When God Guided the Camels

God often cares for His people in unexpected ways. Sometimes His help comes through situations that feel confusing or even frustrating at the time, but those very trials can become opportunities to show others who God really is.

Pastor T. T. Babienco, director of the Sungari-Mongolian Mission at the time this story occurred, experienced God’s care firsthand while traveling across the plains of Mongolia with three other missionaries. Pastor Babienco and the other missionaries’ goal was to visit nomadic herdsmen, telling them about Jesus and His soon return. These Mongolian people were Buddhists, highly superstitious, and depended on their priests to guide their daily decisions.

One afternoon the missionaries arrived at a large camp of Mongolian herders situated beside a stream. Since the cattle had grazed the valley bare, the missionaries took their camels to nearby hills to feed. The area was known to be dangerous—full of wolves and bandits—so they took turns watching the camels in three-hour shifts while the others slept.

Late in the night a loud cry from a wild bird startled the camels. Frightened, the animals broke free and disappeared into the darkness. Their padded feet made no sound, and it was too dark to track them. The missionaries decided to wait until morning to begin searching.

At daybreak the four men went in different directions to look for the camels, but they couldn’t find a single clue. So they hired two local Mongolian men with horses to help. The agreement was that if they found and returned the camels, they would be paid $14—a good sum at the time.

Pastor Babienco was convinced the camels had headed northwest toward Hailar, about 280 miles away. He also knew that camels liked to roll in alkali dust, and there was a field full of it about 30 miles in that direction. He told the Mongolian riders to go there quickly.

But the Mongolian men first visited their lama priest for instructions. The priest used his divining cards and announced that the camels were in the southeast, the opposite direction from where Pastor Babienco believed they were. Because the priest’s advice came from “their god,” the men refused to go northwest.

Still confident in what God had impressed on Pastor Babienco, two of the missionaries decided to search on foot in the northwest direction, even though it was late afternoon and they were heading into an area known for wolves and bandits. The Mongolians laughed at them. Two men walking to chase swift camels in the wrong direction, at night, across dangerous plains? It seemed ridiculous.

The missionaries walked until about 11 p.m., then laid down to rest, taking turns watching for danger. They couldn’t build a fire to scare off wolves because they didn’t want to be spotted by bandits. Although wolves came near, they weren’t attacked.

Early the next morning before the sun had fully risen, the missionary on watch saw something moving in the valley. As the light grew he realized it might be camels. He woke his companion. They quickly packed up and hurried toward the animals.

The camels had been trained to come when called. The missionaries shouted the familiar call—and the camels responded! They came over and knelt down, ready to be loaded. Soon the two men were riding the camels—about as comfortably as one can ride a camel—back toward camp.

By 11 a.m., they were back.

Everyone was astonished—Pastor Babienco, the other missionaries, the Mongolian herders, and especially the priest. The missionaries told the people, “You see? Your god was wrong. He sent you in the wrong direction. But we serve the true and living God. We prayed, and He guided us.”

In that moment the Mongolians saw the power of a God who listens and leads. Through what seemed like a trial—losing the camels—God revealed Himself to people who had never known Him.

This story by Frederick Griggs originally appeared in The Youth’s Instructor, August 16, 1927. It has been adapted for today’s language.