Receiving care from Children’s Heart Project leads Bat-UIlzii and his family to Christ, the Source of lasting hope.
Bat-Ulzii had lost the will to live. After passing out during a school track and field practice in Mongolia at age 13, he was diagnosed with holes in his heart that would prohibit him from running or even walking without difficulty. He was angry and ashamed about his physical weakness, not having enough energy to function normally like his peers. Some kids bullied him, not understanding why he acted differently.
What added to Bat-Ulzii’s hopelessness was that surgery to repair his heart defect wasn’t available in his country and was cost-prohibitive outside of it. Doctors in Mongolia referred Bat-Ulzii to Samaritan’s Purse to see if he was a candidate for a surgery at a partner hospital at no cost to his family.
For Bat-Ulzii, having surgery through Children’s Heart Project changed the trajectory of his life. He and his mom accepted Christ and over time led family members and friends to Him.
Nearly 20 years after his heart surgery coordinated through our Children’s Heart Project, Bat-Ulzii reflects on how God called him into ministry to give others the hope he found in Christ.
Searching for a Cure
When Bat-Ulzii was diagnosed with a heart defect as a young teen, he thought it was a death sentence. He felt helpless to reverse his family’s agonizing worry, as they spent time and money caring for him amid side effects from injection treatments prescribed by his doctors.
“I have two younger brothers, and they needed school supplies,” Bat-Ulzii recalled. “My parents tried to provide, but the treatments cost money. I thought if I wasn’t there, my family’s life would be better.”
“My heart, my inside, was dying,” he said. “I felt fear, hopelessness, self-pity.”
As a teen, Bat-Ulzii longed to be able to play sports like his peers, but a congenital heart condition made physical activity difficult.
There was hardly a night that Bat-Ulzii didn’t cry himself to sleep, wondering why he was born, why he suffered, and whether there was any purpose to his life. Not thinking he would make it to adulthood, he stopped dreaming about his future.
He often prayed for help and healing in his hometown temple. “There was never an answer,” Bat-Ulzii said. “I thought that God is not real.”
Finding Hope in Christ
Bat-Ulzii’s family was elated but skeptical when they heard that Samaritan’s Purse could arrange for him to have surgery and that it would be at no cost to them. Talking with our Children’s Heart Project staff based in-country helped ease the family’s concerns as did news that one of our project interpreters would accompany Bat-Ulzii and his mother to the U.S. for his surgery when he was 16.
They stayed at the home of a Christian family, part of a host church that cared for the Children’s Heart Project group. Five days after Bat-Ulzii’s surgery, he was well enough to continue his recovery in the host home. He loved that he had the stamina after surgery to swim, something that he didn’t have the ability or opportunity to do before.
Being around believers in Christ had a profound impact on Bat-Ulzii and his mother. They prayed together, read the Bible, and attended church. Bat-Ulzii felt like he was on a steep learning curve because the Bible was new to him and so was its concept of God.
“He sounds like an amazing, wonderful God. I have to find that God.”
“He sounds like an amazing, wonderful God,” Bat-Ulzii recalled. “I have to find that God.”
Through the Christian witness of their hosts and interpreter, Bat-Ulzii and his mom both accepted Christ during their stay and were baptized on Mother’s Day at their host church.
“I encountered the living God and learned that He is in control, powerful, and purposeful in my life,” Bat-Ulzii said.
Helping Others Find Purpose
Upon returning home to Mongolia, Bat-Ulzii and his mother began attending a local church and growing in their faith. Over time, several family members and friends also decided to follow the Lord.
“My whole family’s changed by God because they saw how my life changed,” Bat-Ulzii said. “They knew how powerful my God is.”
Bat-Ulzii thanks God for his family that before heart surgery he didn’t think he’d live long enough to have.
As he shared his testimony of how God had worked in his life physically and spiritually as a teenager, Bat-Ulzii developed a passion for sharing the Gospel with young people. He wants them to realize that they don’t have to wait until they’re older to influence others.
In the years since his surgery, Bat-Ulzii’s had the opportunity to meet with some of the Mongolian children preparing for surgery through Children’s Heart Project and their parents, giving them advice and comfort as they see someone thrive after surgery. He’s also volunteered as a Bible teacher at Heart Camps that churches in Mongolia conduct as a follow-up with those who’ve had surgery through the project.
Bat-Ulzii served as a discipleship pastor of a church in Mongolia’s capital city, Ulaanbaatar, for several years before attending a seminary in the U.S. to further his Christian education.
As a discipleship pastor in Mongolia, Bat-Ulzii encouraged young people to seize opportunities to share their faith.
A married father of three children, Bat-Ulzii is thankful to God for the family that he never thought he’d live to have and looks forward to their next chapter of serving God together.
“I am a fruit of this ministry,” said Bat-Ulzii of Samaritan’s Purse and its Children’s Heart Project. “I really want to share hope. I know how difficult it is to be hopeless. I was hopeless. Now, I’m full of purpose, full of faith in God.”
Pray for Bat-Ulzii and his family as he graduates from seminary and they explore what’s next. Lift up our Children’s Heart Project staff and church partners as they share the eternal hope of Jesus Christ with project patients and their families.
Bat-Ulzii and his family tour Samaritan’s Purse headquarters in Boone, North Carolina, hosted by Cindy Bonsall, director of our Children’s Heart Project.
Children’s Heart Project arranges heart surgeries for children with heart defects from Mongolia, Uganda, and Bolivia, where the surgery isn’t readily available. We provide transportation and lodging in partnership with local host churches in North America, Grand Cayman, South Korea, and Spain, where partner hospitals provide their services at no cost to the families.
