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March 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.)

ДВЕРЬ—DVER--DOOR

Col 4:3 meanwhile praying also for us, that God would open to us a door for the word, to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am also in chains,

This month was a busy one on the pro-life front. Usually the pro-life work only takes up part of my time—my time being divided among pro-life, parish seminars and evangelism with the Missionary Committee of Ingria, English Worship and so forth. This month God opened a door and we wanted to make the most of His opportunity. Carolyn Rice who has been doing post-abortion Bible studies with women in Russia, Ukraine, Georgia and Belarus through various non-denominational churches volunteered to pay her own way and donate 25 days in March to do short seminars on forgiveness and healing wherever the Lutheran of Ingria could use her. So we organized 18 seminars: 3 Seminars in Nizhniy Novgorod, 4 in Krasnoyarsk, 2 in Minusinsk, 5 in villages around St. Petersburg, 3 for Lutherans in St. Petes, and 1 at a Presbyterian seminary.

The whole Ingrian pro-life team was involved—my wife accompanied Carolyn to Siberia and helped translate (how many men can say they sent their wives to Siberia!!!), Pastor Fedor Tulinin volunteered to teach the Bible study portion at several seminars, Pastor Alexander Schmidt organized the meeting at the Presbyterian seminary, and Tanya Rumin—a volunteer at Nadeshda center—helped translate.

Carolyn plans to return in November and we hope to schedule 3 or 4 Biblestudy groups to lead women to repentance and healing…

For Instance…

Jer 33:6 'Behold, I will bring it health and healing; I will heal them and reveal to them the abundance of peace and truth.

One of the doors God opened for pro-life was at a medical institute in Nizhniy Novgorod. Those that heal the body ought to know about healing the wounds of the spirit.

Pastor Yaroslav Boichenko met Pastor Fedor, Carolyn and me at the train station and after freshening up and a quick bite we met up with Father Mario from the Catholic Church and drove to the medical institute.

When we arrived the students had already begun to gather—most of these were not Russian students, but rather foreign students from Africa, Malaysia, and other such countries. Many were Christian (and several even attend the local Nizhniy Lutheran parish).

What was most interesting were the questions after the seminar—often a way of seeking to justify ones actions:

“As a doctor my job is to treat a woman, not to judge. If she elects an abortion, my job is to perform the procedure to the best of my ability, how can I refuse?” (Many women who have had abortions later deeply resent the doctors who performed them). The answer: you already knew the medical dangers abortion presents to women physically, you now know the damage emotionally and spiritually—as doctors do you perform procedures that you know are harmful to your patients, even if they want them?

After many standard questions focusing on economics, the poor medical systems in their home countries and so forth, there arose a very keen interest in how to treat post-abortion syndrome. As I listened, an unspoken question became evident (or rather a way of thinking): “Once I do an abortion, tell me how I can best begin treating these spiritual and emotional after-effects?” The answer to this was again a question: “I am not a doctor or medical student, so you tell me, what is easier to cure an illness or condition once it has started or to prevent it?” Many hung their heads down as they said, “prevent it.”

This last month I learned several new items about abortion which seem contrary to conventional wisdom: Most women who keep their babies after being raped actually suffer less long term trauma than those that abort. 75% of all relationships end after an abortion regardless of threats or promises made beforehand. Men who allow an abortion are 4 times more likely to become alcoholics. And this last one: Women give many different reasons for having chosen an abortion: economics, health, lack of time, small living space (this is big in Russia), and so forth. When asked what could someone have done or said that could have made you change your mind? The answer was almost unanimous: If someone had offered me moral support, had said they would be with me and uphold me (no one said if someone had given me money, a bigger apartment or a nanny).

I explained this to the doctors—as much as you want to remain neutral, you as a doctor are an authority figure in people’s lives. You stand before God with this authority and you can use for good or not (and not means using it for evil). You can safely and rightly advise a woman that having an abortion is too risky for her physical, emotional and spiritual health. You might not only save a baby’s life, but her eternal life (and your own as well!).

Mission Conference

1 Thess 5:21 Test all things; hold fast what is good.

At the end of this month the Ingrian Lutheran Missionary Committee hosted a Mission conference for pastors and church workers from 3 districts. We discussed mission work in the Russian context, co-work with the Russian Orthodox, working among the different religious groups in Russia and guarding against secularization in the Church. This last theme I found very interesting—from sociological/religious studies, the evidence is that the Church is in a period of secularization. Most present were appalled, and we sure that such was not the case in their parishes—good, solid confessional Lutheran parishes. It got me to thinking. Of course, if secularization were obvious, it could not infiltrate the church so easily, but I think it is much sneakier. If we noticed it, we would be on guard, but so often our own secular nature just goes merrily along. Any time we do things our way instead of God’s way—this could be secularization. I thought of some warning signs:

Do we pray for God to bless a decision we have already made or do we pray for God to guide our decision making?

