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“And this gospel shall be preached unto every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people” (Doctrine and Covenants 133:37).

For those with little knowledge of Mongolia and its people, the image of Genghis Khan (also spelled Chinggis Khan) and his horsemen riding through the Mongol Empire may compose their limited understanding of the cultures and the people in Mongolia. When Monte J. Brough took his sons on a hunting expedition in Mongolia, he fell in love with the people and the land, unaware of the role he would later play in bringing the restored gospel of Jesus Christ to the people in Mongolia. This chapter examines how the Lord’s servants assisted in paving the way for the arrival of the first missionaries in Mongolia and the early efforts of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to bring the blessings of the gospel to the wonderful people of Mongolia.

Background

Map of Mongolia. Courtesy of Po Nien (Felipe) Chou.

Mongolia is a nation found in East Asia, landlocked by Russia to the north and China to the south. The nation is known for its rugged countryside and is called the “land of the eternal blue sky” because of the country’s many days of sunlight, though the harsh climate in Mongolia is really one of short, hot summers and extreme, cold winters. Mongolia is 605,000 square miles in size (1,566,000 square kilometers), or seven times the size of Utah and about one-sixth the size of the United States, and has a very low population density. It is home to more than three million people, with about 45 percent of them living in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia’s capital city. Although there are other urban centers besides Ulaanbaatar, such as Darkhan and Erdenet, many people live in rural areas. Due to Mongolia’s nomadic culture, around 30 percent of the population live in rural areas, roaming its rugged countryside and choosing a nomadic or seminomadic life.[1] In these rural areas, children are said to “learn how to ride a horse before they learn how to walk.”[2] These nomads raise sheep, goats, yaks, camels, cows, and horses in the countryside.[3]

Statues of Mongolian warriors at Chinggis Khan museum in Mongolia, June 2018. Courtesy of Po Nien (Felipe) Chou and Petra Chou.

The Mongol Empire, founded by Genghis Khan in 1206, was history’s largest continuous land empire, spanning Asia and Europe in the thirteenth century. Khan’s grandson conquered China and established the Mongol Yuan dynasty (1280–1367) but retreated following its collapse. Mongolia was conquered in 1691 and remained under the control of the Manchu Qing dynasty until its fall in 1911. By the 1920s Mongolia came under Soviet control, and the Mongolian People’s Republic was established in November 1924 as a Communist nation and satellite state of the Soviet Union until 1989.[4] Soviet perestroika, or restructuring, spread to Mongolia in the 1980s but was soon met with calls for reform and an end to authoritarianism. A new resolution was passed to remove Josef Stalin’s statue from the State Library in Ulaanbaatar, and “the Soviets withdrew troops, technology, and other resources from Mongolia.”[5] After the late 1989 and early 1990 democratic revolution, Mongolia created a new constitution in 1992 for the Republic of Mongolia.[6]

Many Mongols were Buddhists before Soviet rule, but during the communist takeover in the 1920s, many Buddhist priests and nuns were murdered, and hundreds of monasteries were closed. Following the 1990 revolution and the establishment of the new Democratic Union Party that supports religious freedom, Buddhism was reestablished in Mongolia.[7] Buddhists make up 53 percent of the population, followed by nearly 39 percent who are nonreligious, 3 percent who are Muslims, almost 3 percent who practice Mongolian shamanism, and about 2 percent who are Christians. Nonreligious and atheist views dominate among those raised during communist rule. In addition, increased populist and nationalistic views portray foreign religions as a threat to Mongolia’s national security, resulting in some prejudice among the older population regarding new faiths.[8] Nevertheless, the government established in 1990 guaranteed religious freedom, helping prepare the way for the Church of Jesus Christ to preach its gospel in Mongolia.[9]

Livestock roaming the countryside in Mongolia, June 2018. Courtesy of Po Nien (Felipe) Chou and Petra Chou.

