Christmas will be a special time of rejoicing this year in Biger, a remote herdsmen’s community in a far western province of Mongolia. Many people in the village are new Christians, and this will be the first time they have celebrated the birth of the Savior.

“God is working in a special way in Biger,” said Oji, the Children’s Heart Project coordinator for Samaritan’s Purse in Mongolia.

Bringing the Gospel to this remote desert area, where goats and camels far outnumber the 150 families who have settled here, is not easy. But it’s worth it, because the villagers have an insatiable hunger to learn more about Jesus Christ, and God is speaking to their hearts through His Word and His power to heal.

Oji and other Samaritan’s Purse staff have made the 600-mile, 24-hour, bone-rattling bus ride through the Mongolian countryside from Ulaanbaatar to Biger (pronounced “bigger”) several times.

“Every time we go, we feel the joy of ministry,” she said.

The most recent trip was in October. Before that was 14 days of outreach and fellowship in August—a visit that culminated with 12 new believers being baptized in the river that meanders through the village. In June, Samaritan’s Purse came to deliver Operation Christmas Child shoe box gifts to 100 children in the village and surrounding countryside.




With each visit, Oji has seen a change in the spiritual landscape of this virtually unreached corner of the world.

“These are very genuine people,” she said. “They really love the Lord.”

That transformation began two summers ago and 7,000 miles away in Texas when a 16-year-old boy from Biger experienced his own heart-changing miracle.

‘I have a life now’
Otga was so ill that he could not walk farther than 100 feet when he arrived in San Antonio in July 2008. He had never attended school.

Isolation and subsistence living meant no opportunity to repair the hole in his heart, first diagnosed when he was 2. A shunt procedure performed at a hospital in Ulaanbaatar prolonged his life, but doctors said that further surgery would be necessary if he had any chance to survive into adulthood.

Each year, Otga’s parents brought him to Ulaanbaatar for the annual examination. Each time, the news remained the same. The doctors could do little to help.

His mother, Chinba, tearfully pleaded for options during an especially discouraging visit in 2006. The cardiologist said a medical team from the United States was in Ulaanbaatar that very week performing cardiac operations. By God’s perfect timing, it was a group from Children’s Heart Project.

Otga was able to see the surgeon right away. Although his case was considered risky due to his age, he was placed on the list for more complicated operations that would have to be performed in America. Now it was just a matter of waiting—and praying.

Over the next two years, our staff stayed in touch with Otga’s family. They prayed with them, encouraged them, and shared the Good News of salvation through Jesus Christ.

Chinba wanted to know more about this Great Physician who could heal the spiritual hole in her own heart. She prayed to receive Jesus as her Savior during a visit to the Children’s Heart Project office in Ulaanbaatar. Otga later committed his life to Christ too.

Their faith grew as they entrusted the future to God. Arrangements were made to perform the surgery at a hospital in San Antonio. The long-awaited journey to the United States came at last on July 10, 2008.

While his father and two sisters remained in Mongolia, Otga and his mother boarded an airplane bound for the other side of the world with a translator, doctor, and Children’s Heart Project staff. It was a stressful trip, especially for Otga. Less than an hour before arriving in San Antonio, he began turning blue and had difficulty breathing.

Fortunately it turned out to be more a case of rattled nerves than it was his heart.

For the next six weeks, they stayed with a Christian couple that had hosted patients on three previous occasions. The outpouring of love and support greatly encouraged them.

On the morning of the procedure, Otga was encircled by a prayer gathering that included the surgeon, Chinba, the host family, and Samaritan’s Purse staff. And they continued to pray throughout the long hours of the operation.

Chinba was overcome with relief and gratitude when she saw her son after surgery. His face and lips had lost their blue tinge, now replaced with a healthy glow.

As for Otga, the next few days brought a sense of wonder and celebration. The hospital’s surgical team had corrected his heart defect, but he knew it was God who had truly healed him.

“ ‘I have a life now.’ That’s what Otga later told me,” recalled Oji. “Before that he didn’t think he had a future. He had the surgery and he got saved and now he is excited to tell others about Jesus.”

That enthusiasm did not wane.

“Chinba came back totally changed,” said Saraa, the staff member who prayed with her to receive Christ. “She went from being shy to joyful and happy. She loves Jesus and loves sharing the Good News.”

It didn’t take long for hearts to change in Biger too.

A Great Beginning
Otga’s father, Bat-Erdene, and his two sisters became Christians. During the next year, so did aunts and uncles and cousins. In all, 15 people from his family received Jesus as Savior. Their witness grabbed the curiosity of others in this tight-knit community.

Otga’s home became the meeting place for Bible studies and prayer. Our staff encouraged Chinba with phone calls and occasional visits. Even so, they realized the new Christians in Biger needed discipleship and interaction with more seasoned believers.

In June, Operation Christmas Child delivered 100 shoe box gifts to children living in the Biger area. Recent heavy rains made it impossible to travel by car, so they improvised and used a caravan of camels to transport the gifts to a nearby camp.




Oji was excited to return in August to hold two weeks of discipleship training, the first ever in the village, with programs for both children and adults. Chinba and Bat-Erdene set up a small ger for the event.

The first day started with Bible study and English lessons for children. Thirteen boys and girls ranging in age from 5 to 17 attended.

“They were so eager to come and learn English and the Bible and worship songs,” Oji said. “The kids enjoyed the lessons because they were very colorful and included easy-to-learn Bible stories.”

Throughout the week, the Children’s Heart Project group taught Bible stories to the kids in the mornings and traveled by motorcycle to visit families in the afternoons. They also spent time in the evenings teaching Otga’s parents how to share their faith and grow in their understanding of God’s Word.

On Sunday they held a worship service for a gathering of 20 people on a sandy shoal by the river. By a divine appointment that only God could orchestrate, Monday brought a visiting pastor and a Christian outreach program called “Steppe-by-Steppe.”

The event turned into a community celebration. Sixty adults and children attended, an encouraging turnout considering this was hay harvest season and a crucial time of year for herder families. New Testaments were given to those in attendance.

The culmination of two weeks of discipleship training and Bible study came when 12 people were baptized in the river near Otga’s home.

“Chinba told me it was exactly the same day two years ago that she and Otga were baptized in San Antonio,” Oji said. “There was a real sense of God’s presence here and everyone was so joyful. The following day we had Communion with these new believers.”

As Christmas approaches, the August visit continues to produce a spiritual harvest. Chinba reports that 38 people in her district are Christians. They are earnestly praying for God to call a pastor or a missionary to serve in Biger.

In the meantime, Chinba is helping to lead a monthly worship service. Their resources are limited—a CD player and song sheets for music and Bibles for their study—but that’s OK. They already have all they really need—a heart to proclaim the Good News.

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Samaritan's Purse , Mongolia , Children's Heart Project , Reaching Biger for God