N SECUTION
krainian Lutheran ancestors to teach us today,” reflect-
ill be offically released in am Press and is available oksellers like Amazon and ble. ies last, The Gates of Hell hardcover from LHF for only go to www.LHFmissions.org office at (800)554-0723.
o ask each other why had not sounded. of the workers, and yet d they been detained? a group of youth came g, “They’re coming! t it was not the factory ming. It was the militia many armed CommuThe troops closed off the the church was located. arrested some of the inued to stream in, this
Party had its spies well ly some had informed etake the church. That ops arriving quickly as he factory workers were plant on time. In their break down the gates the militia guarding it t to the square they ran armed Communists. mmunists guarded the he Soviet authorities Many were not guilty, oned with at least a
A word from missionary Rev. Leif Camp in Russia:
“TRUST IN THE LORD” Rev. Leif Camp is LHF’s project coordinator in Russia and a missionary in the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Ingria.
Grace and Peace from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. I apologize for taking so long in writing this prayer letter, especially as I know many are concerned. Consider this: first we faced the Covid pandemic/plague; and now we face war and rumor of war, or rather “special operation.” As Christians, we all know that all of these are simply a fulfillment of prophecy, and such have been and will continue until our Lord’s glorious return. Please put your minds at ease, peace, rest in the Lord and trust in the Lord. I write these words not only to you, but for myself as well. As fearful as these times may seem, 2 Timothy 1:7 reminds us, “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.” As Christians, we are not to make decisions out of fear or panic when the world seems falling apart. There is the question of “What has God called me to do in these times?” To evacuate? To “follow my heart’s desire?” That is a question of discernment, of course, and not the first time I have faced that question. One aspect of discerning God’s direction (besides prayer, searching His Word, prayer, soul searching and prayer) is to first put aside my own fears, insecurities and desires, and with a sound mind consider the situation and what the needs truly are of my neighbor—so to speak. So let me lay out these considerations: Very suddenly and unexpectedly, the Church has taken some serious hits and is facing a crisis. First, almost all foreign missionaries that were helping, teaching, coordinating, were evacuated—and several
against their will, being ordered to evacuate by the authorities over them. Second, the financial sanctions leveled against Russia have cut off much of the funding that was coming through the Church’s legal entity in Finland, where funds were saved for safe keeping. As a result, our relatively new bishop, Rev. Ivan Laptev, is faced with a huge crisis and has some very difficult decisions to make about cutting programs, staff and so forth. For instance, we will finish the current resident term at our Theological Institute [where students study from LHF-translated textbooks], but after that, the resident program will be suspended, instructors laid off, and staff cut to a minimum. The future of the distance program is unclear—as for lack of funds to pay for the Russian instructors. And here I am. Bishop Laptev has asked me if I am going to evacuate but has not called me to evacuate—not ordered me to evacuate. In other words, he would understand if I do, but would like me to stay for he would like my help. And this is moment where I now find myself: the “oh, crap” moment. Some of you might understand what I mean—the moments in our Christian walk of faith, when we see that God is calling us to do something that means sacrificing what we would rather do for something we see is a greater need. And when in discernment and prayer we realize this, our first reaction is “Oh, crap.” My call has been to serve this Church as a pastor and missionary. Nothing in the current situation prevents me from continu continu-
Camp in Russia cont. on page 4 3