Trip to Mongolia

As a young man, Monte J. Brough studied about the mountains and the wildlife in Asia, particularly the Argali Bighorn Sheep. Over the years, he hoped for the opportunity to go to Mongolia. In 1984 Brough took his two sons—Joseph, who had recently returned from his mission in Guatemala, and Chris, who was twelve years old at the time—on a Mongolian safari to hunt the mountain animals and fell in love with the country.[10] Back then, it was a three-and-a-half-hour flight from Salt Lake City to Chicago; then eight hours from Chicago to Frankfurt, Germany; three and a half hours from Frankfurt to Moscow; and finally, fourteen hours from Moscow to Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.[11] Brough wrote,

The Ulaanbaatar National Airport is a one room wood shack. Outside is a runway, asphalt. It is just a little narrow runway and that is it. I was standing there looking at this and the interpreter came up to me and said, “This is the international airport. I bet you don’t have any like this in America.” I said, “You are right. We don’t.”

In a moment, here came another man, he looked like an airline captain to me. He was dressed up in a uniform that said “Mongolian Airlines.” He said, “Would you help me fuel the plane?” I said, “Well, yes I guess so.” . . . I found myself pumping the fuel in that airplane. . . .

Then here came a woman that looked like a flight attendant to me. She said, “Would you help me load the food on the plane and the luggage?” So we loaded the luggage on the plane, and got the food on. . . . [This was the] airport in Mongolia.[12]

Afterward, they flew another hour and a half, got into Russian jeeps, and drove to the base of the Altai Mountains, a journey that took another day and a half. They arrived on a Saturday afternoon, and on Sunday, Brough and his two boys “climbed upon a ridge in this wonderful part of the world” and held a small program with a prayer and a lesson.[13] After trying to teach his boys, he recorded the following:

My twelve-year-old said, “Dad, it kind of makes you feel important doesn’t it.” I said, “What! To the south of us is China with its billion people, and to the north is Russia with its 300 million, and you feel important.” His words, “Well Dad, aren’t we the only ones that know about Joseph Smith, and aren’t we the only ones that know about the Book of Mormon?” Suddenly on a mountain top in Mongolia, of all places, I received another witness of who we are, and what we have to do. . . . [We] know how important [the gospel] is to all of the inhabitants of this earth.[14]

Gers in Mongolia, June 2018. Courtesy of Po Nien (Felipe) Chou and Petra Chou

This trip left a strong impression on Brough and was an experience that would prepare him for his future role in paving the way for the restored gospel to be introduced to the people in Mongolia. He described his first contact with those in Mongolia as follows:

We traveled on to Ulaanbaatar and spent about a month there. . . . We fell in love with the Mongolian people, their culture, and their country. In those days the United States did not have a diplomatic relationship with Mongolia. It was still very primitive and very remote for most Americans. There was no access to Mongolia through China. We had to go around through the other side of the world, through Germany, through Moscow, and then across the Soviet Union. It was a very long trip to get there, but we fell in love with those people.

I remember wondering as we left if they would ever hear the message of the restoration of the gospel. In a story of our becoming really close to those people, I remember I prayed that one day they would hear the gospel.[15]

Then in 1988 Brough was called as a General Authority and later assigned to serve in the Asia Area Presidency in 1990.[16] Elder Brough and others would assist in bringing the first married-couple missionaries to Mongolia. Mongolia started as part of the Church’s Asia Area until 2019 when it became part of the Asia North Area.

Visiting Mongolian Official

During the 1990s the new democratic government in Mongolia ushered in new religious freedoms that were previously restricted under the Communist regime. The new government experienced many challenges, including the restructuring of its education system to follow a Western model. This provided an opportunity for the Church to offer help in restructuring Mongolia’s education system. Paul Hyer and Sechin Jagchid were instrumental in facilitating the Mongolian ambassador’s tour of Brigham Young University (BYU) in Utah, thus paving the way for a positive relationship between the Mongolian government and the Church.[17]

