Please pray

I have some friends in Central Asia who are undergoing some intense pressure. If you will read their email excerpts below and pray, I believe God will hear and allow them to stay longer than the government would normally allow. Thanks for your partnership.

"We would like to make you aware that we are currently in a fairly serious situation regarding our ability to stay here. To keep the story short, suffice it to say that the president of this country appears to believe that the U.S. and western governments are actively involved in trying to have him removed from office via encourging revolutions like what has occurred in Georgia, Ukraine, and Kyrgyzstan. He seems to believe that the mechanism used in these other countries (this has some truth to it) and the mechanism being used in here is via western and western-funded, non-governmental organization (NGOs). We work for a western NGO--a humanitarian aid organization.

Therefore, our NGO, like all others is being watched closely and has recently been audited by the government here. As is typical with audits, deficiencies were found and the government wants to have these addressed plus they are requesting information that we would rather not provide regarding how we are financed (who our donors are, etc.) and they want to have a say in our project plans.

In the past, we would have politely refused to provide certain information that the U.S. government here is telling us we shouldn't provide (not because we are trying to hide political agenda--we just would rather not give out names of donors--this includes some of you reading this) . However, a number of NGOs have been forced to leave as has the Peace Corps (they left several months ago) and this past week one had its operations suspended for 6 months (we aren't sure what that means) for refusing to provide the information that we also do not want to provide. In fact, it seems that the approach our NGO normally would take is what that organization did and has been suspended for it.

We now need to respond to the government in the next several weeks on this and need wisdom on how to do so as no matter what approach is taken, it seems to have high potential for problems. We want to state clearly here that in fact our NGO is NOT a political organization and we are NOT involved in activities encouraging political directions. It may very well be that the government recognizes this and is requiring a lot of information to verify that or it may be the case that they are making a case to have us removed. We don't know but we can put our trust in the Almighty God who does know.

-We really want God to strengthen the believers and help them to be ready to stand if we have to leave. Pray that God would help them to stand on their own, or help them to trust another group enough to join with them.
-Pray for the leader that he would persevere through some disappointments in his family which have really got him down.
-Those disappointments are continuing division among the women in his extended family. Yesterday at the little Bible study I do with them we read I Corin 13 and I didn't say anything. I told them to meditate and pray over it this week and we'll talk about it next week. Pray that the Holy Spirit will convict them and grant them repentance. It is this issue probably more than anything that is making it impossible for them to become a proper church. We need a Holy Spirit fired break through~!
-Another disappointment has been baptized friends and relatives in a neighboring village have wiped out, partly because we (for security and other reasons) can't go out there on a regular basis and meet with them and there is no fellowship of any kind out there. They understand so little and are so messed up. How can we help them grow? How can God establish them out there?
-A still can't get off the steroids, tried to drop his dose but had to go back up. That alone may knock us out.
-We would love to see God move among all the people we've shared with, showed the film to, or done seekers groups with. Also pray for repentence for people who have come to faith and then fallen away.
-The kids are doing great and absolutely love it here. Pray that God would give them grace-I know they sense some uncertainty.
-Pray for dear C. as she's busy filling out college application forms and taking SAT's etc on top of a very full academic load, she too would love to see some of her friends come to faith before she leaves.
-God may be calling us on to something else. Pray that A will have time to write you about it, and that we would know what He wants us to do.
-If we are to have to go, pray that God would help a poor ADHD housewife who's homeschooling 4 kids know what in the world to do with a house full of stuff! and that we wouldn't have to go on short notice, and for good closure.
-Our house in the states needs a renter. That can't help our debt situation which results from a crazy summer of travel and reequipping our family.
We are in need of God's help right now. Thank you for being such good friends to us.

PS Two women who used to go to our little women's group but I haven't seen in a long time asked the host women if we'd be reading the scripture again this fall - they want to meet with us again! Pray that God would establish them and their families in Him. See I ended on a positive note!
THIS ONE FROM ANOTHER WORKER IN THE SAME COUNTRY
Please continue to pray.
2 other non-government organizations (the type that we are under) were closed down over the weekend. They are both more politically connected to the west than we are but it is still not a good sign. Please pray that we will be able to stay. If we weather this storm for the next 4-6 months we may be through the worst for a while. Also pray as myself and two other guys on our tm work through contingencies. We asking questions about what we would do as families and as a tm if we found ourselves without an organization. These require real leading from the Lord on it all.
We're still hopeful and continue to dive in to whatever He gives our hands to do. And good things are still happening. Please also pray for a possible leadership forum that I'm working through it's conceptual stages. This would be a place for local leaders to come and gather and share ideas and encourage one another as a body.

AND ANOTHER...
We need your prayers right now. We need the Lord to intervene. We are not in danger, but our Non-Government Organization (NGO), the organization for which we work here doing education, community, and health projects throughout our region is under scrutiny. They have done an "audit" of our organization (in the main office in the capital city) and have found many errors, most of which are questionable (did not sign on the right line, translation not notarized,...). Now let me be clear that we are doing our best to be above reproach and obey the law, but they can always find fault or make something up if need be. The so-called "errors" are not what is important at this time. Our main office staff can fix and/or deal with most of them relatively easily. The issue, however, is whether they will let us do that. The atmosphere among government officials here currently is one of distrust of most things foreign. They have already shut down a few NGO's and have denied visas to people. They may just be checking us to make sure we are not doing the "wrong" things (by their definition) and once they are convinced, then we will be in the clear. Or they may have already decided that our time has come and nothing we can do will matter. We honestly do not know.

But what we do know is that God is the One who is truly in control. He has given authority to these men and women. Also, this battle is not against flesh and blood, but against spiritual powers of darkness. In the end, what decisions are made are up to God, and He listens to the prayers of His people.

Please pray that He would grant us favor with the authorities here, and that we could come to an understanding. Please make this a daily prayer until you hear from us.

They are expecting a report by the end of September so we will keep you informed.