Young Koreans dip their feet in the water of Lake Khovsgol, the largest freshwater lake in Mongolia during their recent trip to the country. (Photo: Catholic Times)
Maria Lee Du-na did not know what to expect when she headed to Mongolia for the first time in late July in a group composed of nine young South Koreans and a teacher.
The 12-day trip to the Central Asian nation became a once-in-a-lifetime experience for the 15-year-old Catholic from Seoul.
“I was able to focus on my inner self by meditating on the original me, who God created in the beginning, in silence,” Lee said, recalling her experience in nature and communities during the July 24–Aug. 4 trip.
Lee said the trip offered “healing” to her after having grown up in a highly competitive society like Korea where almost “each person lives with their own wounds and worries.”
“Wounded people feel God's love for creation in beautiful nature and experience healing of body and mind. Nature has the power of God's love and consolation,” she said.
The visit was part of an exchange program of the International Student Support Group sponsored by the Salesians of Don Bosco congregation.
It came about a month before Pope Francis’ historic trip to Mongolia on Aug. 31–Sept. 4. There are about 1,500 Catholics in the country's estimated population of 3.3 million.
The youth visit also touched upon the pope’s celebrated 2015 environmental encyclical, Laudato Si, which called for concerted global efforts to protect nature, stop pollution and battle climate change.
In Mongolia, the youth group received the company and guidance of Father Simon Lee Ho-yeal, a Korean Salesian missionary serving in the country for more than two decades.
Father Lee is based in Darkhan, the country’s second largest city about 230 kilometers from the national capital, Ulaanbaatar, where he runs a technical training center for youths and a school for poor local children.
Three students from Father Lee’s school have been selected for a children's choir to perform during the papal visit.
The priest took the youth group for a ride to Selenge, about 60 kilometers and a one-hour drive from Darkhan, passing through grassy plains, rapeseed fields, and numerous herds of goats and sheep.
There was no road, almost no human beings except for the visitors, and no sound except the sound of their car. The youth team laughed periodically despite enduring unfamiliar and tiresome shaking of the vehicle on the unpaved road.
As the group reached a mountain site, the priest asked for a stop and requested all to join for “a traditional Mongolian ceremony.”
They climbed up the mountain, just like Mongolians who scale hills on the first day of the Lunar New Year at sunrise to receive blessings from nature.
On the mountain, the Koreans stood in line, turned their arms clockwise and prayed for heavenly blessings. They closed their eyes and remained silent for about a minute,
“It is time to feel the mystery of God’s creation, who created humans and nature in the beginning, the earth, the womb that holds life,” Father Lee told the group.
“I have been doing this in Mongolia for 23 years,” he said with a smile.
The priest said he believes Mongolian tradition is a testament to their reverence for the sacredness of nature.
As the visitors looked across the grassy plateau, they found cliff after cliff, untied livestock, puddles, streams, canals, and wheat fields.The group traveled about 700 kilometers by bus to visit Lake Khovsgol, the largest freshwater lake in Mongolia, which is locally known as “Mother Sea” for its pure water.
The lake is in the northern region bordered by Siberia, Russia, and about 200 kilometers from Lake Baikal, the world’s largest freshwater lake.
The visitors fell asleep due to the long journey. When they awoke, they forgot about their travels and rushed to look at the transparent water of the lake. They watched countless daisies blooming on the bank, and herds of cows coming to drink water in groups.
Some of them rushed to dip their hands and legs in the water.
One group member said he thought Mongolia was a rural, barren land but was amazed to find another beautiful creation of God.
“It seems God sent us to Mongolia to really feel how beautiful it is. I feel like God loves me so much,” he said.
The group spent the night at the lakeside. The next morning, they recited the Rosary while walking in a nearby forest.
Maria Choi Ji-won, 20, from Seoul, said if one can feel the love of God, all earthy demands turn useless.
"God, unlike the world, does not ask for anything more," Choi said. “Many things that society demands, such as a job and economic independence, come as a burden. I am delighted with God's love for me."
Father Lee celebrated an open-air Mass in Jianghai, on the western shore of the lake.
He prayed for all people to be healed from various forms of wounds.
“We are wounded beings. We are hurt by society, culture, and the family members we live with. I hope that you who have been hurt by the reality of putting human education ahead of nature will be healed through this Mass,” the priest said during his homily.
Raphael Noh Dong-wook, 17, who studies in the Philippines, said the visit helped him to recover from various exhausting aspects of life.
“I was physically and mentally exhausted from living in a dormitory with restrictions.” I was depressed and lethargic from a chronic sense of disconnection,” he said.
“I liked the horses grazing leisurely in the lake marsh, I laughed a lot at the freedom God gave me back through nature,” he added.
Father Lee also pointed to the Trans-Siberian rail network that passes through Mongolia's northernmost Selenge province. The train connects Asia with Europe through Russia.
“A lot of people from Russia and Europe come and go to Mongolia by various means of transportation through this street corner. Because it is a landlocked country, it connects to Europe just by crossing Russia,” he explained.
The group also visited a Salesian-run youth center and a school in Darkhan where they socialized with local youths and children.
Viviana Kim Jeong-in, 28, a teacher at Gyeonggi Changjo High School in Anseong City in South Korea, noted she has made many such trips like the one in Mongolia.
“I have been to many countries including Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Malaysia and Mongolia. I have visited Nepal 21 times,” the Catholic Peace Broadcasting Corporation reported Kim as saying.
She said she finds beauty and God’s love in nature and voluntary work for marginalized communities.
In Nepal, she has visited people including children and had lunch with them in slums.
“If we really love God, we must express our love and solidarity for people who are in pain and should not remain silent when they face injustice,” she said.
This report is brought to you in collaboration with the Catholic Times of Korea.
