On December 2, 2017, twenty-five out of thirty-tree churches in the Mongolia Mission (MM) participated in the first Golden Bell Quiz Bowl, which was hosted by the MM Stewardship Department. A total of 101 members gathered together at the Ulaanbaatar (UB) Central Church for the event. The questions were taken from the book, 101 Questions and Answers about Tithes and Offerings, written by Elder Kwon JohngHaeng, stewardship director of the Northern Asia-Pacific Division (NSD).
At the beginning of the week there were only 40 young people who had registered to participate, but by Friday afternoon 89 were listed, and before the program, which began at 3:00 p.m. on Saturday, a total of 101 had registered for the Bowl.
The program started with opening prayer by Pastor Nyansurem from the UB Central Church. The objectives of the program and the contest rules and regulations were shared by the MM stewardship director Angelina Pagarigan, who acted as the facilitator of the program. Church members were encouraged to promote faithful tithe returning and generous giving in their churches after diligently reading and studying the book. MM president Kim YoHan gave his opening remarks followed by a recorded message by Elder Kwon.
All questions were read twice, and the participants were given 20 seconds to answer each question. On the first few questions, the majority answered correctly, but after two hours there were eight contestants that remained who were getting all the answers correct at the same time.
The judges, who were composed of Elder Kim YoHan, MM executive secretary Pastor Bold Batsukh, and MM chief accountant Enkhmaa Arvimed, agreed to give a break to the first eight finalists, and give all who had been eliminated a second chance to join the second level questions. The four finalists were allowed to compete with the first eight finalists. The twelve of them were close in competition until only six participants remained at the final level.
For more than five questions, the six finalists got all the answers correct, which forced Elder Kim to make a decision and announce that aside from the first three grand winners he would give three consolation prizes to the 4th, 5th and 6th place amounting to 210 USD, 125 USD, and 83 USD, respectively. The church members applauded in appreciation which made the participants more eager to compete.
The competition lasted for almost another two hours until there were four competitors left who were vying for the three major prizes, one gentleman competing with three ladies. Third place was won by Dash from Uvurkhangai Church. Two female finalists had a very close call for the grand prize until the last question was quickly answered, and the Golden Bell was rung. Bachimeg, who is a member of Darkhan Church and is on her way to give birth to twins, won the grand prize worth 2,000,000 MNT (830 USD) and the runner-up, Nandin Erdene from UB Central Church, was awarded 1,500,000 MNT.
All church members and church pastors stayed to witness the talents of the young people from the different churches all around Mongolia. It was so inspiring to witness how these young people had studied the contents of the book and were able to answer most of the questions from the book word for word.
Attendees also had a chance to listen to a testimony by Jagana, who had translated the book. She admitted that she had been hesitant at the beginning to translate the book because she knew she had not been so faithful in returning her tithes but gladly accepted after careful thought. She confessed that she was so blessed through the experience of translating the book that she is now back to faithfully returning her tithes. Each time she returned her tithe, she received more blessings which convinced her more and more to be very consistent and honest in returning tithe to the Lord.
The highlight of the quiz bowl was the baptism of two young people who were among the participants in the Golden Bell competition. They accepted Jesus as their personal Savior. Pastor Darkanbaatar, MM assistant ministerial secretary, had the privilege of baptizing them after the awards ceremony.
We give all praises to the Lord for the first successful and fruitful Golden Bell Stewardship Quiz Bowl. MM church members look forward to the 2018 Stewardship Quiz Bowl, in which the questions will be based on the book Counsels on Stewardship. We are glad to see how this program will continue to improve the church reports on returning tithes and generous giving in the years ahead, tasting to see how the Lord is good! AMEN!