October 2005—St. Petersburg, Russia   A GOOD WORD FROM CAMP from Leif & Zhanya Camp

(Click on St. Paul Photo Albums to see photos of the Camp’s work and life.  This month’s are here.  More info at the bottom of the page.)

 

УЧИТЬСЯ—oo-CHEET—sya, to learn

Matthew 11:29 "Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

As a missionary, much of what I do is teaching and encouraging pastors, deacons, leaders and laity.  As much as I teach, however, I am also always learning—and looking for opportunities to learn.  This month by the grace of God we moved forward in our stewardship efforts, moved forward in our pro-life efforts, and along with the other things we are doing here, that made us very busy—sometimes to the point of feeling over-burdened.  Over-burdening is not what Jesus calls us to do to ourselves, His burden is light.  So I have also learned that at such times I have overburdened myself, I need to stop and pray, focus on what is at hand, and the Lord will strengthen me to complete what needs to be completed. 

Of course, then I need to learn not to let my self be overburdened in the future!  This month’s burden was large but light—and very encouraging. 

 

Stewards in The Village of Volosovo

Matthew 7:16 "You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles?

For the last year I have been presenting the Biblical principles of stewardship at the district and congregational level (so far we have held seminars for 3 districts and 8 congregations).  The bishop has asked that these seminars be held in as many congregations as possible—and so we only have 3 more districts and 72 congregations to go.  In my teaching I have come to see a wide spectrum of congregations of the Ingrian Church—some still very dependent on foreign aid and a few seem to prefer it this way (which is very discouraging).  This last month I presented the seminar for the congregation of Volosovo, a village two hours outside of St. Petersburg, and was very encouraged.

I first came to Volosovo in 1995 as a volunteer missionary.  I would travel out to the village with a visiting LCMS pastor or professor and a translator to help teach at the growing congregation there.  They met in the local library on Saturdays.  At first my role was to lead some singing before and after the pastors or professors—like  Pastor Terry Timm, Missionary Jim Dimitroff—now a Dr. and pastor for the LCC, Dr, Milton Rudnick, and Dr. Fred Boettcher— taught on some theme (there were others, but these were the ones we worked with closely that year).  When I began courting my wife, she began to come along and together we began a “Sunday school” (not the most romantic dates, but quality time together).  When I was invited back this last month to present on stewardship, I was a bit curious as to what I would find—10 years later.  What I found was that all those seeds of God’s Word planted, all that good Biblical teaching had born fruit.  The congregation has since moved out of the library, and with the help of LCMS sponsors bought a house in the village that they are converting to a Church (helping to build and repair the Lord’s Temple is actually a Biblical example of sponsorship).  The daily expenses of the building, however, are paid by the congregations offerings—and the small house of worship is clean, bright and in good repair (all due to the hands of the congregation members).  They have already converted the main part of the house into a sanctuary (with plans to expand it), they are planning to convert the attic into Sunday school rooms (with several of our Sunday school students now grown and ready to be Sunday school teachers).  They also are planning to put up a bell tower (and have even found an old bell they will hang in it once they build it).  That was not the only growth, for although I met many familiar faces, I also met many new faces, evidence that the congregation has grown. 

This does not mean that there is not much room for growth—the congregation still does not collect enough to even pay a token salary to its pastor.  Luckily, he is one of the few who has a second income and can afford to serve (it may be he is already on a pension—I don’t ask those things).  Still, it was encouraging to see that the work of so many has born solid fruit (shows the value of strong teaching for the laity—we to often focus on just the leaders).  We thank and praise God for all those who taught and for His Word and the fruit His Spirit has caused to grow.

 

Pro-life = Pro-Spiritual Life as well

Proverbs 28:13 He who covers his sins will not prosper, But whoever confesses and forsakes them will have mercy.

This month has been a big one on the pro-life front—we helped organize two seminars (one in Petrozavodsk, Karelia and the other here in St. Petersburg at St. Michaels), I presented a short defense of why the Church should be involved in this ministry for the Synodical gathering on the 21st, and it looks like we will be finally able to set up an information “booth” at the central Ingrian Lutheran offices. 

