New visa restrictions adopted by the Russian government have "inconvenienced" Lutheran Church--Missouri Synod mission workers and will raise the cost of doing mission work in Russia, but the Synod plans to continue its presence there, according to LCMS World Mission staff.

"We have experienced delays in getting visas for people, but so far we have been able to get everyone into the country that needs to be here," said Rev. John L. Mehl, the Synod's missionary counselor in Russia, via e-mail from his home in Moscow.

The new rules, which according to Moscow's Institute of Religion and Law have been sent to government offices such as Russian consulates abroad, classify visa applications according to the "goals of a visit." The categories of "religious affairs," "charitable" and "humanitarian" now allow visas only for three-month periods.

One-year, multiple-entry visas will continue to be granted for other purposes, such as business and culture, according to the Keston News Service.

"We have no intention of discontinuing work in Russia, even if we can only get three-month visas for foreign religious workers," said Rev. Fred Schielke, area secretary for Europe and Central Asia with the Synod's Board for Mission Services.

Schielke said he was concerned with how the new rules will affect missionaries, who will have to "leave Russia every three months and travel to Finland or Estonia to get a new visa."

The extra travel "will cost [the Synod] time and money," acknowledged Mehl, but may actually benefit missionaries by giving them an occasional weekend away from their ministries. About a dozen LCMS career missionaries and volunteers, and their families, now serve in Russia.

"Thus far, the visa situation is workable," Mehl said. "We know that other mission fields have more difficulties with visas. We simply pray that things don't become so restrictive that we cannot do our work."

More worrisome now is Russia's falling ruble and collapsing economy, which has led people to hoard food and goods in preparation for hard times ahead.

In a Sept. 2 letter to stateside supporters, Mehl writes: "There have been huge traffic jams here in Moscow every day, even on the weekends, as people look for something durable to buy before prices go out of sight. They seem to have started with foodstuffs and clothes, but quickly moved to appliances and even cars. Merchants are in a dilemma, as they don't know what to charge people. Many stores are closed for 'technical' reasons or for 'inventory,' as they wait for calm waters which don't seem to come."

In closing, Mehl thanks his supporters for their prayers and asks them to "continue to remember us [and] also the Russian people, especially our partner church here, the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Ingria in Russia, and all her congregations."

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