Lakgva grew up in post-Communist Mongolia, a place of desperate poverty and spiritual malaise. A once-proud nomadic people were coping with the collapse of a rigid state system and a flood of western ideas. 

Personally, Lakgva's family was devastated, with his university trained parents no longer able to find work. At 12 he was sent out to earn a living and came to view life through bitter eyes.

When his mother began going to church, Lakgva perceived it as a further reason to be ashamed in a life pock-marked with constant embarrassment. However, he had little idea how profound her quiet faith would become in one of the hardest ministry places on earth, and particularly in his own life.