Short biography of Ganpurev

Ganpurev was born in 1972 as the eighth of eleven children. His father was a herder in central Mongolia in the Ovorkhangai province. The thirteen of them lived in a one room ger. In the spring the thirteen family members would share their ger with the newborn lambs that were struggling.

His primary and secondary education was at a boarding school in the provincial capital many miles from his family’s home. Once he was so homesick that he walked all the way home, only to have his father immediately take him back to school.

Later, he studied carpentry and other skills at a vocational school in Zhavkhan province. About this time, the socialistic policies of the Communist system were replaced when the government began to pursue free-market policies. Ganpurev had skills but no job. For a while he lived with relatives in Darkhan. His oldest brother was there serving in the Mongolian army. While he was there he met Ulzee who later became his wife. They moved back to Ovorkhangai to and established their family there. Their two children were born there - Bilgoon in 1996 and Nyamkaa in 2000. Ganpurev became a herder like his father.

As their son neared the age of six, Ganpurev and Ulzee began to wonder about his education. Because they did not want to send him away to a boarding school as Ganpurev had done, they moved back to Darkhan to live. It was 2002, and jobs were very difficult to find in Darkhan. They survived doing odd jobs.

A year later Ulzee found work in Ulan Bator. Ulzee’s cousin was our Mongolian language tutor, and she introduced us to Ulzee. I asked Ulzee to introduce me to her husband. At that time, he was working a construction job some distance away. It was several weeks later when I finally had an opportunity to meet him. Several months later Ganpurev made a profession of faith in Christ.

It has been exciting for me to watch him grow in faith and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. He is eager to learn all he can from his Bible and to apply the principles to his life. Because of the economic situation in Mongolia, Ganpurev has had difficulty finding a good job. He is always working but sometimes does not receive much money for his labor. Please pray that he would continue to grow in his faith. Ganpurev is constantly sharing his faith with others. Pray that the seed he plants will bear fruit.