Such seminars are a lot of work, and even though I taught at one of them (the one here in St. Petersburg), I also learned a lot.  The sub-theme of this seminar was the after effects of abortions on culture, family, the individual, with a special focus on the spiritual after effects (and the need for proper spiritual care—call to repentance, confession and absolution and then spiritual healing).  Ramona Bogot, a nurse working in St. Petersburg presented on the medical side effects of abortion, and as part of her presentation unearthed some startling statistics.  I had already heard that two thirds of babies are aborted in Russia, but what I didn’t know is that it is only officially counted an abortion if it takes place after the 10th week of pregnancy (up until then the procedure is called “menstrual regulation”).  Also, although more abortions happen in China than in Russia, if one looks at the percentage of pregnancies ended officially through abortion, Russia ranks highest in the world.  The average number of abortions per Russian woman has risen to 8, with the percent of women having abortions still over 90%.  The problem is huge—a mountain that can only be moved by faith in Christ.  As I told the Ingrian Synodical delegates: with statistics of such magnitude, it is not possible that no one in your congregation has had an abortion or participated in an abortion by advising, encouraging or even pressuring someone else to have an abortion.  The Church is concerned for the life of the unborn, but is also just as concerned for the eternal souls of all sinners, even those who have committed the sin of murdering their unborn children. 

On our pro-life website there is a brochure in both Russian and English called “Ten Steps to Spiritual healing” that specifically speaks to those who are repentant—and it applies to any sin (for all have sinned and fallen short…). 


Prayer Requests

Special prayers of thanks and encouragement for those who helped out at the pro-life seminars in Petrozavodsk and St. Petersburg: Bishop Arre Kugappi who opened the seminar at St. Michaels; Oleg Rumin and his daughter Tanya who presented on abortion and family (Oleg is director of Hope Family Center in Pushkin and has a grant from LCMS Life Ministries to set up a similar center in St. Petersburg); Pastor Don Richman, one of the founding board members for Lutherans for Life who has been the key speaker at our seminars; Ramona and Aaron Bogot who are here as tentmaker missionaries, the Christian Center in Petrozavodsk and its staff, and the staff at St. Michaels (Pastor Tatarenko and Tatiana Anatolyevna).  Pray also for the Congregation of Volosovo, their pastor Leonard and lay leader Nadya.  Pray for all the Ingrian pastors who are facing for all the Ingrian pastors who are struggling financially—especially those who are facing the decision to leave the ministry in order to provide for their families the basics of life, a home, food, and clothes—that the Lord send help and encouragement to them; pray for the English services, for the repairs at St. Michaels, pray for the medical needs of Pastor Tatarenko who is in dire need of back surgery (surgery which could leave him paralyzed); pray for our pro-life information booth we are hoping to set up next month, for the Stewardship seminar I will teach in Gubanitza (another village outside of St. Petersburg); for the weekly Pastoral Bible study, that more pastors would find time to attend; for the mission seminar I will teach at on the 16th and 17th; and for my wife Zhanya and our children Karl and Nastya.  Say also a special prayer of thanks for all those who have been supporting us and our work here with prayer, encouragement and other support—we are especially grateful.

Family News

This month my mother came for a visit—she stayed the whole month.  She spent time with her grandchildren—some time trying to teach Nastya to read in English (as our children go to regular Russian school, this is something they need), spent time with us, and did mention that she walked more in this last month than she had in the last year.  This is my mother’s 5th visit to Russia—she came for our wedding in 1996, she came for the birth of Karl in 1997, she came in the Summer of 2001 just for a visit, she came in 2003 for the 300th anniversary of St. Petersburg, and she came this October to see first snow fall of the year in Russia.  The kids had a great time—they do not really remember her other visits.  She visited their classes at school, helped fold the pro-life brochures for the seminar at St. Mikes, and helped my wife around the apartment and just had a good visit.

