She Fought for Religious Freedom Before Becoming a Latter-day Saint

She went on a hunger strike for religious freedom before she ever became a Mormon. In 1990, Mongolia was emerging from decades of communist rule. Popular demonstrations had forced the communist government to resign. But even as the country began moving toward democracy, freedoms many people take for granted, including freedom of speech, press, and religion, were still not fully protected.

And one woman decided to do something about it. Her name was O Yun Antangadel. She was 42 years old, married, and worked as a department head in Mongolia's state library. Despite pressure from government officials, Olun organized a council of 12 state employees who began openly calling for basic freedoms. They wanted the right to worship, the right to believe, and the right to express themselves.

But Oun and others involved were fired from their government jobs. So O Yun did something drastic. She began a hunger strike inside the state library. Within just three hours, 20 other people, mostly women, joined her. For 5 days, they refused to eat and people noticed. Their protest became part of a growing national movement demanding freedom. Eventually, the government accepted the demands, and two years later, Mongolia adopted a democratic constitution that helped establish greater protections for those freedoms.

But here's where O Yun's story takes an incredible turn. Less than two years after her hunger strike, the first Latter-day Saint missionaries arrived in Mongolia. And where did they begin holding meetings? Inside the state library, the very place where Oun had risked so much fighting for religious freedom. She began learning about this new Christian faith. And in 1993, Oun exercised the very freedom she had fought to protect.

She was baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Two years later, her 22-year-old son, Oddgeller, was baptized, too. And years later, when the church organized its first stake in Mongolia, the man called a stake president was Oddgarel, O Yun's son. I love the perspective this story gives us. O Yun wasn't fighting for religious freedom because she knew which religion she would eventually choose.

She was fighting for the right of every person to choose for themselves. And because people like her were willing to sacrifice for that freedom, years later, she was free to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ and decide for herself whether she believed it. Jesus Christ never forced people to follow him. But an invitation only means something when we are free to choose. And Oun's story reminds me that the freedom to worship Christ, to follow him, or even to choose differently is a gift worth protecting.