The BYU-Mongolia Connection

Paul Hyer’s interest in Mongolia began as a graduate student in California in 1951. After completing his thesis in 1953, Hyer spent several decades expanding his research in Chinese and Mongolian modern history, with research on related Japanese and Taiwanese works. He would later bring Sechin Jagchid, a native Mongolian and preeminent scholar, to BYU. Hyer was serving as the chair of Graduate Asian Studies at BYU’s Kennedy Center for International Studies in 1990 when Jon M. Huntsman Jr., then an official in the US Department of Commerce, spoke at BYU and mentioned his efforts with a committee to develop US-Mongolian trade. Hyer asked Huntsman about the possibility of inviting the Mongolian ambassador to give a lecture at BYU and initiated the following steps in developing a relationship between the Church and the Mongolian government:[18]

6 December 1990—A Fax transmission of this date was received from Jon Huntsman giving the address of the Mongolian Embassy for a follow-up contact, a formal letter to Ambassador Nyamdoo in Washington, DC. . . .

17 January 1991—A formal letter of invitation was sent to Gendengiin NYAMDOO, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Mongolian People’s Republic to lecture at Brigham Young University. . . .

22 February 1991—The Kennedy Center group felt that this ambassador’s visit was important enough to notify the [General Authorities] at Church headquarters. A memorandum. . . . was sent to Elder Neal Maxwell. . . . Shortly thereafter the First Presidency’s office informed the Kennedy Center that they would like to meet the Ambassador.

15 March 1991—Professor Hyer telephoned the Mongolian Embassy and had BYU Mongolian Professor Sechin Jagchid talk with SANDAG, First Secretary of the Mongolian Embassy, a previous acquaintance. The purpose of the call was to explain to the embassy the rationale for scheduling a visit to Church headquarters. . . . The suggestion was made that some of our people may be willing to assist in Mongolia by teaching English and in other fields of importance to Mongolia. . . .

Sandag confirmed . . . that missionaries are welcome. Jagchid noted that LDS representatives working in Mongolia would want to tell people about their religion. The embassy representative noted that this would be approved.[19]

Gendengiin Nyamdoo was the first Mongolian ambassador to the US and the first to meet US president George H. W. Bush. On 19 March 1991, the day before he gave a lecture at BYU entitled “Mongolia on the Way to Democracy,” the ambassador met with the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He was accompanied by BYU professors Paul Hyer and Sechin Jagchid when he visited Church headquarters.[20] Hyer wrote,

This visit was by far the most important event of the ambassador’s stay in Utah in view of the decision of the General Authorities to follow up on the contact and given the later developments of the Church in Mongolia. . . . Present at the meeting in the impressive reception room at Church Headquarters on 47 East South Temple was Presidents Hinckley and Monson and Elder Neal Maxwell of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, assigned over the Asian Area. . . . Most notable in the meeting was the comment by the ambassador that the new Mongolia is democratic and would welcome representatives of the Church and Brigham Young University.[21]

Elder Maxwell contacted the Asia Area Presidency and asked them to coordinate with Paul Hyer to follow up on this Mongolian connection. On 27 June 1991, Hyer met in Hong Kong with the Asia Area Presidency, Elders Merlin R. Lybbert, Monte J. Brough, and W. Eugene Hansen, to discuss an exploratory visit to Mongolia. After arriving back in the US, Hyer suggested to Elder Maxwell that they contact the Mongolian embassy to discuss travel plans.[22] On 4 October 1991, Elder Lybbert, the Asia Area President, authorized Paul Hyer and Sechin Jagchid to travel to Washington, DC, to meet with the Mongolian ambassador and “if possible, secure an invitation for two members of the Asia Area Presidency to visit . . . appropriate officials of the M.P.R.” The possibility of providing BYU scholarships to Mongolians and having senior couples teach in Mongolia was noted, as well as the need for the visit to be coordinated with Tim Stratford at the US Embassy in Beijing.[23]

9 October 1991 . . . Paul Hyer had a cordial telephone conversation with Mongolian Embassy First Secretary Sandag in which he noted the intent of Hyer and [Sechin] Jagchid to visit the embassy to discuss obtaining an invitation for our representatives to visit [Mongolia]. Sandag noted that a new Ambassador, L. Dawagiv, had arrived to replace Ambassador Nyamdoo. . . .

