May 2006 —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.)

 

ПУТЕШЕСТВИЕ—PuteSHEStviye—Journey

Acts 15:4 And when they had come to Jerusalem, they were received by the church and the apostles and the elders; and they reported all things that God had done with them.

     By the time you read this, God willing, we will already be on our way to the USA.  This month has been filled with the usual mission work—English Language Worship Service, Pro-Life planning and meeting, Missionary Committee meetings and so forth.  Added to this has been the huge work of getting documents in order for coming to the USA.  As we have just received news of yet another Lutheran Missionary being refused a renewal on his visa to Russia, we are very thankful that we are here under residency permits.  Not only do these save us a lot of money which we can then use for ministry (we pay $25 a year now to renew our registration, which can be extended to 3 years), but we also do not have to fret the ever changing visa laws.  The catch is, however, that to leave the country, we have to obtain permission to exit if we want to maintain our temporary resident status.  Such exit permits cost about $10 apiece, which is still much cheaper than a visa, but require a lot of paper work.  The good news is that we received our permits Friday night (a good thing, since our plane leaves early Monday morning)!  While in the USA we will be visiting with relatives, friends and some of those that have been very supportive of our work here with prayer and other help.  We also will be again trying to see to my wife’s greencard situation (which has been a huge headache of its own—bureaucracy is bureaucracy, whether here in Russia or in America). 

     For the most part we will be staying at my mother’s in Melrose Park, Illinois, and can be reached at 708-344-4472.  If all goes well, I will find a way to hook up to the internet and check my email via that. 

History of The Ingrian Lutheran Church

Isaiah 61:4 And they shall rebuild the old ruins, They shall raise up the former desolations, And they shall repair the ruined cities, The desolations of many generations.

     This month we took the English speaking Congregation to visit the Russian Ingrian Lutheran parish in Pushkin.  The Pushkin parish has a very special place in the history of the Ingrian Lutheran Church as it was one of the first two Lutheran parishes to be re-opened—it was opened in 1977.   Like all the Lutheran Churches in Russia, the one in Pushkin was closed in the late 1930s, its pastor and many of its members deported to the Siberian wastelands, and its property turned over to the State for use as a warehouse and then driving school (large hooks where engines once hung are still visible in the sanctuary).   That the building was useful was actually a hidden blessing as this allowed it to survive the next 40 years, even though it was no longer used as a church.

In the late 1950s and early 60s, many “Ingermanlanders” who had been deported to Siberia and the other “provinces” were allowed to return “home.”  These Lutherans started to gather signatures, and by 1970 had gathered several thousand signatures on a petition to reopen a Lutheran Church in St. Petersburg.  At that time, as the Communist government was negotiating some trade agreements with Europe and needed some positive propaganda to show their “humanity and openness,” Prime minister Kasegan agreed to let the Lutherans open 2 parishes, but not in St. Petersburg, which was considered too large a concession.  Instead a parish was allowed to open in Petrozavodsk in Karelia (only a bit over 200 miles from St. Petersburg) and in Pushkin, only about 10 miles outside of town.  So the Pushkin parish was opened in 1977 and put under the Lutheran Archbishop of Estonia—as Estonia was still part of the Eastern block.  The Lutheran Church of Ingria became “autocephalus” (under its own headship—independent) in 1993, and has maintained a strong, Confessional and Conservative (i.e. Scriptural) stance on doctrine and practice ever since. 

     One noteworthy story comes from the current Bishop, Arre Kugappi (who was just presented with an honorary Doctorate from Concordia Seminary St. Louis for his lifetime work in the Lutheran Church here).  Before he was made bishop, serving as a pastor, he was on a negotiating committee with the Finnish Church when they came to offer aid to the Ingrian Lutherans.  He said, “we told them up front, we do need your help, but not if it comes in anyway attached to any liberal theology.” 

     From those two parishes, Ingria has grown to about 80 parishes and 100 preaching stations, with about 100 pastors and deacons, and 17,000 members.  She now has parishes in 6 of the 11 time zones of Russia (and a preaching station in Narva, Estonia).  Many of the new parishes were planted with the help of many foreign mission organizations, most of whom have now seriously cut their budgets—before many of the congregations were ready (would you expect a 3, 5, or even 10 year old child to be self supporting?)  Still, the Lutheran Church in Russia is moving forward, realizing that in spite of her present difficulties, she has endured much worse, and still has a long way to go if she is to regain her place as the second largest Christian confession in Russia—and more importantly, a longer way to go if she is to preach the Gospel across Russia and beyond.

 

Rather Than Repeat Myself

Rom 8:28 And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.

     The last few months I have received several queries why my name does not appear in the LCMS Annual.  The answer is simple, although I graduated from Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, was certified for ordination and ordained as an LCMS missionary pastor on April 28, 2002.  In September of 2003, when LCMS World Mission cut funds and told us they could no longer support us, I began the process of getting on the call lists back in the USA—but in the meanwhile moved to St. Petersburg to give my wife some time to say goodbye to her family.  During that time the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Ingria in Russia extended me a call—this they could do under the official altar and pulpit fellowship agreement with the LCMS signed by both the Ingrian Bishop and the late President Berry and approved by the 1998 LCMS general convention.  Under that agreement, when I accepted the call to serve in the Ingrian Church, President Kieschnick officially transferred my membership to the Ingrian Church.  So, this is why, although I am still qualified to accept a call from an LCMS congregation, my name no longer appears in the LCMS Annual under ordained clergy. 