Turn Around

Many pastors are uncomfortable with the pro-life ministry and they are not so sure why the Church should be involved.  One pastor who had been rather resistant and had consistently rejected my offers to do a pro-life information seminar for his congregation came up to me after my short address to the Synod and asked if it were now possible for me to come to his congregation.  I will try, and I pray God opens up the possibility—his congregation is not with in walking or driving distance to my house, so it will not be so simple to just go.  Still, it shows how seeds grow.  I found an old book (c. 1942) from Concordia Publishing house, On Sandals of Peace (it is one of 4 books I have of that series) which reminded me that since the kingdom of God is like a mustard seed that is small yet grows slow and sure, such is mission work (in fact, the book cautioned to beware of huge explosions and such as they seldom last).  So we go forward, slow and sure, trusting in God’s mercy and grace.

 

People and realms of ev’ry tongue dwell on the love with sweetest song;

And infant voices shall proclaim their early blessings on His name

 

Hymn 511 TLH verse 3 (Jesus Shall Reign)

In Christ,

Leif & Zhanya Camp

_________________________________________________________________________

Click on St. Paul Photo Albums to see photos of the Camp’s work and life.  This month’s are here and descriptions are below:

 

Pictures:

  • Zhanya during break talking with several women privately.  She made several valuable contacts with others who are also working in Russia "pro-life."  We are hoping to build some bridges for some co-work.
  • Zhanya doing a short Pro-life talk after my Stewardship seminar in Volosovo
  • The former living room and bedroom of a house, now the sanctuary in Volosovo
  • Two grandmothers sharing the mutual language of love for their grandkids (although they do not understand a word the other says--nice that the grandchildren can translate!)
  • The Ingrian Lutheran Synod opened with the Bishop leading Worship at a cemetery where there is a mass grave for Ingrian and Finnish Lutherans killed during communist times.
  • Ramona Bogot, a nurse and pro-life advocate working in St. Petersburg gets the people seated for her presentation of statistics and medical after effects of abortion (at the seminar in St. Petersburg at St. Michael's Church).
  • A picture of me teaching--just to prove I was there I guess.  I was teaching on sexuality and the physical, emotional and spiritual effects of promiscuity (this relates to pro-life because the number of teenage abortions is rising with the increase in sexually active teens).  Pastor Alexander Schmidt is sitting close by just in case I want to make a point that my Russian skills aren't ready for (Rev. Alexander translated for theseminar)
  • Don Richman from behind teaching on the Culture of life and death at the seminar in St. Petes.
  • Bishop Arre Kugappi opening the pro-life seminar at St. Michael's.
  • Oleg Rumin and Don Richman getting organized before presenting at the seminar in Petrozavodsk (over 70 people attended there).
  • Oleg Rumin with his daughter Tanya presenting in Petrozavodskon family issues related to abortion (they also presented the same material at the St. Petersburg conference).  Oleg Rumin has been running a pro-life/family counseling center in Pushkin for 10 years and has just recently received a grant from LCMS Life Ministries to open on in St. Petersburg.

 

 

CONTACT ADDRESSES Feedback, questions, whatever are most welcome.

Our Russian home address:

Leif and Zhanya Camp

18 line V. O. dom 43 Kv. 7

St. Petersburg, Russia, 199178

 

Stateside contact address:

Leif and Zhanya Camp,

C/O Marli 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.  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

Links to sources outside this site are provided for the convenience of members and visitors who may find them helpful or informative, but do not imply any kind of endorsement by St. Paul Lutheran Church, and of course we are not responsible for their content.

While we strive for accuracy, we assume no responsibility for errors on this site.

Please contact the church or school to verify information

If you see an error on the site please email the website administrator at:  lynette*

 

*Email addresses all have the extension @stpaulmp.org unless noted otherwise.  Where an email address that does not have our extension is used “(at symbol)” will replace the “@”.  Unfortunately, it is now necessary to put email addresses in a format that cannot be read by automated programs that search the web looking for email addresses to spam.  We apologize for the inconvenience.