked to her a couple of weeks prior, I was surprised when the person at the other end of the phone said that the office had moved, there was no forwarding phone number, and our inspector had also left the service.  We were able to ascertain only one thing—the address of the new central OVIR’s office.  As the new office still had no phone, we were left with no alternative but to travel across the city to the new office and stand in line.  My wife went on Tuesday morning to scout out the location, standing in line for more than two hours to find out that the OVIR offices 1) have no indoor waiting room 2) accepted our category of documents only from 10am to Noon on Thursdays.  So, Thursday we got up early, dressed extra warm as the thermometer read -10, got the kids to school, and arrived at the OVIR just at opening time--10am.  51 people had already arrived, which meant that we were number 52 in line.    Of course, this would not be so bad, but the OVIR only works until Noon.  Anyway, we stood outside in the -10 degree weather waiting to get inside to talk to an inspector.  At first being 52 was discouraging, then it looked promising—they let the first 26 people in the door by 10:30, but by 11:30 they had only let in another 14 people.  We were starting to get nervous that we would not make the “cut” and were starting to freeze.  The whole time we had no idea who we needed to talk to since our inspector had left, and sergeant Schultz at the door knew nothing (or maybe it was Ivan).  Then I heard a lady in line mention our former inspector's name, and I asked, "who is handling her cases?"  The lady responded, "Inspector Belova."  Not 5 minutes later, at 11:50, the door opened and the guard asked, "who is here to meet with a specific inspector?"  Some people raised their hands and said some name that the guard rejected—the inspector was not in the office.  We raised our hands and said, "we are here to see inspector Belova."  He said, “Oh, yes, she’s here,” and let us in with a few other people (in all only 5 other people made it through the door by the 12:00 deadline).  Had we not had the proper inspectors name, we would not have made it through the door.  Praise God for the timing of that small miracle! 

By my next newsletter we will have news on the decision of the Russian authorities to relate.  But this whole incident reminds me of just how important it is to know the right name of the person you need.  A name is a key that gets you through the door.  In the bigger picture, that Name is Jesus—only His Name—trust and faith in His Name alone—is the key to forgiveness and blessing in this life, and key to salvation and the heavenly mansions He has prepared for us in the next. 

Step by Step for Pro-life Ministry

Deu 30:19 "I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live;

20 "that you may love the LORD your God, that you may obey His voice, and that you may cling to Him, for He is your life and the length of your days;

      This month the pro-life team has been doing some editing of our existing materials, gathering other materials and putting together a brochure on rape, incest and abortion to round out our battery of Russian pro-life material.  We are planning to print a batch of each brochure to distribute at least to the local congregations (anyone we can get to via city public transportation).  The Ingrian pro-life ministry now has an official mail box in the central office, and our next step is to set up a small information table at there where pastors can at least get some of our brochures.  The “dream” is, however, to expand this into an information center with a small library and so forth—but for now, step by step. 

    Again, I invite all of you to check out the Ingrian Lutheran Pro-life website which has material in both Russian and English, pictures of our work and some stories: www.prolife.elci.ru.  You can also email your comments to the pro-life email address: prolife@elci.ru. 


Prayer Requests

Pray for our small but growing English language congregation, that it may continue to grow.  Pray for our children, Karl and Nastya, as we work at getting them into schools for next year—that we choose well.   Pray also for their English skills, that we can keep them up to par.  Pray for God’s will concerning our documents, and say a prayer of thanks that they have been accepted.  Pray also for my wife as she continues to look for work—trying to find a job that fits our schedule and leaves her time to help with pro-life and so forth is not easy here.   Pray for the Bishop of the Lutheran Church of Ingria as he travels to America to meet with some churches there and representatives of Lutherans for Life.  Pray for the Russian Lutheran pastors, more and more of whom are struggling with the economic difficulty of maintaining their families and their ministries.  Pray for the congregations here as I continue to present and encourage stewardship.  Pray for me, that God give me more wisdom, faith and strength as well—that I choose wisely as there is so many ministry needs and opportunities…

New Email Address

For a while now we have been having difficulty with email—since we got back from the States last Summer.  The address I had given out in the states was with a company that went belly up while we were away.  Then several companies we tried were not accepted by some servers in the USA, and the only thing I could do was to buy time—and when that time expired, my address changed again.  I now have a new email address, have restructured the way I use MS Outlook for mailing, and the LCMS partner Church here has given me my own address through their system.  I hope that this will streamline communications.  Here is the new address to replace all others -- leif.camp@elci.ru., although as an alternate, just in case, lzkcamp@mail.ru will remain functional.  Remember to use all lower case letters and pray it works!

Pickles Count

A couple of months ago I presented my stewardship material for the congregation in Pushkin.  Last week after the pastoral sermon preparation study, the pastor came up to me and said, “I have been wanting to tell you about the results of your seminar.”  Of course I was interested.  He continued, “of course, I also remind people of those ideas in my sermons and Bible studies, but you should know that the weekly offerings are steadily growing.”  He then added, “oh, I also now have a ready supply of homemade pickles.”

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Jesus Lives! The vict’ry’s won! Death no longer can appal me;

Jesus Lives!  Death’s reign is done! From the grave Christ will recall me.

Brighter scenes will then commence;  This shall be my confidence.

TLH # 201

 

 

In Christ,

Leif & Zhanya Camp

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ADDRESSES --Feedback, questions, whatever are most welcome.

Russian Address:

Leif and Zhanya Camp

18 line V. O. dom 43 Kv. 7

St. Petersburg, Russia, 199178

                                                   

Stateside address:

Leif and Zhanya Camp

902 N. 12th

Melrose Park, IL, 60160

Russian Lutheran Church Address:

Ev. Lutheran Church of Ingria in Russia

Bolshaya Konyushennaya dom 8

St. Peterburg, Russia, 191186

 

Telephone: after getting an international line by dialing 011, dial 7- 812 (our area code) 321-1508(our phone number)

Note—Between St. Petersburg and central US time, the difference is 9 hours.  Stateside contact telephone: 708-344-4472

 

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.   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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