25 October 1991—Professors Hyer and Jagchid had a cordial meeting with Ambassador Dawagiv at the Mongolian Embassy. Also present was a Mr. Orgil a foreign service officer who the ambassador designated would be the person to correlate with us on any matters regarding the letters of recommendation, visas, etc. . . .

6 December 1991—Because of the delay in obtaining invitations for Church representatives to visit Mongolia, Paul Hyer sent a letter to former Ambassador G. Nyamdoo addressed to him in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs [in Ulaanbaatar]. . . and a request [for] Nyamdoo[’s] assistance in expediting the process of obtaining an invitation.[24]

In February 1992 a letter of invitation arrived from the Mongolian Embassy. However, the invitation was for “representatives of Brigham Young University” to visit Mongolia, rather than “representatives of the Church.” The Asia Area Presidency sent a fax message to Hyer explaining that this would not work and added, “It is important that we enter the country properly and not under some guise that may compromise our efforts later.” Between February and March 1992, Hyer wrote and spoke by telephone with Mr. Orgil at the Mongolian Embassy to resolve this matter:[25]

14 March 1992—Mr. Orgil of the Embassy of Mongolia faxed to Paul Hyer a copy of the revised letter inviting “representatives of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints [to visit Mongolia] to discuss issues related to registration in Mongolia for humanitarian service by your organization including such activities as educational assistance, scholarships at your university in America, consulting in business or law and the like.” . . . The letter instructed that Mr. Orgil should be contacted regarding visas or related matters, etc.[26]

On 18 March 1992, R. Lanier Britsch, then director of BYU’s Kennedy Center for International Studies, sent a letter to Elder Neal A. Maxwell of the Quorum of the Twelve to report the “breakthrough on the Mongolia initiative,” stating that, following several months of focused efforts, “the Mongolian Ministry of External Affairs had sent an invitation signed by their ambassador for Church representatives to visit Mongolia.”[27] Meanwhile, Malan Jackson, then director of the Center for International Studies at Utah Valley State College, had also met with Mongolia’s ambassador to the US, Gendengiin Nyamdoo, during his visit to Utah in 1991. The ambassador asked Jackson to “please help us educate our young people.” While in Mongolia in 1993, Jackson visited with the ambassador again and arranged for the first group of six Mongolian students to study at Utah Valley State College, including Bolormaa, the ambassador’s daughter.[28]

Exploratory Visits to Mongolia

In 1992 Elders Merlin R. Lybbert and Monte J. Brough, respectively President and First Counselor in the Asia Area Presidency, made the first of multiple visits to Mongolia to explore the possibility of providing humanitarian aid and other assistance there.[29] Brough recalled,

In May 1992, under the direction of the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve, Elder Merlin Lybbert [and I] . . . traveled to Mongolia. We had made the arrangements through the Mongolian ambassador to the United States, who by this time was in Washington and represented the establishment of diplomatic relationships with the United States. He had visited both Utah and BYU and had a friendly attitude toward the Church. . . .

We had a few of our people—including some of our Public Affairs people in Washington—establish the contact. The ambassador was familiar with the Church, but not in any depth at all. . . . We had to find visas through other resources. But at least he made the arrangement for our first trip to have somebody interpret for us.[30]

Ger District in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, spring 1994. Courtesy of Brett Hansen.