 

Prayer Requests

Prayers of thanksgiving that we received our documents in time, that the children finished school with good marks, that God has blessed the Church here with many good, committed pastors, and that God allowed many historic buildings to remain through the Communist purges; Pray for healing for Tana;  pray for a peaceful release from suffering for Vera (who is suffering from untreatable cancer); pray for missionary pastor Yuha Saari who was just refused his visa—he is one of the few remaining Lutheran missionaries serving in Siberia.  Pray for our safe travel and our time with family, friends and our Christian brothers and sisters; pray that God continue to strengthen the Lutheran Church here.

 

Family News

The children finished school this week—both did very well.  This is not to brag, but to say we are thankful.  They begin again September 1.

 

Pro-life update

Russian population declined last year by 700,000 souls, most to death since immigration has slowed (and many people from third world countries have begun to immigrate to Russia).  The press has blamed this on alcoholism related death and heart disease, the government has blamed it on a low birth rate, but no one seems to blame it on the 1,500,000 officially tallied abortions (remember this: this number represents only the government clinics, since the private clinics do not have to report, and an abortion is only counted if it happens after the 10th week of pregnancy—before that it is listed simply as “menstrual regulation”).  We are already planning next year’s “attack”—but news for that will have to wait until we return to Russia in August.

 

Joke

This is an old Russian joke that comes from the Cold War era (it is a long one)—WWIII has just happened and after the mushroom clouds have cleared, the American General call the Russian General on the phone:  “So, Ivan, how many rockets do you have left?”  Ivan answers, “10, John, how many do you have?”  “Well,” says John, “I have eleven, guess I win, why don’t you surrender now?”  Ivan thinks for a minute and says, “can I call you back in an hour?  I really have to think about that.”  So they both hang up, and Ivan is in a pickle—all the polit bureau is dead, there is no one to ask advice, only he and the American general have survived—and the American has weapons superiority.  Just then the phone rings—frightening Ivan, since he is supposed to be the only one left alive.  He hesitates but grabs the phone.  “General Ivan, this is Captain Nicolai of nuclear submarine 104TMC we are heading for the rendezvous point 15XP19.”  Ivan is shocked—and a little upset, “Captain, you should have been at that point two weeks ago, you will most likely now have to stand for a military tribunal, explain yourself.”  “Well,” Nicolai explains, “Misha, our engineer, received word that his wife gave birth to a baby boy, so we settled on the bottom to celebrate a while; when we had finished drinking the ethylene based fuel from the last torpedo, after we slept it off, we woke up and realized that we were running late.”  Ivan considers this and then asks, “Captain, how many missiles do you have left?”  Nicolai answers, “20.”  Ivan quickly hangs up the phone and calls back the American General, “so, John, are you ready to surrender?”  “What do you mean? I have weapons superiority!” John says.  General Ivan then replies, “not anymore, I now have 30 rockets!”  Surprised, John asks, “but how did this happen?”  To this Ivan replies, “as long as the Russian military drinks, we are unbeatable.” 

 

We thank Thee, Jesus, dearest Friend, that Thou didst into heav’n ascend,

O blessed Savior, bid us live and strength to soul and body give, Hallelujah!

TLH #223 verse 1

In Christ,

Leif & Zhanya Camp

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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:

 

We took the English service congregation to visit the Lutheran Parish in Pushkin.  I have written at length about this parish in the newsletter, this is the external view.

 

During our visit, as English service was finished by 10:30 and the ride to Pushkin took only an hour, we made it in time for me to preach at Russian service--but I preached in English while Pastor Fedor tried his hand at translation.

 

Pro-life efforts never go unanswered from the other side--recently "Family Planning" centers have been opening up in Russia (yes, these are funded by a grant from the organization of the same name operating in the USA).

 

After service Pastor Fedor explained to us the history of the parish in Pushkin--here is the English congregation in the sanctuary.  The picture has a blue box on it around what looks like two little knobs (the picture resolution is not so detailed).  These are two iron hooks (there is a matching set on the other side of the door as well).  When the building was siezed by the Communists, it was eventually turned into a driving school--which included a course in basic mechanics.  engines and transmissions were hung from these hooks (and others around the sanctuary) as auto-visual aids (OK, audio-visual, forgive the very bad pun).  I suppose this could be used to call attention to those who make an idol of their cars, but the blessing is that because the building was useful, it was not torn down.  Now it again is serving the flock and her Lord.

 

Pastor Don Richman, foreign liaison for Lutherans for Life International, showed up in St. Petersburg to do some nuts and bolts planning.  Don has been the key speaker the last two years at our annual Fall major pro-life seminar.  We had some planning to do.  Turns out that Maggie Karner from LCMS Life Ministries was also in town, so I introduced the two to each other--we pray this will further strengthen the pro-life efforts of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Ingria in Russia.

 

May 27th Bishop Dr. Arre Kuggapi blessed the cross which will cap the steeple of St. Michael's in St. Petersburg.  My part of the event was more or less to offer technical support--I helped project the pictures of the remodelling.

 

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!

 

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