National Seminar at Erdernet, Mongolia

Praise God for the opportunity to be a facilitator at the 1st National Seminar in Mongolia. 25 leaders from the clergy and the market place attended the seminar. We had a good group of participators who were very eager to learn. Many testified after the sessions how they have been blessed and motivated to reach the lost for Jesus Christ. The seminar indeed has been a blessing to me as well.

It was an exciting experience in Mongolia., fraught with many challengers all along the way. Firstly my arrival in Mongolia was delayed by 12 hours in Beijing. The frustrating part was that there were no clear instructions from the Airline staff. I was due to arrive in Ulaan Baator, the capital of Mongolia. at about 10.30AM on 23rd Apr. The reason eventually given was that the pilots can't land due to strong winds in the airport. I finally arrived at Ulaan Baator at about11.15PM, almost 12 hrs after schedule.. Byambaa, the HI Regional rep and her family were excellent hosts. It was almost midnight when we had dinner in their home. The family had waited for me to have dinner together, including their 3 year old daughter. That was a great lesson in hospitality. Because of the late arrival, we missed our train and the revised plan was to drive 5 hrs to our destination. The seminar was held in Erdernet, a small mining town about 400km from Ulaan Baator. We left Ulaan Baator at 5.00AM in the morning.

It was a beautiful drive in the countryside. Mongolia is a beautiful country for those who love nature. It was all white with snow for the first 2 hrs of the drive. This was also my first experience with snow. However when we were about 70km from Ulaan Baator, due to the icy roads, the car skidded and lost control. We crashed into a railing. Thank God, no one was hurt. However the car could not be driven and we were in the middle of nowhere, with snow on both sides of the mountainous terrain. There was hardly any cars on the road. In the distance a herdsman was on a horseback,with some cattle feeding in the cold. What a sight. We had no choice but prayed and I was freezing. Plans changed again.

Byambaa made a few phone calls and then decided to send Amrah, another local faculty who came along with us, in a passing vehicle to seek help from a nearby village.Praise God, she found an old schoolmate in the village. This gentleman was kind enough to drive us all the way to Erdernet and even brought us to his home for some hot tea and fried eggs. That was so refreshing to have something hot in that nail biting cold weather. But for the Mongolians it was normal, as temperatures tend to go below -30 degC in winter. We left the damaged car behind for Byambaa's husband to recover. He is such a wonderful man. God provided help in the right time and at the right places.

By God's grace, we arrived in Erdernet but late by an hour. A little rescheduling of the programs and the seminar went on as planned. God is good all the time. I saw His faithfulness throughout the trip.The participants have already started planning on evangelism efforts in Mongolia. Mongolia has a population of 2.8 million with about 2.5% Christians. 22 of its 24 people groups are still unreached. 38% have no religion. The harvest indeed is plentiful.


There was a humble and serious commitment made by the participants at the end of the sessions to reach the lost for Jesus Christ. I thanked God for this opportunity to be a blessing to our brothers and sisters in this wonderful country. I was indeed blessed myself. I was specially impressed and motivated by our HI Rep Byambaa, by her zeal and fervor for the Lord and to see many people in Mongolia challenged with the gospel of Jesus Christ and also to see many Christians trained to become evangelists.

On 26 Apr night, Byambaa and Bekhee, the RC, dropped me of at the train station for an overnight ride to Ulaan Baator. The train was certainly better than Indian trains and so comfortable.

I also had the privilege of visiting a "Ger", the nomadic tent used by the Mongolians. In spite of the cold it was warm inside and very cosy.

The problems did not stop here.The flight back to Beijing was delayed for more than 13 hrs: Reason - strong winds. Now I am wondering if the reason was true. The weather looked awesome except for the cold. I finally arrived Beijing at 4AM in the morning and by the time I reached the hotel, I was exhausted.