Urgent prayer request

Recently something came up for which I would ask your earnest prayers.

There is a church member who has been attending our services for many years. (That is something when we have only been holding services for less than five years.) Her husband Mandaa is not a Christian and tends to be antagonistic towards Jesus Christ - when he is anything at all. He is very quiet, but he is usually quietly stubborn.

Mandaa has decided that he is going to Kalmykia to work. He has been promised a very high salary and three years of work if he goes. Personally, I doubt whether any of this is true. To make matters worse, he wants to take Byambaa but leave their two children ages 1 and 3 in Mongolia. Mandaa's plan is to leave before the end of the March.

Byambaa is unsure what to do: should she go with her husband and leave her children or let her husband go by himself and stay with the children. The family is putting pressure on her to leave the children and go by herself. But no one in Mongolia besides a grandpa who lives by himself has been interested before in taking care of the children. (See this story.) When the three year old was in the hospital with hepatitis, it was our family who watched the younger child.

I am praying that Mandaa would be unable to go to Kalmykia and that the entire family would stay in Mongolia. Please pray with us about this situation. Byambaa needs wisdom from God to know how to respond to her husband and what decision to make. I could use a lot of wisdom to know what advice to give to Byambaa. Most of all, Mandaa needs to be saved from sin and to quit thinking only in terms of money and think about his family's needs.

Please pray. It would be a great encouragement to Byambaa, Kristie, and I to hear from some of you who are led to pray. Just send a short e-mail letting us know that you are praying. We need God's intervention in a difficult situation.