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Get ready for an exciting celebration of Jesus’ love filled with amazing Bible adventures, unforgettable songs, memory-making crafts, and life-changing missions.  Welcome to Avalanche Ranch, a wild ride through God’s word!  Vacation Bible School is scheduled for July 16th – 20th 6:00 – 8:45 p.m.  Click on VBS for more information.

 

 

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.)

 

ПОТЕРЯННЫЙ—pa-TARE-yin-nee, lost

Ezekiel 34:16 "I will seek what was lost and bring back what was driven away, bind up the broken and strengthen what was sick; but I will destroy the fat and the strong, and feed them in judgment."

      We often lose things in this life—wallets, keys, the remote control to the TV, opportunities, our luggage or even a whole group of volunteer missionaries…  Such losses are inconvenient in the least, cause us problems and stress and may even cause us some serious difficulties.  When we find lost things we are then relieved, even joyful—maybe even more appreciative and careful with those things once we have them back.

      Our Souls were once lost, we were lost, imprisoned in darkness and sin (even though we may not have understood it in those terms).  As it says in Colossians 1, we were estranged and even enemies of God. In a very real sense lost to His love and care.  Yet, He didn’t lose us—He knows right were we are, and He sent to us His Son, Jesus Christ, God come to us in the flesh, so that we might be found and returned to the Father, no longer estranged, and no longer enemies.  We may be lose things, we may even become lost, but God knows where we are, loves us and cares for us, and continues to come to us through His Word and the Sacraments.  This is not some mystical happening, but real and concrete so that we have fellowship with Him now and in eternity. 

In celebration of our being found by our Savior, let us not lose the opportunity to share the Good News with those lost souls around us—the Good News that God through Jesus Christ has come in the flesh to find us, forgive us, and give us eternal life.

Lost Bags, Lost Group, Seeking Lost Souls

Luke 19:10 "for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost."

      Summer short term missionary group season has started in Russia.  As I came to Russia first as a volunteer missionary in 1995-1997, I have a great heart for volunteer missions.  So, whenever I can, I enjoy helping such mission groups—especially if they are Lutheran and I can get them more involved in helping the Ingrian Lutheran Church. 

      At the end of May Pastor Bill Moberly (pastor with the AALC and director of Eastern European Mission Network) his wife with two of their daughters arrived ahead of a group of 35 volunteers destined for language camp work in Petrozavodsk.  Bill and I met a few years back when he first was thinking of taking over the reigns of EEMN from its founder Pastor Don Richman (who is also with Lutherans for Life), so I invited him and his family to stay with us while they did the last minute preparations for the group. 

      When the arrived, their baggage did not, but was promised for the next evening.  This was inconvenient, but as the group was arriving at noon the next day but not scheduled to leave for Petrozavodsk until the morning after that, all would be well.  Bill spent the evening trying to call and locate the luggage and preparing for the group.  The next morning we set off for the airport to meet the group—as a bus had been ordered as well.  The groups’ plan landed a bit early, and we were all anticipating their clearing passport control and customs in short order—but no one came through.  Their flight had been delayed, so they all missed the connection.  The good news was that the group would arrive in the evening about the same time as the Moberly’s luggage.  The group did arrive, but not the luggage—this time the phone calls were more serious.  The luggage was promised for the next evening—it had been found in London and would be on the flight the next day.  As the group had to leave on the bus in the morning, Bill and his wife Sally would take the bags up on the train that evening—arriving only a few hours after the group.  We bought their tickets, said so long to the group and headed off to the airport for the lost bags. 

      Not all the bags arrived… 

      Of course, these delays were very inconvenient, difficult, even.  All missionaries learn the need to be “flexible” and gain a new understanding of Murphy’s Law, but as believers, we have a different view.  When promised bags do not arrive, we become painfully aware of the fallibility of the promises of men—the fallibility of the human word.  God’s promises, however, are infallible—always true.  God does promise to work all things for good for those who trust in Him (Rom 8:28).  Sometimes this good is not immediately apparent, sometimes we may need to guess at it, but we can trust that it is there.  So rather than become discouraged, we tried to use the time for accepting and realizing the “good” in the opportunities that their being “stuck in St. Petersburg” presented.  I was able to have Bill meet with the Bishop, we seriously discussed the possibility of arranging for more volunteer work with the Ingrian Lutheran Church (short term groups for language camps, for instance, or even longer term commitments).  As Bill and Sally could not be present to lead the group as in the past, some of their assistants had to step up and take more of the leadership responsibility (often nothing trains a leader more than necessity).

