Tsoogii

August 18. 2018

It was in 2003 when I first met Tsoogii. We served together on a mission team in his home country of Mongolia, traveling from the capital city of Ulaanbaatar, across roadless steppes to remote villages in the countryside. Tsoogii had been a thug and had served time in prison where he met Tsengel, a woman social worker who introduced him to Christ. He was converted and eventually married her and began raising a family.

We worked together for two weeks and developed a long-distance friendship that has lasted these almost fifteen years. It hasn’t been easy for Tsoogii and Tsengel. He relapsed into some of his old ways before finally turning a corner and settling down. Today, he is a pastor and evangelist, faithfully serving our Lord. It was only recently that we managed to arrange a means of sending him financial support. He sent me photos of the first home they’ve ever owned, a ger of which they are quite proud. He also sends photos and videos of his evangelistic work, and though I don’t understand a single word of Mongolian, it is good to hear his voice again, and to be able to play even a small part in the work he is doing in Mongolia.

One never knows where serendipitous encounters will lead. I met Tsoogii in a roundabout way, beginning when I was having breakfast at a hotel in Colorado Springs six months earlier. A young man approached and asked if he could join me. I welcomed him to my table and we struck up a conversation. Tsoogoo was the Mongolian director of Every Home for Christ which happened to be celebrating the opening of their new international headquarters just down the road. I was out there for some training with a different organization, but Tsoogoo introduced me to Richard Smith, right hand man to Dick Eastman, president of EHC. Before it was all done, we had been invited to join them on a mission trip to Mongolia. Richard and Linda and I hit it off, and I ended up taking several trips with him. Richard stood by us during a very difficult time in our lives the following year, and we have been fast friends ever since.

Tsoogoo, Richard, Tsoogii—it was a circuitous route, but the cords of love and faith that bind us together are stronger than the language, distance, or the years that divide us. Tsoogii is in the middle of an evangelistic campaign even as I write, and wrote to me asking me to pray for him. I do so, joyfully, yet longing to see him again. God is so good, bringing people together in unlikely ways, knitting their hearts as one in Christ; and I am so thankful tonight for that binding, and for modern technology that helps us keep in touch, and for the privilege of being even a small part of his ministry halfway around the world.