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Boys and girls who received life-saving cardiac care from Samaritan’s Purse enjoyed a special gathering and later received Operation Christmas Child shoebox gifts.

Franklin Graham spent a whirlwind weekend in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, as he met with children and families who have benefited from Samaritan’s Purse Children’s Heart Project and later gave out Operation Christmas Child shoebox gifts.

Franklin Graham is all smiles with children who received cardiac surgery through Children’s Heart Project.

On Friday, he enjoyed song and dance performances by Mongolian girls and boys who have received critically needed cardiac surgery through Children’s Heart Project. Samaritan’s Purse provides transportation for the child and a parent or guardian and arranges for an interpreter to accompany them. Surgeries are made possible by partnerships with hospitals and medical personnel in North America and Grand Cayman who volunteer their services.

Franklin told the children and their families about how the project began by helping a child in war-torn Bosnia 25 years ago. Since then, we’ve assisted more than 1,400 children, with over 400 of those being from Mongolia.

Children’s Heart Project beneficiaries entertained with musical performances.

“I believe life is precious,” he said. “We only have one life to live. God has saved your life. You had a hole in your heart. You might not have lived, but we give God the glory and we thank Him.”

He then surprised the audience by showing him the scar he received from his own heart surgery last November. He encouraged the children to thank God every time they see their scar in the mirror. “Say, ‘Thank you God. Thank you for saving my life.’”

Franklin then called 7-year-old Munkh-Ulzii to the front of the room and told how four years ago, he took an hour-long helicopter ride west of Ulaanbaatar to visit her family and see how they were doing after her heart surgery.

Munkh-Ulzii’s mother shows a photo of Franklin’s horse.

“The child’s family gave me something,” Franklin said. “They gave me a horse. I was scared to ride it!”

Her mother, Serjmyadag, held up her phone to show the crowd a picture of Franklin’s horse.

Amarzaya, a 2018 surgery recipient, also shared about how God had used the experience to lead her to pursue a medical degree to help other children like her. In addition, a father named Belguun said through tears, “Thank you Samaritan’s Purse and Children’s Heart Project for giving us this opportunity for our boy and to give us a full night of sleep.”

On Saturday morning, 20 of the Children’s Heart Project participants gathered with 50 other children for an Operation Christmas Child outreach event. Local church leaders presented the Gospel in Mongolian.

Franklin Graham leads the countdown before shoebox gifts are opened.

Franklin Graham did the 1-2-3 countdown before the children opened their gift boxes. He told the boys and girls: “Do you know God loves you? And you’re very special to Him. So we’re giving you a gift in God’s Name. So this comes from Him.”

As the children sat in attention listening to the Gospel presentation, you wouldn’t know by looking at them that for almost a third of them, their lives hung in the balance not long before. Faces that had once been blue with lack of oxygen now lit up with ruddy joy when they opened their shoebox gift full of toys, school supplies, and personal care items.

Franklin Graham shows Erdembayar how to play a harmonica, one of the gifts he received in his shoebox.

For 12-year-old Erdembayar, who received heart surgery in South Carolina in 2019, the shoebox gift reminded him of God’s great care for him. He had accepted Jesus as his Savior and Lord after studying The Greatest Journey discipleship workbook during his recovery in the States. Now back in Mongolia, he and his mother attend church faithfully. They had traveled 12 hours from their home in Dornod province to be at the events with Franklin Graham.

Erdembayar said of his shoebox, “This is a gift from God. It’s a way of God saying He loves me.”

Since 1993, we have given more than 198 million Operation Christmas Child shoebox gifts to children as a tangible expression of God’s love. Nearly 900,000 of these gifts have been distributed in Mongolia. National Collection Week 2022 is coming: Nov. 14-21. You can pack a shoebox!

Franklin Graham also led an evangelistic festival in Mongolia’s capital this weekend through the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association.

Operation Christmas Child, a project of Samaritan’s Purse, has brought good news and great joy to hundreds of thousands of children in Mongolia.

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It only costs $6 to provide lesson books and a Bible for a boy or girl participating in this discipleship program by Samaritan’s Purse.

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