According to Elder Brough, they traveled to Beijing and obtained the necessary visas. After a minor delay, they were able to get on one of the only two flights that week from Beijing to Mongolia. Elder Brough explained that during that era, flying “Mongolian Air [was] a real act of faith and you [had] to have courage just to get on the airplane.” He added, “Those planes were just loaded with stuff and every seat was full of excess luggage and other things” because there was a tremendous shortage of goods and supplies when the Soviets left. Despite the overloaded flight, they arrived in Mongolia safely and met with local government officials.[31] Brough reported,

We [Elders Brough and Lybbert] were met at the airport by a man by the name of Nayanjin. Nayanjin was a middle level government official. He had been educated in Moscow, Russia. . . . He spoke wonderful English and there was very little English spoken in Mongolia then. . . .

Again, how do you open up a country? In the main, we had been assigned by the First Presidency and the Twelve to go there to see if we could open up the country. There are no handbooks. There is no pattern, so we didn’t really know what to do. But we believe there was a lot of inspiration in what happened. With Nayanjin as our interpreter, we ended up meeting with university heads, rectors of different universities and colleges in Mongolia, with government agencies, with other kinds of enterprise, to investigate the opportunity for us to do something in a humanitarian way. Our feeling was that if we could do something on a humanitarian basis, we could gain access to the country. We found enormous receptivity to that. Their higher education system had collapsed because of the removal of the Communist model. They now wanted to move to a Western market-based education system. They didn’t know how to do that. And they were hungry for the kinds of things we felt we could provide.[32]

Following their exploratory visit to Mongolia, Elders Lybbert and Brough felt that they could find five or six couples to send to Mongolia to help with their higher education system, which “would be a great benefit to the Mongolian people” while also “opening the doors” for missionary work in the country. They were able to “negotiate the idea that the couples could proselyte, that they could teach the gospel, and actually had in [the] agreement . . . that if a Mongolian wanted to, they could join our Church.”[33] Brough explained,

The Mongolians did not hesitate with that kind of aid. There was a lot of discussion on that. But they agreed to all that because of what we were offering. The offering was so attractive to them they were not concerned about the fact that a few Mongolians might decide to become Mormons. That was the basis. We were in there. . . .

With the assistance from others, such as our missionary couples, I created the document. . . . The man who signed it was Enkhtuvshin, who was a Deputy Minister of Education. . . . He’s probably one of the most capable Mongolians I’ve known. He had a Ph.D. from somewhere in Europe, and [he] was very well educated. He did not speak English but he spoke French and we were able, through Nayanjin, to speak to him a lot. He signed the other side of the agreement.

The agreement allowed for proselyting. That was understood from the beginning. I think that was a blessing in Mongolia, an achievement we did not have in other countries in Asia.[34]

Elder Brough explained that due to a series of experiences with other countries like Sri Lanka, Pakistan, and India and because of the tremendous restrictions and substantial time and energy spent with these governments to obtain visas for missionaries, the Asia Area Presidency had “decided that with Mongolia, we would go in right or not at all.” He said, “It was prayerful, and, I hope, appropriate in our attitude that if we could not get into Mongolia properly, we wouldn’t go in at all.” He concluded, “As I look back on the situation now, we probably could have required more of our hosts in many of those [other] countries if we had gone in with the tremendous resource[s] we [had used] in Mongolia.”[35]

Following their initial trip, Elders Lybbert and Brough immediately put together a proposal to the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in May 1992. This proposal was to identify five or six couples with educational expertise and send them to assist the Mongolian education system and to facilitate the Church’s proselytizing in Mongolia. They sent it to Elder Neal A. Maxwell, their first contact in the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, who felt good about the proposal and took it into the Twelve and then to the First Presidency for approval.[36]

Status of the Proposal

Once the proposal was approved by Church leaders in Salt Lake City in late June 1992, the Asia Area Presidency sent letters to their contacts in Mongolia to notify them of the Church’s commitment to provide the couples who had the necessary educational experience and expertise and who would pay their own expenses and serve at no cost to the Mongolian government. However, there were no responses back from the Mongolian government. During this time, another election had taken place in Mongolia, and the previous communist leaders were voted back into power. There were concerns that the new Mongolian government may have rejected the Church’s proposal.[37]

