What started out as a hobby for childhood friends in Mongolia eventually became a media production company called BeOne, designed to bless the lives of Mongolian Church members. Members of the company consist of BYU–Hawaii students and alumni.
“BeOne still exists because of their friendship,” said Khulan Davaakhuu, a sophomore from Mongolia majoring in exercise and sports science and the wife of a member of BeOne, Bayasgalan Bayasaa Sukhbaatar. “They have been friends for almost two decades and know each other very well. When they do something together, they become like one person. Just like their name, BeOne.”
BeOne’s current members are Sukhbaatar, a junior from Mongolia majoring in business management; Batbaatar Baagii Norjmaa, a junior from Mongolia majoring in information technology; and Tuvshinjargal Tomche Lkhagvadorj, an alumnus who graduated in June 2020. They established BeOne after they returned from their missions in 2011. Sukhbaatar said their friendship was the beginning of their future business.
Nasanbold Sukhbaatar, an alumnus from Mongolia who majored in supply chain operations, said, “Besides their talent, their friendship shows people how important it is to lift and strengthen each other. Their friendship is a perfect example of President Gordon B. Hinckley’s invitation to be friends with every convert, listen to them, guide them, answer their questions and be there to help in all circumstances and in all conditions.”
After returning from their missions, Lkhagvadorj said they all had their separate jobs and started BeOne as a way to develop their skills. “Our goal was not to earn much money, but to improve our skills,” he explained. They didn’t have proper equipment, so they took photos and videos with their phones, he said.
Ganchudur Batgerel, an alumna from Mongolia who graduated in December 2020 and majored in supply chain operations, is married to Lkhagvadorj.
“We had to be very frugal to save up to buy good tools. To save money on rent, we all lived together in one house and had to decrease our food budgets. They start every production with a prayer. So, God blessed them a lot,” she said.
Lkhagvadorj added, “In the beginning, [Norjmaa] usually worked with cameras to do photo and video shootings, and I mostly did the editing. Sukhbaatar found the ideas and did the marketing and paperwork.”
However, over time, they all developed their multimedia skills, Sukhbaatar said. “Now any of us can do all the stages of media production. We are not professionals [who] studied it in school, but we learned it from practice.”
Blessing BYUH with their talents
Dean of Students James Faustino, said he first met with BeOne in Mongolia when they were doing a video of one of his firesides. “I found out later that they were trying to go to BYUH. But, while they were working on the videos of my visit, they didn’t say a single thing about their interest in BYUH even though they had chances to talk to me. I was impressed by their work ethic and how task oriented they were,” he remarked.
Faustino continued, “When they were [at BYUH], I found out they were custodians at the CAC. I wanted them to utilize their talents to help our department, so I invited them to work with us. They accepted and started to create great videos and photos for us.”
Sukhbaatar said there were nine of them who started BeOne. “So far, three of us graduated from BYUH and two of us are currently studying. The rest are pursuing their own careers in Mongolia. But the ones who are [currently working with BeOne] are us three.”
Serving God in Mongolia
Odgerel Ochirjav, a Church Educational System coordinator for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Mongolia and a former stake president of the Ulaanbaatar West Stake, said he can see how God sharpens his people’s talents through BeOne.
“When I compare their first productions with their later ones, the improvement is amazing. Now they are professionals. They are very talented. They come up with special and original ideas and create it with a high level of professionalism.”
Norjmaa said they have now produced music videos, commercials, short films, documentaries, translations, movie voice-overs and photos. So far, they have made more than 500 videos, movies, music videos and countless photos, he said. They translated and made voice-overs for several Christian movies, such as “The Best Two Years,” “Singles Ward,” “The Errand of Angels,” “The R.M.,” “Fireproof,” and more, said Lkhagvadorj.
Sukhbaatar said they taught themselves to produce photos, videos, movies and commercials for the Church and for other organizations. Ochirjav said BeOne has recorded many moments of Mongolian Church history, which would have otherwise become lost in time.
“Since 2012, BeOne has captured many photos and videos of the Church events in Mongolia. … People can see the complete [Mongolian] Church history from [BeOne’s] work. … To do such great work and not take any money from the Church, it was their sacrifice for the Lord,” he said.
Batgerel said, “At the beginning, they didn’t know they were contributing to Church history. But now when we look back, their contribution was great and they were blessed abundantly through their service. … I am always proud of them.”
Sukhbaatar said BeOne’s media production talents have blessed Mongolian saints. “Through their Church productions, they invite people to Christ and help them to focus on the Savior.”
One of their biggest ongoing projects is Mongolian Especially For Youth, which is a media production project where talented Mongolian youth create Church songs in the Mongolian language, Norjmaa said.
He said they do MEFY music videos every year and plan to continue making them. Sukhbaatar said MEFY has one album already, and they made one music video in Hawaii showing the lives of Mongolian students at BYUH. They did not get paid, and it was their service for Mongolian saints, Sukhbaatar said.
Sukhbaatar explained there is not a lot of Christian music in the Mongolian language, so they decided to fill the gap through making this project.
Additionally, he said they made a two-hour documentary movie for the 25th anniversary of the Church in Mongolia in 2019. “We made videos and photos of the most major Church events organized between 2011 and 2019 in Mongolia.”
Norjmaa said they have also documented Church leaders’ visits in Mongolia, such as Elder David A. Bednar, Elder Ronald A. Rasband, former BYUH President John Tanner, Faustino and others. “We followed them and documented their speeches and lessons for Mongolians,” he explained.
BeOne productions has also worked with SION, an LDS multi-stake choir. Sion reached the semifinals of the second season of Mongolia’s Got Talent. Together, they have helped to create 18 songs with music videos for the Church, he said.
In June 2015, BeOne produced all of the videos and photos for SION’s choir concert tour around Mongolia, Norjmaa said. BeOne was also in charge of the media production of SION after the tour, he added.•