      We will see Bill again and his group when they return to St. Petes in a couple of weeks and attend English Worship service.  By that time I hope to have a few volunteer proposals written up to discuss with him and the Bishop.  We pray that regardless of the lost luggage, the temporarily lost group and lost time, that God use their service to proclaim to the lost that Christ has come and is seeking them to save them.

 

Pro-Life

Acts 6:3 "Therefore, brethren, seek out from among you seven men of good reputation, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business;

      Over the last few years my wife and I along with the volunteer help of Pastor Fedor Tulinin, Pastor Alexander Schmidt and with the support of Bishop Arre Kuggape and the Ingrian Missionary Committee, the Pro-life initiative in the Church of Ingria has been able to expand.  Pastor Don Richman, Pro-life activist Caroline Rice and others have also been a great assistance in their willingness to serve here and lecture at seminars.  The actual growth of this ministry and the possibilities of its continued growth have made me realize that the volunteer group—given their other responsibilities—can not handle the growing work load.  One solution would be to create a part-time position for the Ingrian Church of “Pro-life Secretary”, or there may be other solutions.  Obviously, the possibilities are expanding and we are praying that we can make the most of those possibilities.  We are in the process of writing a “work plan” and a job description—and discussing other options.  Pray for this.

 

Prayer Requests

Please continue to pray for our documents—we have been told everything will be in order informally, but we still have nothing official.  Pray also for Deacon Ivan Laptev who has been hospitalized with a severe infection.  Pray for the group of volunteers working in Petrozavodsk doing a Christian camp there.  Pray for opening up more opportunities for volunteer mission work with the Lutheran Church here; pray for the expanding pro-life ministry—this is a strange blessing to say it is getting too much for me to handle—that God guide us and help us in this area.  Pray for Darren and Irina Johnson who are in the USA visiting parishes and dealing with documents (she is Russian, so is applying for a green card—pray that they can get all the paperwork in order so they can return in time for Darrin to begin studies again in the fall).   Pray for the upcoming LCMS Convention, that God guide the decisions and the outcomes of the elections.  Pray that God grant to Zhanya and me more faith, wisdom and strength.

 

A Word About Prayer

This last week during the pastoral Sermon preparation Bible study the topic of prayer came up—a pastor [not in the group] had asked that the church pray that God give him a car so that he can visit his shut-ins.   We did pray, but the request got me to thinking.  Often we pray to God asking for a specific answer, rather than simply praying to God with the problem and allowing Him to give us His answer.   As we are His children, I realized one more lesson my children were teaching me about my relationship my heavenly Father.  It is one thing for Karl and Nastya to tell me they are hungry, to which I will do my best to feed them; it is another for them to ask me to buy them a pizza and soda, to which I am more likely to refuse—giving them instead some healthier food.  I have caught myself often praying to my Heavenly Father asking specifically for “pizzas”—already having decided what I think is best— and realizing that I should simply be stating my hunger in trust.  Thy Will not mine, Lord….

 

A Russian Joke—although I think it may have been stolen…

Who cares what holiday it is, the important thing is that someone else does the dishes…

 

 

God loved the world so that He gave

His Only Son the lost to save

That all who would in Him believe

Should everlasting life receive.

 

Hymn 245 TLH v. 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:

 

OK, I have been caught up in a lot of "administrative" details this month--I had hoped to have good news about our documents, but we are still waiting.  There has also been just a lot of administration due to some projects that are coming together and need some organization (including pro-life which will now have an official budget).  We do have other good news, however (and not just in the prayer letter by that name which is attached). Karl and Nastya have successfully finished another year of school--that is always good news!  Darrin and Irina Johnson are in the States this Summer plugging the needs of the Ingrian Lutheran Church.  Bishop Arre Kugappi will be attending the LCMS Convention in Texas (if you are there, be sure to ask him how things are going).  One comment about prayer that came to me--we often think of prayer as if it were a phone call, even a long distance phone call. Nothing is farther from the truth--we are on our Father's lap speaking in His ear...

Blessings, Leif

 

Pictures

Darrin and Irina Johnson with Zhanya and me after Ascension service (when we celebrated their going to the US).

The group of 35 volunteers loading up their bus (the poor driver had to wait in the heat about 8 hours--from the time the group was supposed to arrive to until they finally did (days in Saint Petersburg are now about 22 hours long).

The English service congregation during the Ascension day service.

The Opening of the Service

A picture of the empty hall we use for English service

A picture of us with Pastor Bill and Sally Moberly while they were in town. God decided to give us time to talk...

 

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

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