Do we simply bookend meetings in prayer and Scripture verse, and then do what we want in between guided by secular wisdom, or do we follow God’s Word throughout?

Do we search Scripture to find proof of our preconceived idea or position, or do we search Scripture to correct our preconceptions?

Do we look first to Biblical models and methods or do we look first to the secular sphere (business, psychology, etc.)?

God did give us wisdom in His Word, our reason is corrupt with sin. It is not enough to take something secular and simply bless it to call it Christian.

Prayer Requests

Pray for English service at the Consulary; for the ministry opportunities opening up in Nizhniy Novgorod among the medical students there (and for growing relationship with the Russian Orthodox youth department); for Alexei, the new head of the Ingrian Missionary Committee; for parishes that are in critical need of funds for building as deadlines are approaching—Minusinsk, Tver, Nizhniy Novgorod, St. Michael’s, and others; pray for work in Saratov. Pray for those pastors’ wives who are expecting babies—for the Uiminens, for the Tulinins, for Melanins. Pray for International Christian school (several of those attending English service have connections there) as they are seeking space; Pray especially this month for pastors and their wives—this month for some reason several pastors have called me and asked for prayers for their marriages. Pray for us as well. Ministry is expanding on every front, and again we need to focus and organize—pray especially for the pro-life ministry as we have some major decisions to make in the near future.

Family News

Karl and Nastya finished 3^rd quarter at the Russian Gymnasium they attend. One more quarter—they are rather stressed and tired. They have been on Spring break this last week, so we have been trying to have some family time. Last summer I brought back some used baseball mitts and bought some soft baseballs, so Karl, Nastya and I have begun playing running bases (we have no bat and no place to hit that ball if we did).

A Joke

A cargo ship capsized and sank in the Baltic sea. It was carrying 30 tons of fish food….if you count the crew and passengers.

Lord, Keep us steadfast in Thy Word;

Curb those who fain by craft and sword

Would rest the Kingdom from Thy Son

And set at naught all He hath done.

Hymn 261 TLH vrs 1

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:

3KonsulLeif... Me playing guitar before for the hymn sing before we began the pro-life seminar for the Chruch workers who work at the central offices.

3Mingroup--Actually this group around the table are meeting in Krasnoyarsk--part of the Lutheran Congregation there which now meets in an apartment.

3Konsulleif...My teaching at the seminar for the Church workers

3Karlfold... Karl folding what is left of the brochures for our prolife information stand at the central Ingrian Church offices.

1presb... Pastor Alexander Schmidt translating for Carolyn Rice at a seminar we organized for the small Presbyterian seminary in St. Petersburg.

1minKarZh... Zhanya translating for Carolyn for a seminar at the German Culture club in Minusinsk

1KonsulKarTan... Tanya Rumin translating for Carolyn Rice at the seminar at the Ingrian central offices.

1konsulbish... The bishop giving his opening remarks for the seminar at the central offices

1KingaFedor... Pastor Fedor Tulinin teaching at the seminar in Kingissep (a village close to the Estonian border).

1BishopMis... The bishop addressing the pastors gathered in Koltushe for a mission conference at the end of this month.

March Pro-Life Calendar

Mon	Tue	Wed	Thurs	Fri	Sat	Sun
			1 Arrives	2 to Nizhniy Novgorod Нижний Новгород	3 Student Seminar 14:00 open discussion 17:00 Contraception нн	4 Seminar 14:00-17:00 нн
5 return	6	7 Koltushe Sem and Cong 18:30 колтуше	8	9 Scvoritza 16:00 скворитца	10 пушкин рushkin 14:00-17:00	11 Tюрё 12:30--??
12 St. Mary’s 11:00	13	14 Yukki юкки16:00	15 Siberia	16 Siberia Krasnoyarsk	17 Siberia	18 Siberia Minusinsk
19 Siberia	20	21 Presb. Sem 13:00--	22 ELCI Consulary ЕЛЦИ консулари13:00-17:00	23	24 kingaseppe	25 Viburg
26 Leaves

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. 12^th 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

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