Around this same time, Elder Lybbert had returned to the United States, and Elder Brough became the new Asia Area President, with Elders John K. Carmack and Kwok Yuen Tai as First and Second Counselors. The new Area Presidency met to discuss this matter and decided that Elder Brough should return to Mongolia to determine the status of the proposal sent to the Mongolian government. Elder Brough flew to Beijing, got his visa, and flew to Mongolia without knowing what to expect.[38] He recalled,

When I got off the plane at the airport, desperately hoping that somebody would be there to meet me, there was no one. I’d been there about thirty minutes when a young woman came up to me and said, “Mr. Brogha? Mr. Brogha?” I have heard my name pronounced a lot of ways and recognized that as the Mongolia pronunciation. “I’m Mr. Brough,” I said. She then said . . . [in] very broken . . . English, that she had been sent to pick me up and take me to the hotel. . . . I was not really able to communicate with her. . . .

We got to the very hotel that my sons and I had stayed [at] in 1984. In fact, I think maybe the same room. I asked her, “Who sent you?” She didn’t know, and I couldn’t communicate well enough to find out anyway. But I finally was able to communicate to her to go back to tell the person who had sent her that I was there.[39]

Children outside ger in Mongolia, circa 1993. Courtesy of Brett Hansen.

Elder Brough waited all afternoon and all evening, but nobody came or called him at the hotel. He went to bed but did not sleep well that night. The next morning, he remained at the hotel, but no one called. He recounted, “There I was stuck in Mongolia. I didn’t speak Mongolian and there’s very little English spoken in Mongolia.” He went to the lobby downstairs and tried to speak with someone who spoke a little English, but still he was at a loss on what to do next.[40] He recorded the following:

There was a moment in that hotel room in Ulaanbaatar when I felt, beyond anything that I knew and understood, that I had a situation that was totally beyond my capacity, understanding, and knowledge to solve. Yet I deeply felt that Heavenly Father wanted us to be there, and [1] recounted the feelings I’d had in 1984 and the years before when I traveled there with my sons. So in a great moment, a wonderful moment, one we all should have when we’re beyond anything we know, I got on my knees and asked [for] God’s help. In a wonderful prayer I pled with Him for help and guidance.

I got up from that prayer with the name of Nayanjin on my mind. . . . So with a little bit of help from the front desk I was able to locate his name in the directory and get a phone number. I dialed that number. He answered the phone in the Mongolian language, of course. I said, “Mr. Nayanjin?” He said, “Mr. Brough, you in Mongolia? We think you never come.”[41]

Elder Brough learned that the letters they had sent to the government never arrived. Nayanjin got the address to the hotel and said, “I be right over.” He arrived at the hotel ten minutes later and learned that Elder Brough was authorized to commit resources to assist the Mongolian government. According to Elder Brough, “Within an hour or two [Nayanjin] had appointments for me with the rector of the University of Mongolia, with the Economic College, with the College of Medicine, and with government officials.” He further added, “Within a couple of days we had agreements with all those people—including Enkhtuvshin, who was the Minister of Education—that these missionary couples would come. . . . All of it fell into place because of Nayanjin.”[42]

During a visit to one of the rectors of the university, Elder Brough was asked through Nayanjin, “Okay, I understand now. You are going to send these couples and they will teach us English. They will teach us business. They will teach us medicine. They will teach us education. They come at their own expense. My question is, why do they do that?” In response, Elder Brough was able to share the gospel and explain that we were all children of our Heavenly Father, and therefore “we are brothers and sisters,” which is the reason the Church and these couple missionaries were so willing to come to Mongolia and serve at their own expense.[43] Within a few days, agreements were put in place and apartment housing was identified for the incoming missionary couples.[44]

Summary

An early experience of Elder Monte J. Brough led to his role in the first contact between the Church and government officials in Mongolia. Following the visit with government officials in Mongolia to evaluate needs and offer Church assistance, doors were opened that would bless the Mongolian educational system as well as the Church’s missionary efforts in Mongolia. Following months of negotiation, the government gave permission for the Church to send missionaries to help with Mongolia’s higher education system and engage in proselytizing activities.[45]

Elder Brough, Paul Hyer, and others were humble instruments in the Lord’s hands who helped to pave the way for the restored gospel to be introduced in Mongolia. In a 30 July 2007 letter to Elder and Sister Brough, Elder Russell M. Nelson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles expressed appreciation for their service in Asia and other parts of the world.[46] Their efforts were the prelude to the history of the Church in Mongolia and were the beginning of “the Mongolian miracle.”

