Conclusion: Zaisan Hill

One of the highlights of my visit to Ulan Bator was climbing the steps to the top of Zaisan Hill with our team and a Mongolian friend. She was born and raised in Mongolia and now lives with her husband and three boys in my hometown of Highlands Ranch, Colorado, but is here visiting and serving this week through her foundation, www.care4kidsworldwide.org. In 1992, she met a senior missionary couple. They were volunteering as English teachers in her school. They became friends and they invited her to accompany them to the dedication of the preaching of the restored gospel high on a hill overlooking U.B. The capital was much smaller then. Now apartment buildings are being built all around the hill. It was a cloudy day, but the sun came out just in time for the dedicatory prayer.

The prayer was offered by a man who has touched me and my family, for it was Elder Maxwell who performed our marriage in the Salt Lake Temple in 1987. At the time of the gathering on Zaisan Hill, my friend did not realize that she was in the presence of a modern Apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ. There with a handful of other Mongolians who were at the time not yet of our faith, she heard Elder Maxwell offer this beautiful prayer. Later, as she asked to learn more about our faith from the missionary couple, she was told that the Book of Mormon had not yet been translated into Mongolian. Fortunately, because she had attended a Russian-speaking school, she was able to read the Book of Mormon in Russian and gain a testimony of this book of scripture. She was baptized a few months later and was one of the first 10 Mongolian Mormons. Now there are 10,000. She also served as one of the first 5 Mormon missionaries from Mongolia. As I looked out over the city with her, she told me that she now recognizes that the blessing given by Elder Maxwell is being fulfilled. Freedom has come to Mongolia. Economic prosperity is coming to Mongolia. The Church is blossoming in Mongolia. It was touching to me to attend a district conference which was attended by hundreds of beautiful families most of whom live in traditional Mongolian gers (round huts or yurts). I also attended two firesides, one for youth and one for young single adults and saw the chapel in downtown U.B. filled to capacity with enthusiastic young people many of whom have served or will serve as missionaries around the world. I have been touched by the beautiful Mongolian people, both those of my faith and those not of my faith. I am thankful for the privilege of visiting and serving in this fascinating country and the blessing of catching a glimpse of the miracles that are occurring here.

OFFICIAL DEDICATORY PRAYER

for the Land of Mongolia for the preaching of the restored Gospel
April15, 1993~4:00 pm, Zaisan Hill – Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

By Elder Neal A. Maxwell of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles

"Almighty God, Father of the whole human family, we, a few of thy children, feel privileged to gather here today. We are grateful for the sunshine and thank Thee, O God, for so smiling upon this special occasion. Though we can see Mongolia’s capital, Ulaanbaatar, in the distance, Father, we know we cannot see far away. We are comforted to know that Thou seest all things at all times. Some of us are far from home and far from our families, but we are comforted to know that no place is distant from Thee. Father, as we prepare to dedicate the country of Mongolia for the preaching of the restored Gospel and for the building up of Thy Kingdom, we first seek to rededicate ourselves to Thy service and to Thy purposes in the earth. Father, bless these pioneering couples and all those missionaries who will follow. Protect them; bless them with a love for the Mongolian people. May their assistance be welcomed; may the ways they help the Mongolian people be appreciated. O God, Our Father, bless the new converts. Help them to be strong as they will shape the future of the Church in Mongolia. Please continue to raise up friends in Mongolia who will help Thy work to progress. May all of these things be combined so that Thy work will help these hardy, strong Mongolian people to be happier and more prosperous. Father, this is a wind-swept land. May it also be the case that the winds of freedom will never cease to blow in Mongolia. Preserve and protect the independence of Mongolia regardless of the moves made on the great checkerboard of the nations. Heavenly Father, may the yesterdays of Mongolia not hold the tomorrows of Mongolia hostage. We pray for the leaders, present and future, of this nation. Guide them and bless them to preserve freedom and to have a more adequate economy. Father, we realize there are many in the world to whom Mongolia is unknown and unappreciated, but we plead with thee, Father, that Mongolia not go unblessed. So, in the power and the authority of the Holy Apostleship, I dedicate the land of Mongolia and bless its leaders and people, its soil, and its sky – all to the end that the nation maybe blessed, that it will so respond to the Gospel message so that Thy work may be firmly established here. May Mongolia even be a beacon light to other nations. Father, we thank thee for the atonement of Thy Son Jesus Christ, for Thy plan of salvation which tells us who we are and why we are here. We thank Thee for the restoration of Thy Gospel and unite in our expressions of appreciation on this special occasion. We are grateful for the love Thou has given us and ask Thy blessing to preserve our memories of this occasion. We so dedicate this land. May the members of the Church here be good citizens of the Church and good citizens of this nation. For all these things we pray. As Mongolia faces the future, may the sunshine we experience this day symbolize Thine approval of this occasion and this dedication. We so pray in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen!"