GSM Stories From the Mongolian Steppe

Christmas at Anna's Home Orphanage in the Remote town of Choybalsan

Anna's Home Christmas Feast For the second year in a row, with $1,000 GSM provided winter clothing for twenty-two children at Anna's Home (orphanage.) The cool part was seeing the generosity of the shopkeepers in the open market giving gifts of shoes or extra hats and gloves to the kids. I heard from the staff that last year one eleven year old boy didn't want to purchase any clothing. When they asked him why, he said he wanted his younger brother to have the winter clothing instead. Not only did we clothe them with boots, pants, gloves, hats and coats, we brought boxes of fruit. Fruit is very expensive in Mongolia, and the children passed up on cake and filled themselves with fruit. What a great joy it was to watch kids eat bananas, apples, tangerines and peaches, some for the first time in their life!  The Great Khalkhin Gol In mid-December, I traveled ten hours overland to Choybalsan close to the boarders of Siberia, China and Mongolia. It is the land where Chingis (aka. Gengis) Khan found his wife Selenge. It is also the location of the largest fighter aircraft battle prior to WWII. The 1939 battle of Khalkhin Gol featured two Mongolian cavalry divisions along with 50,000 troops of the Russian 57th Special Corps with 550 fighter and bomber aircraft. The 30,000 strong Kwantung Japanese Army, Japan's best troops also came to the fight with over 500 fighter and bomber aircraft. The Japanese had taken up residence in Manchuria and now intended to occupy Mongolia. That summer, the Russian and Mongolian allies defeated the invaders as 20,000 Japanese, Mongolian and Russian soldiers lost their lives on the Dornod Steppe.

Miracles in this Far Land The next evening I had dinner with Pastor Sukhee and his wonderful wife Tunga. Tunga has a slow growing tumor in her head that will eventually take away her eyesight and hearing. As we ate they shared another unfolding tragedy in their family. For context though, you must understand that six men die every night in Ulaanbaatar as they pass out from Russian vodka and freeze to death. This happens every night not only in the capital but all over the country. Pastor Sukhee shared that his brother, who drinks heavily had been missing for three weeks. Tunga said her father also had been drinking and was now missing seven days. Their searches found no clues to the whereabouts or bodies of these men. After dinner we prayed for a time and asked God to return Sukhee's brother and Tunga's father to their families. The next morning as our crew was driving back to Ulaanbaatar, we got a call from Sukhee saying both his brother and Tunga's father had returned to their homes immediately after our time of prayer. Praise God!