This is the newly built girls’ dorm. It was the first building project I took part in. It now houses high-school-age girls during the week so they don’t have to go home every night to hostile families who disapprove of their faith and life choices. These young women have delayed getting married so they can receive an education. They dream of attending college and becoming Gospel missionaries. Please pray for all the students in our missionary-training high school. The boys face similar pressures.

This is a picture of the mountains I call home. If you ever get curious to see Palawan from above, visit www.earth.google.com and search for Brooke’s Point, Palawan, Philippines.

Here is one of my favorite little guys named Dan-Dan after the biblical prophet, Daniel. He is rambunctious and full of energy. He brings out the kid in me every time he comes around. In this picture he is hammering nails I have started for him.

This is a picture of my brother, Anthony Groft, who came to Palawan in the summer of 2010 to build this bridge. The bridge is still standing strong, though it was underwater for four days when two typhoons hit the island one after the other. Its bamboo walking surface needs repair, so I will soon begin mounting new treads of freshly-sawn lumber from an indigenous tree whose wood is rock-hard and supposedly impervious to rot and termites.

This is a picture of one of our classrooms between my class periods. I teach third- through seventh-grade math four mornings a week to students eight to 18 years old. We have more than 50 children from surrounding villages attending our school. The lower grades learn to read and write Palawano, basic arithmetic, health and Bible. The upper grades add Tagalog and history to these classes along with pre-algebra. The curriculum for the training school adds English study, more advanced math, and lessons centered around books like Steps to Christ, Patriarchs and Prophets, Prophet sand Kings, The Desire of Ages, Acts of the Apostles and The Great Controversy. The history lessons coincide with the books of The Conflict of the Ages series to give students a broader view of the world during the time period each book covers.

Here are some of the smiling faces that greet me in Niyug (Coconut), the village where I live. The village is made up of about five interrelated families. There are Christian believers in this village. Before I arrived in Niyug, two families of believers moved away because of persecution from their neighbors. Please pray for these people and their children that they may be reconciled to each other and to their Savior.

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