Pastor Camp reports on his missionary work, supported in large part by St. John's, in his latest newsletter.

A joyous Christmas. Consider this your Christmas Card! I just finished service and will preach in Russian on Saturday and then English service again on Sunday--those pictures will have to wait until next month. With the kids and all they want to do, shopping for presents and all that, I praise God I also had time to put this together. Your prayers and so forth are very important.

This year I keep thinking--Why are we so joyous that this Child is born? Because He brings us salvation! Think about it--a child's birth is a joyous occasion in normal circumstances. I think that every birth should remind us of THE birth--the birth all creation waited and groaned for such a long time. What a wonderful thing God has done--Sent His Son, come to us since we could and would not come to Him. What love! The joy we feel and celebrate is the joy of living now in grace, forgiven and free. Joy to the World and peace....

Besides this month's prayer letter, I have attached the following pictures which I managed to take between meetings, preparing morning devotions for the office staff, and so forth:

	Alexei Uimenin and I went to pick up about 300 kilograms of Bibles on the day God decided to finally send snow to St. Petersburg.  These Bibles will be distributed by the Missionary committee of the Church of Ingria through parishes and other events.
	The fifth annual Christmas eve English language carol service. 18 people came and enjoyed a good dose of the Gospel through traditional Christmas Hymns from 3 different Lutheran hymnals!  Since half those attending were Russian, this was a good turn out (especially since in Russia the 24th is a workday because the Russian Orthodox celebrate Christmas on Jan 7).  We sang 12 carols--between each carol was a Bible reading (John 1,the story of the nativity from Luke with the shepherds, the Wise men from Matthew, some prophecies from Isaiah, a passage from Romans and from Ephesians focusing on the Incarnation and the reason for it all).  Our organist had a workout, but she was up to the task.
	This month I finally kept my promise to hold a seminar for the Nizhniy Novgorod parish.  A lot is happening in Nizhniy Novgorod.  Here I am distributing after the seminar the Russian version of "Good News" (the issue on Creation).
	The city sent out surveyors to measure and check the boundaries of the land which had been set asside for building the Lutheran Church.Officially this is all for getting the paper work in order--but it also will allow the city to sell the land if the congregation does not begin building soon.  Ingria as yet does not have the funds to build.
	Pastor Boichenko asked if I might meet with the parish council to discuss some issues--so here we are meeting.  It was interesting to see how various members view their role on the parish council.
	The trip to Nizhniy was a rush.  I left St. Petes on the Friday night train, arrived in Nizhniy Saturday Morning.  After breakfast, Pastor Boichenko and I then edited my power point (he corrected my Russian and also prepared to help answer questions).  We then ran to buy things for the after seminar tea (and I also bought a few things to fill his refridgerator--I noticed it was rather bare, especially with Christmas coming up, and I know his salary is very low).  After a late lunch, I had time to shower, change my clothes and arrange the room for the seminar (moving the tables, setting up the video projector, etc.).
	The seminar started at 5 pm, and the plan was to finish the tea by 7:30.  The seminar discussion ran until 8:30 and the discussion didn't stop until the last person left at 10pm.  We had a late supper, and then went over the plan for Sunday (he wanted me to meet with the parish council to discuss the role of each member).  Church service the next morning, tea, meeting with the council, a late lunch and then on the afternoon train back to St. Petes.  It was good, I did get to sleep a little on the train, but so goes the usual visit to a parish...
	Pastor Slava Boichenko preaching Sunday.
	Pictures of Turyo--the church (the congregation was started in 1641).  The major dilemma for the congregation is how to get people to come.  The potential is great with a lot of young families moving into the area, but the Pastor is only part-time and that is a volunteer (he works a job during the week since the congregation cannot afford to pay him).
	I have been asked to come once a month to help out (it is a bit over an hour drive from the city)--so I meet with the pastor, help with Bible study, then meet with the Saturday "Sunday school" (I am sitting with two of the children and Tanya the Sunday school teacher as we are waiting for a few more children to show up).  After "Sunday school" the youth show up, and we have a Q and A session on their theological questions (this keeps me on my toes).
	I thought I would include a picture of the Turyo sanctuary--built to seat over 1000, about 50 attend on any given Sunday (official membership I think is over 100--but I will check).
	Last is picture of me with three members who decided to stay after tea and talk.  Pastor Alexander Klinov is the man standing immediately to my left. Pray for him as he is very overworked.

Read the December 09 Prayer Letter from Pastor Camp (PDF).