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April 2005— Russia A GOOD
WORD FROM CAMP from Leif & Zhanya
Camp
СОТРУДНИК—so-TRUDE-nick—coworker
John 3:30 "He
must increase, but I must decrease.
Although our
Salvation depends on Christ alone, so much in this life depends on co-work,
partnership, especially in missionary work.
Of course, as Christians we all want to serve God, and we do that by
serving His Church, doing “good works” in His Name and for His glory in the
World—showing His love for the world through our service. In the Church, which truly is the family of
God, and as brothers and sisters we seek to build each other up, help each
other succeed. This takes working
together--partnership. Especially as a
missionary, I am aware that without partners in the culture, my Russian
brothers and sisters, I could not work here.
Partnership takes vigilance—often there is the temptation to use the
partnership to further one’s own goals, fulfill one’s own program or ambition,
and so forth. In business and the world,
this is often the way to success, but in a family and the Church, this is not
being my brother’s keeper. One question
that I have found that helps guard against falling into the temptation of
self-serving is this: “is what I am
doing truly more beneficial to those I am serving than to myself (or
sponsors)?” All glory to God!
This month I have good news about
work of others—highlighting their work—and news about our documents.
Other
Ingrian Work
Titus 1:9 holding
fast the faithful word as he has been taught, that he may be able, by sound
doctrine, both to exhort and convict those who contradict.
One of the
things I enjoy most is working with my fellow Russian pastors and deacons. The pro-life ministry we have started and the
stewardship seminars I am doing all require working together with my Russian
counterparts. This also means that I am
in a position to participate and possibly help in their ministries—this is what
partnership means. This month, besides
working on pro-life and stewardship, I had the privilege of participating in
two different ministries lead by two different deacons.
Koltushe Deacon Ivan Laptev
invited me to lead some singing and give a brief talk on sex and marriage
(using our pro-life/abstinence material) for the youth group he leads at St. Mary’s
Church (we met while attending a leadership conference put on by the
evangelicals in Moscow called “Equip”).
Besides his youth ministry, he also serves on the Ingrian
Missionary Committee and helps with the pastoral work at the Koltushe parish.
Ivan invited me
also to come put out some pro-life literature and lead
a couple of songs at a seminar he was helping to organize with a fellow deacon,
the pastor of the Lutheran parish in Vyburg, Dimitry Rozet. Dimitry, if you
recall, helped organized my first “solo” pro-life seminar for his parish out in
Vyburg late last fall. Dimitry was the
presenter this time—and the theme was cults and sects. Turns out Dimitry is very knowledgeable on the subject. As almost no Russian pastor can afford to
live on a pastor’s salary, almost all work a second or third job. Dimitry’s second
job is translating and working for The Center for Apologetic Research in Russia. I knew that Dimitry
worked for them, but this is the first time I actually came into contact with
the fruits of his labor—and I became aware of just how much material they have
developed to defend the Christian faith and faithful against the hosts of false
teachers that abound. The seminar was
very interesting, especially because included in the audience were some Moonies
who sat in the front row.
Deacons like Ivan
and Dimitry are both the present and future of the Lutheran Church here, so I feel most fortunate
when they allow me to participate in small ways in their ministries. By the way, for those interested in learning
more about the Center for Apologetics Research and the materials they have,
they are based out of San Juan
Capistrano, CA. The Russian email address is Russia@ApolResearch.org, their website
is www.apolresearch.org, the CA site is www.TheCenters.org
. In Russia,
at least, the organization has a strong Lutheran basis, thanks to Dimitry and others.
1 Corinthians 16:9 For a
great and effective door has opened to me, and there are many adversaries.
God has answered our prays and all those prayers raised
on our behalf with a resounding YES—we have our temporary living permits. This did not happen without the help of many
people—co-workers—stateside and here in Russia.
