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March 2008—St. Petersburg, Russia A GOOD WORD FROM CAMP from Leif & Zhanya Camp

(Click on http://www.flickr.com/photos/stpaulmp/ to see photos of the Camp’s work and life. This month’s are here.)

ВЕСНА—ves-NA—Spring

1 Cor 15:23 But each one in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, afterward those who are Christ's at His coming.

What can I tell you this month? Spring—a time of reawakening, a time of rebirth, a time of new life. Spring in St. Petersburg is also very obvious—the days are already longer that nights—light replacing more and more the dreary darkness of winter. In the Northern Hemisphere, anyway, that we celebrate the Resurrection in the Spring has wonderful symbolic significance. We take the Resurrection for granted, really, not always keeping in mind both what this means FOR US, but also what it means for everyone. The apostle Paul recapitulates the Gospel in 1Cor 15—that Christ died and rose according to the Scriptures—but the rest of the Chapter focuses on the what Christ’s resurrection means for us. This is the Gospel, and if we really take to heart what God has done for us in Christ, we would all truly be on fire to spread that good news to all people—not because we must fulfill some command, or evangelism program, or earn some sort of points, but because we are new creations already, living in the knowledge and daily presence of our Risen Lord. The “must” behind spreading the Gospel is not the law—that I must or God will be unhappy with me. The “must” is simply that as an apple tree must naturally bear apples, a Christian, who through baptism has already been buried and risen in Christ (and who lives boldly confident in our bodily resurrection on the last day), must simply bear witness to the joy—it simply must burst forth. Christ is Risen, He is Risen in deed—but let me add—so we, too, shall Rise, alleluia!

Prayer and More Prayer

Ephesians 6:18 praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints --

Some months I do have trouble knowing what to write about. This is a prayer letter, which is one reason I do not include information about how to support financially our ministry here, and my goal is not to write some stale sort of accounting. The information I include I hope will better inform those interested in what to pray about as far as our ministry, the Lutheran Church here with the struggles it faces, etc., for the truth is I covet your prayers.

Yes, I led seminars, yes, pro-life ministry is progressing, other ministries are progressing, new opportunities are opening up, etc. We had good Pro-life seminar in Nizhniy Novgorod (along with a seminar on miracles). and have been invited back next month to lead a follow up seminar on pre-marital relationships from a Biblical perspective, I met with the Volga valley and Moscow district presidents about some more ministry possibilities there. Taught, preached, translated, prayed, ministered, cried, succeeded, failed, encouraged, praised—walking daily with our Lord. So this month, I am not sure what to write about—what will be most interesting or inspiring of prayers. Of course, it could also be that I am tired.

This month several prospective new projects have opened up (but nothing definite)—one with University Presbyterian Church. They are looking to work with Indigenous Churches in Russia and have approached The Lutheran Church of Ingria as one of these (they have worked with the Russian Orthodox and other Churches as well). Another has opened up with a Canadian mission which has been setting up Christian lending libraries as a method of evangelization. They have invited the Church of Ingria as one possible indigenous Church to take over the library in Moscow.

Pastor Yaroslav Boichenko, Ingrian Lutheran pastor of the Church in Nizhniy Novgorod, has published a very readable book on the history of Lutheranism in Russia entitled “About Lutherans in Russia”—it is in Russian, but it would not be a bad idea to translate it into English (that would be a switch, a little fair trade—as much as we have translated literature from English to Russian, to now do a book the opposite direction). His book is well written and could open many doors into the general Russian culture—especially at a time when the tide of Russian Nationalism is running high (it is an election year—the Presidential elections were March 2).

There are other things as well—missionaries from Finland, Germany and the USA are struggling with new visa laws that only allow them to be in Russia 90 days every 6 months. This is already seriously affecting many missionaries who work with the Church of Ingria. The new law does not affect me and my family as we are not here on visas, but have living permits, but it will increase my work load (as it already has). It also will affect English Worship service as more than half who attend are missionaries on visas. This new visa law, however, has many people wondering about their futures and the future of their ministry (I see this, however, the same way I saw the budget cut back in 2003—when big things move which are beyond our control, God’s mighty are is moving, and ultimately only good can come).

As this is a prayer letter, with prayer requests, I do invite all who read it to send us your prayer requests as well—not only will I pray with my family, but we can include prayers during English Worship. It used to be said the Sun doesn’t set on the English Empire—well, we can say the Sun doesn’t on your petitions before God. What a wonderful blessing God’s Family is!

Prayer Requests

Pray for all those missionaries facing visa questions which impact their ministries and the ministries of the congregations and people they are serving. Pray for Yaroslav’s book, that God open doors for its distribution and that the seeds planted by it might bear fruit for the Gospel. Pray also for the upcoming seminars and teaching I have to do in April (besides the seminar in Nizhniy, I will be teaching a couple of short courses at the Ingrian Theological institute). Pray also as we begin to prepare for a visit back to the USA (we are planning to come back for most of June and July). We are hoping to make progress on getting my wife US citizenship—which would simplify some things and actually give her peace of mind. Pray for Fedor Tulinin, the new rector of the Theological Institute as he has a long commute and a lot of work. Pray for direction and energy and clear thinking and wisdom for me as I try to take over more responsibility as well as organize my present ministries so as to make more room for more. Pray for Darin and Irina Johnson as they are seeking to get living permits like we have (so they can avoid the current visa madness). Pray for Bishop Kugappi as he seeks to guide the Lutheran Church God has entrusted to his leadership. Pray for my family as we decide school questions for our children, summer travel questions, and so forth. Pray that God grant us more wisdom, faith, strength and joy that we may know His will, trust to do His will, have the energy and strength to do His will, and truly enjoy doing His will more each day as a reflection of the joy we have in our Risen Lord!

A Russian Joke

I may have already told you all this one, but here goes again: a man from the village comes into St. Petersburg and stays at a hotel with its own shower and toilet. When he returns to the village people are eager to ask how it was. He explains, “it was great, I even had my own private well right in my room!”

What More

One of the things I have been invited to do is to act as theological advisor to the ad-hoc committee that is working on a new Ingrian Hymnal (which is to include youth songs as well). I was asked by several people, so decided to accept—this will be more sit-down sort of work, but it is an important task. I am not sure how much time yet it will require.

Ye sons and daughters of the King,

Whom heavenly hosts in glory sing

Today the grave has lost its sting

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

TLH hymn 208 v 1

In Christ,

Leif & Zhanya Camp

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Click on http://www.flickr.com/photos/stpaulmp/ to see photos of the Camp’s work and life. This month’s are here and descriptions are with them.

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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