|
|
A Good Word from CAMP |
Support St. Paul Youth Group with your searches here. |
|
July 2009—St.
(Click on http://www.flickr.com/photos/stpaulmp/
to see photos of the Camp’s work and
life. These photos will not remain here
indefinitely as Flickr is no longer a free service
for me. The most recent 200
БЫТОВОЙ-bit-a-VOY: common, everyday, domestic
Ecclesiastes
3:2 A time of birth, and a
time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what has been planted;
So July is upon us—we have suspended English worship services until the last Sunday in August as everyone (even the organist) is on vacation. One would think that would mean I have more free time, but the truth is that there is still a lot to do. Besides catching up on all our documents (that is a never ending situation here), the annual Men in Mission retreat in Karelia was this month (this is part of my work with the Ingrian Missionary Committee), planning for next year’s work (the Bishop wants me to help out with a youth service together with a young Russian pastor at St. Mary’s), there is also a lot of home repairs I have been putting off and need to attend to. As much as I like to focus on spreading the Gospel, in order to do that, I also need to take care of basic life—a large part of that is keeping our living quarters in livable condition. This July and August we are also trying to take care of the business of everyday life—those things considered “normal” for Russian living. Russians take some of these for granted—they are simply part of everyday life with which they have grown up. For me, of course, they are always a bit confusing and more time consuming—how to pay bills (it’s not like simply dropping a check in the mail as in the USA), how to get a plumber (or even get the proper plumbing supplies), how to get my car repaired properly (most often the client has to locate and buy the parts for the mechanic). Then there is the question of where to get my computer fixed! All this takes a lot more time and energy and financial resources—which is probably why I have put off so many things (I have been busy with the ministry, I have been worn out by the travel, and being a good steward with our limited financial resources has always been important).
So Summer is the time to catch up on all these basic life tasks so that when Fall arrives, the heat will work, the windows won’t be drafty, our dacha won’t be an eye sore and an embarrassment to the neighbors. As my wife gently reminds me from time to time, house and home are also gifts from God, and I also have the responsibility to keep them in good order!
God has been good and providing in His wonderful ways.
A Bit About Our
Everyday Life
Ecclesiastes 3:13 also that every man should eat and drink and enjoy the
good of all his labor -- it is the gift of God
Many people often ask about our everyday life here in
Our small 3 room apartment is located on the second floor of a five floor walk up built in 1917. During repairs we noticed various newspapers under the wall paper from 1917 right before the revolution (All the news was about inflation, alcoholism, narcotics, corruption in government—interesting how nothing has changed). The building has had no major repairs since that time—so all the plumbing and so forth is original. Also, when I say 3 rooms, that means 3 rooms total plus a small kitchen. To be specific, our “master” bedroom is 6 feet by 12 feet, the kids room is 7.5 by 15 feet, and our living room is 13 feet by 15 feet—the kitchen is 6 feet by 11 feet. All of our windows face south west, which means we have a sunny apartment, but no cross ventilation. We also have no closets, but are lucky enough to have a bathtub which officially is in the kitchen (but we have walled it off). Many apartments in our building do not even have a bath tub or shower (people go to the public baths to wash). We have been praying for how to manage our living quarters in the future—Karl and Nastya are growing, and will soon need their own rooms. We do not have the money to buy a room from the neighbors or to buy another apartment, so we are trying to figure our what to do.
We also “inherited” a dacha. For those who don’t know, many Russian city dwelling families have dachas, it is a “normal” part of Russian and a place to grow potatoes, cabbages, beets, cucumbers and all sorts of berries to help the family make it through the winter (it is also a place to escape the crowded city). How did we get a dacha? Zhanya’s step father Alexander, who is now an invalid—with the understanding that we can’t sell the land in his lifetime, signed over to us his small plot of land which is about 35 miles outside of St. Petersburg—he had promised to leave this land to Zhanya in his Will. On this plot of land is an unfinished cottage (if you can stretch your understanding of that word)—it is a roof of corrugated asbestos shingles on four walls made up of boards and timbers covered in tar paper. There is electricity on site, water from a nearby canal, and an outdoor toilet. The land is full of scrub brush and trees that had grown up over the last 14 years—the last time Alexander was able to take care of the place. It is now our responsibility to get this place in shape—and since we really can’t afford to hire people to do a lot of the work, we need to find the time and energy to do it our selves. We have been fitting work on the dacha in the cracks of doing ministry, planning meetings, and so forth (if you recall, last year several people from English Worship service came spent the day on the dacha with us helping us clear off a lot of the scrub brush and trees). My dream is to make this into a retreat center for Christian married couples—but that is another story. Only God knows the future, and before I can work on the dreams, I need to clear the land, put siding on the house, fix the roof, rebuild the porch, dig a well, put in a toilet, build a tool shed/garage, etc.
English Language Camp
Matthew 7:7 " Ask, and it will be given to you;
seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.
Last month I
wrote of the English Language camp we organized in Viborg
with a group from
Already two other Ingrian Lutheran congregations have shown interest in hosting such a camp next year—so if there are any US congregations interested in being “hosted” next year, contact me as we can organize such things directly through the Ingrian Lutheran Missionary Committee.
Prayer Requests
Pray for our daughter Anastasiya (Nastya for short) as she had her 11th birthday
this month (my wife Zhanya also had her birthday—so
pray for her as well). After much prayer
and discussion we have agreed that Nastya will also
attend
Missionary
Committee update
Due to visa considerations and so forth, the two Finnish
missionaries that were also helping out on the Ingrian
Lutheran Missionary Committee have left—they will be helping congregations
closer to the border between
A bit
of shocking humor
The
In the shattered
bliss of
As our primal
parents shuddered - Sin had caused that dreadful price!
Faith embarked
with this discernment:Only
God can cover sin,
As He took their leafy garments And He clothed their shame with skin.
#572 in Lutheran Service Book
In Christ,
Leif & Zhanya Camp
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
Click on http://www.flickr.com/photos/stpaulmp/
to see photos of the Camp’s work and
life. These photos will not remain here
indefinitely as Flickr is no longer a free service
for me. The most recent 200
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, |
Stateside contact address: Leif and Zhanya Camp, C/O Marli Camp 902 N. 12th |
Ev. Bolshaya Konyushennaya dom 8 St. Peterburg, |
Telephone: after getting an international line by dialing 011, dial 7- 812 (our area code) 321-1508(our phone number)
Note—Between St.
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
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
While we strive for accuracy, we assume no responsibility
for errors on this site.
Please contact the church or school to verify information
*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.