So why are
these documents so helpful? As many of you know, since the Synod budget cuts of
September of 2003 we have been working and living in Russia without the financial,
technical and logistical support of LCMS World
Mission. In other words, since that time
we have had to obtain and pay for our own visa and related travel
expenses—covering the costs from our savings and the support we do receive. These fees amount to between $1500 and $2000
a year (provided the government grants a one year visa and doesn’t change the
requirements—as it does on occasion).
Added to this is the constant and real stress of visas being refused—just
recently one of the German Lutheran bishops had his visa revoked.
Because my wife is Russian, however, and because we are now living in
St. Petersburg where she was born and therefore officially registered, my
children and I have the right to apply for temporary living permits, which are
the equivalent of a temporary green card in America (it is a quirk of the law
that these applications can only be done where the citizen is registered, and
since such frequent trips to the appropriate government offices are required,
it is not possible to make these applications long distance).
The documents we have obtained are good for a year, but can be extended
every year for at least three years (if not longer). Not only will this save us all the visa and
travel expenses, but they are harder to rescind than a visa, allow the children
to go to Russian school without any arguments or debate, allow me legal status
before the Russian government to do any and all Church work and travel
throughout the country without having to get my visa registered, and legally
allow the Lutheran church here to at least give us government heath coverage in
the Russian socialized medical system and legally cover some of our ministry
expenses. So, this is a blessing. The only minus is that before any trip out of
the country, we have to give a month’s notice or we lose our status. Still, this is less paper work and hassles
than visas—and we are thankful, thankful for the help, thankful for the
answered prayers. This opens the door
for years of service here—as many as God allows and as many as are beneficial
to the Church here.
Prayer Requests
A prayer of thanksgiving for the
documents we have received and pray that God bless all those who had a hand in
helping us procure those documents. Pray
that we can use them for the Glory of God and the good of the Church here. Pray that we get our passports back in time
(as they are now being stamped by the OVIR which
takes 3 weeks) for us to take a trip to Siberia. Pray for that trip as part of that my wife is
hoping to help the Novosibirsk
parish plan for their Sunday school next year (part of which means encouraging
a teacher for next year). Pray for
deacons Dimitry and Ivan with their work. Pray for the remodeling of St. Michael’s and
for head pastor there, Sergei. Pray for the fledging pro-life ministry
initiative of the Ingrian Lutheran
Church. Pray for all the short term groups coming to Russia this summer—that their work truly
benefits the Church here and back in the USA. Pray for the Siberian pastors—Daniil, Albert, Genadi, Juha Saari, Vacheslav
Shadrin, Slava Ostanin, Yuri Peddelski, and
those serving with them (I know I have forgotten someone). Pray for the remodeling of our apartment—the
radiator in the kitchen is leaking (and all of them in our small three room
apartment need to be replaced), and two windows are rotting out and need to be
replaced.
This is the first year we will be
having a “dacha”—which in the dictionary translates cottage, but in reality is
a small wooden cabin with a garden plot.
My mother-in-law’s second husband had an old dacha that hasn’t been
lived in for over 15 years. We are
hoping to fix it up and plant a garden so we can do what most Russians still
do—grow potatoes and cabbage for the winter.
The pro-life website is now in both
Russian and English—there is a toggle in the upper right hand corner of the
page. www.prolife.elci.ru. Note also our new email address: leif.camp@elci.ru. I am hoping this will help.
The Russian
word for brave is pronounced “smelly,” so it was hard not to laugh at my
daughter’s “sports day” when the teacher would ask for volunteers, saying, who
has the most “smelly papa” (since papa is the same in Russian and
English). And all the kids yelled, of
course, “mine.”
Come with
they grace and heavenly aid,
and fill the hearts which Thou hast made.
TLH #233 verse 1
In Christ,
CONTACT ADDRESSES Feedback, questions, whatever are most welcome.
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. 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!
St. Paul Lutheran Church and School, 1025 Lake Street, Melrose Park, Illinois
60160; Church: 708‑343‑1000,
School: 708‑343‑5000
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