Notes

[1] “Mongolia,” Wikipedia.

[2] Odgerel Ochirjav, interview by Po Nien (Felipe) Chou, March 2017.

[3] Cook, “Mighty Change in Mongolia,” 75–76.

[4] Britsch, From the East, 306–8.

[5] Harper, “‘Nothing Less Than Miraculous,’” 19–49.

[6] Britsch, From the East, 306–8.

[7] Britsch, From the East, 307–8.

[8] Odgerel Ochirjav, email message to Po Nien (Felipe) Chou, 8 March 2017.

[9] Britsch, From the East, 307–8.

[10] Brough, Life Is a Collection of Stories, 99–100.

[11] Brough, Life Is a Collection of Stories, 151–53.

[12] Brough, Life Is a Collection of Stories, 151–53.

[13] Brough, Life Is a Collection of Stories, 151–53.

[14] Brough, Life Is a Collection of Stories, 151–53.

[15] Brough, Life Is a Collection of Stories, 99–100.

[16] Brough, Life Is a Collection of Stories, 99–100.

[17] Britsch, From the East, 308–11; “Mongolia,” Church Almanac: 2013, 525–26.

[18] Hyer, “Mongolia Reminiscence”; Hyer, “Mongolia File.”

[19] Hyer, “Mongolia File.”

[20] Hyer, “Mongolia File.”

[21] Hyer, “Mongolia File.”

[22] Hyer, “Mongolia File”; Paul Hyer to Neal A. Maxwell regarding “A Mongolia initiative for the Church & BYU,” 20 August 1991.

[23] Hyer, “Mongolia File”; Merlin R. Lybbert to Paul Hyer and Sechin Jagchid, 4 October 1991.

[24] Hyer, “Mongolia File.”

[25] Hyer, “Mongolia File.”

[26] Hyer, “Mongolia File”; Ambassador L. Dawagiv to Merlin R. Lybbert, 14 March 1992.

[27] Hyer, “Mongolia File.”

[28] Harper, “‘Nothing Less Than Miraculous,’” 19–49.

[29] Britsch, From the East, 308–11; “Mongolia,” Church Almanac: 2013, 525–26.

[30] Brough, Life Is a Collection of Stories, 99–100.

[31] Brough, Life Is a Collection of Stories, 101–2.

[32] Brough, Life Is a Collection of Stories, 101–2.

[33] Brough, Life Is a Collection of Stories, 101–2.

[34] Brough, Life Is a Collection of Stories, 101–2.

[35] Brough, Life Is a Collection of Stories, 107–8.

[36] Brough, Life Is a Collection of Stories, 103–6.

[37] Brough, Life Is a Collection of Stories, 103–6.

[38] Brough, Life Is a Collection of Stories, 103–6.

[39] Brough, Life Is a Collection of Stories, 103–6.

[40] Brough, Life Is a Collection of Stories, 103–6.

[41] Brough, Life Is a Collection of Stories, 103–6.

[42] Brough, Life Is a Collection of Stories, 103–6.

[43] Brough, Life Is a Collection of Stories, 103–6.

[44] Harper, “‘Nothing Less Than Miraculous,’” 19–49.

[45] Britsch, From the East, 308–11; “Mongolia,” Church Almanac: 2013, 525–26.

[46] Russell M. Nelson to Monte J. Brough and Lanette Brough, 30 July 2007, in Brough, Life Is a Collection of Stories, 207.