​Bullied at School, Mongolian Boy Finds God Answers Prayers

He woke up at night and prayed quietly so his sleeping parents wouldn’t know.

By Andrew McChesney, Adventist Mission

When Iveel Namjildorj was 5 years old, he moved from his home in Mongolia to the Philippines.

His father, a Seventh-day Adventist pastor, needed to further his pastoral studies at an Adventist university in the Philippines, and he took the family with him. Iveel also needed to study, so his parents enrolled him in first grade.

School turned out to be difficult for Iveel, who didn’t speak English and struggled to communicate in class. After school, the other boys teased him as he waited for his ride home.

“You can’t do anything,” one boy said.

“You can’t even write,” said another boy. “Go to kindergarten.”

When he heard these hurtful words, Iveel ran back into the school and hid behind the door of his classroom. He didn’t want to cry in front of the other children.

When he returned home every day, his mother asked him, “How was school?”

Iveel didn’t want his mother to worry, so he didn’t tell the truth.

“School was good,” he said.

At night, when Iveel went to bed, he wanted to kneel and pray to God for help at school. But he was afraid that if his mother saw him praying, she would ask him what he was praying about. He didn’t want her to worry. So, he woke up in the middle of the night, when his parents were sound asleep, and quietly prayed to God.

“Please let the children be nice to me so we can be friends,” he said. “And please let me go to another school.”

Iveel prayed nearly every night for several months. Then his parents suddenly decided to send him to a different school. The children at the new school were kind, and they helped Iveel learn to speak English. When he injured his leg playing soccer, the other boys helped him walk home.

Iveel said in an interview that he was so happy that God had answered his prayer about going to a new school.

Then one day, the principal of Iveel’s old school invited him to return for a party. Iveel felt a little nervous about seeing his old classmates who had treated him unkindly. But when he went to the party, the other children played with him and he had a great time. He said God answered his other prayer about becoming friends with those children.

Iveel is now in the fifth grade, and he goes to the only Adventist grade school in his home country of Mongolia. But he has never forgotten how God answered his prayers. He had never asked God for anything before he had prayed about his school trouble, and he had even wondered whether God really exists.

“Yes, I went to church every Sabbath, but I thought, ‘How can God create the world with just His words?’” Iveel said. “After God answered my prayers, I believed that He is real.”

Iveel has many friends at his school in Mongolia, but many come from families that do not know about God. Part of the Thirteen Sabbath Offering in third quarter 2018 will help build an Adventist high school in Mongolia, so more children can learn about God. Thank you for your mission offering.