In a small institute classroom in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, Odgerel Ochirjav stands before a group of young Latter-day Saints, teaching from the scriptures with deep conviction.
From a Marxist to Mongolia’s first stake president, Odgerel’s story is one marked by resistance, reason and ultimately a whole lot of faith, reported the Church’s Mongolia Newsroom.
A mother’s example
Born in Soviet-era Leningrad (the city’s name since returned to Saint Petersburg, Russia) and educated in that country as a forestry scientist, Odgerel returned to Mongolia with a strong identity as a communist.
“While seeking and learning spiritual truth was prohibited, seeking secular knowledge and education was the key in a communist society to prove that mankind doesn’t need God to be successful,” he said, adding: “Whenever I came across religious content, I was always expected to perceive it negatively.”
But when the Soviet communist government collapsed across the former Soviet Union in the early 1990s, Mongolia began to open to new ideas — including faith.
Odgerel’s mother, Oyun Altangerel, played an important role in Mongolia’s transition to democracy. At age 42, while working at a state library, she organized a council and hunger strike that demanded for freedom of belief, speech and political choice.
Speaking about her, President Dallin H. Oaks, first counselor in the First Presidency explained that “Eventually the government accepted the demands, and in the adoption of a democratic constitution two years later, Mongolia took a major step toward a free society.”
Odgerel said that from there, “the Church began renting out the library to hold a small sacrament meeting on Sundays. My mother joined the Church as one of the first members and invited me to learn about the gospel of Jesus Christ.”
Baptized in 1994, she hoped to share her newfound joy with her son. She invited him to attend church.
“I was tired, hungover,” Odgerel recalled, laughing, “I told her, ‘Mom, you have other family. Bring one of the others next time. I’m a communist.’”
Yet, he reluctantly attended, sparking a journey that would change his life.
Debating the elders and a crying translator
After attending English classes taught by senior missionaries, Odgerel began meeting with full-time missionaries — Elder Bradley Pierson and Elder Jason Hall.
With a philosopher’s skepticism and a scientist’s need for evidence, he was determined to question it all. “I challenged everything — Adam and Eve, evolution, ancient artifacts. I pushed them hard,” he said.
Serving as translator was the country’s first Young Women president, Soyolmaa Urtnasan, who a few months later would be called as one of the country’s first missionaries.
The discussions became so intense that Urtnasan once burst into tears. That’s when President Odgerel said jokingly, “Okay, I’ll get baptized.”
Those lessons eventually turned into real conversion, and he was baptized on April 8, 1995.
Finding faith through reason
Rather than abandoning his scientific background, he integrated it into his faith. Discussions with Church leaders, such as President Gary E. Cox — who was a humanitarian missionary from 1994 to 1995 and Mongolia Ulaanbaatar Mission president from 1996 to 1999 — helped him reconcile questions about genetics and early human history.
“I realized faith isn’t the opposite of reason,” he said. “It’s another way of understanding truth.”
For the next decade, Odgerel continued his academic pursuits, researching reforestation and working with universities throughout Russia. “If I had stayed, I probably would have become a big name,” he reflected. “But that’s not the life the Lord wanted for me.”
A call to teach
In September 2006, after repeated invitations, Odgerel accepted a call to direct the Church’s Seminaries and Institutes of Religion program in Mongolia. “I said, ‘I’m a maximalist. If I do it, I’ll do it full time.’ I didn’t know that statement would change everything.”
The early years were daunting. “I wanted to run back to the forest,” he joked.
A teacher, a leader, a legacy
Now in his 19th year in Seminaries and Institutes, Odgerel is a beloved and respected figure across the Church in Mongolia. He has mentored thousands of youth and young adults, helping them deepen their faith and strengthen their gospel understanding.
“Just like trees take time to grow,” he said, “so does faith. The Lord let me grow deep roots first — through science, struggle and service. Now, I try to help others grow strong in Him.”
In 2009, while serving as president of the Ulaanbaatar Mongolia East District, President Odgerel received a phone call from then-mission President D. Allen Andersen.
President Andersen asked, “President Odgerel, do you think it’s the time to establish the first stake in Mongolia?”
President Odgerel had never even heard of a stake.
Shortly thereafter, Elder Donald L. Hallstrom, General Authority Seventy, visited Mongolia to organize the first stake, the Ulaanbaatar Mongolia West Stake, and call President Odgerel as its president on June 7, 2009.
Speaking on that historic occasion, President 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.”
And blessings have come as the country has received countless hours of humanitarian service and donations from the Church. Two Latter-day Saints — Elder Richard E. Cook, the first mission president in Mongolia, and Tuvshinjargal Gombo, public affairs director for the Church in Mongolia, have even received one of the country’s highest honors, the presidential Polar Star Medal.
Today, Mongolia has nearly 13,000 members, two stakes, one district, one mission, one temple announced and 24 congregations. Odgerel recently served as first counselor in the Mongolia Ulaanbaatar Mission and was released July 1.
Speaking about Mongolian Saints, Bishop W. Christopher Waddell, first counselor in the Presiding Bishopric, has said, “They are faithful and committed, with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints being the largest Christian denomination in the country.”
16 years ago, as a new stake president, President Odgerel shared his hopes for Mongolia.
“In these Latter-days, God has given us a promise to create Zion. In order to build Zion, we need to have stakes,” he said. “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.”
The Church reported that, speaking of the Saints in Mongolia in 2011, then-Elder Jeffrey R. Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles said, “It’s a pretty dramatic story, one of the most unique [in the Church] in recent decades.”
