first stake in Mongolia

Dad and I were really excited to see this article in the church News. The new stake president is President Odgerel who was the president of our Tuul Branch in Mongolia. It is great to see him progress in leadership. I still remember the many times that he and his counselors would come to our house so that Dad could train them in how to do their church work. He is the one we probably told you about who would kiss the members before church started.

The north Asian nation of Mongolia now has its first stake of Zion. On Sunday, June 7, Elder Donald L. Hallstrom of the Presidency of the Seventy organized the Ulaanbaatar Mongolia West Stake.

Elder Hallstrom said that establishing the gospel in our lives and in the lives of our family is just as important as establishing stakes, districts, wards and branches. Elder Joseph Chung, an Area Seventy from Taiwan, spoke of building Zion where we are.

Mongolia Ulaanbaatar Mission President D. Allen Andersen thanked all of the young missionaries, senior couples and mission presidents who had served in the mission since the land was dedicated for missionary work in April 1993 by Elder Neal A. Maxwell.

Newly-called stake president O. Odgerel said, “In these Latter-days, God has given us a promise to create Zion. In order to build Zion, we need to have stakes. However, one stake is not enough to build Zion, so I believe that this is just the beginning of the great work of our Mongolian saints to establish more stakes.”

A total of 1,230 members crowded into the Mongolian Union Cultural Center to witness the historic event. The Church was first registered in Mongolia in 1994. The first missionaries came soon thereafter. Since then, Church membership in the north Asian country has grown to over 8,800. Now a stake and two districts, with 20 congregations among them, are spread across a vast and scenic land of desert and mountains.

The Ulaanbaatar Mongolia District was divided into the Ulaanbaatar Mongolia West Stake and Ulaanbaatar Mongolia East District. The new stake presidency, five bishops in the new stake and a new district presidency of the Ulaanbaatar East District were called and sustained during the conference. Almost all of the bishops and branch presidents in the new stake and district are endowed.

This year, five trips to the Hong Kong China Temple are planned from Mongolia. To attend the temple, as many as 40 members travel together on a three-day train ride across China.

“Their devotion to the temple has played an important role in the members’ preparation for a stake,” said President Andersen.

B. Batzorigt, first counselor of the newly-created Ulaanbaatar East District presidency, explained that they now see what their goal should be.

“We need to work hard so that our district will become a stake,” he said, “Then we can strive to have a temple built in Mongolia.”

Elder Maxwell, in his dedicatory prayer said: “May Mongolia ever be a beacon light to other nations.”

Over the past 16 years, Mongolia’s 20 fledgling branches have sent out more than 650 missionaries.

At the last Ulaanbaatar Mongolia District Conference it was announced that there were 120 missionaries serving from the district. Currently, there are 115 Mongolian missionaries serving within the country. Another 40 now serve or have received calls to countries such as Japan, the United States, Australia, Korea and the Czech Republic.

Speaking of the historic occasion, Stake President O. Odgerel said, “I believe that the organization of the stake will not only bless the members in Mongolia, but it will bless our whole country.”