Thailand—Every year in Thailand, thousands of young girls are taken from their rural families in the northern part of the country. Hill tribe villagers are very poor and especially vulnerable, and girls from these ethnic minority groups are sold into prostitution for as little as U.S. $100. Through Adventist Development and Relief Agency’s (ADRA) Keep Girls Safe project, ADRA provides girls living in poverty in rural regions with nourishment and educational assistance. This allows them to remain in school and it provides a home for those who can no longer remain at home because of the risk of being sold. Because these girls are no longer a burden, their parents will not be forced to sell them to make ends meet. To learn more visit www.adra.org or call 1-800-424-2372.

Guyana—Prime Minister of Guyana, Samuel Hinds, spoke up for religious freedom at the country’s first religious liberty event on Feb. 2.  The event, which was organized by the Public Affairs and Religious Liberty offices for the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Guyana and the Caribbean, had a series of workshops championing religious freedom. It was at the same event that Hinds encouraged the launch of an organization to ensure the preservation and promotion of fundamental human rights and religious freedom. The workshops ended with a festival of religious freedom which more than 2,500 persons attended.

Philippines—With a goal of 14,000 new believers, the Voice of Prophecy—a Seventh-day Adventist radio outreach— launched a six-day evangelism series in Cebu, Philippines on Feb. 3   The meetings will be broadcast via satellite through Hope Channel International and down linked to most of Asia and the Pacific Rim. Lonnie Melashenko, director-speaker of the Voice of Prophecy International, is the speaker of the series. The first night drew some 2,000 to the live presentation in Cebu. The Voice of Prophecy, in partnership with the Quiet Hour, has fielded volunteer speakers to conduct simultaneous evangelistic meetings nationwide and expects to contribute hundreds of baptisms to this satellite event.

Russia—Although published more than 100 years ago, The Great Controversy by Ellen G. White —one of the founding members of the Seventh-day Adventist Church— is still having an impact today. The Adventist church in the Euro-Asia region has chosen it as a missionary book for 2006. The book will be reprinted in Russian, Ukrainian and Romanian. Church members will be encouraged to share the book with friends and neighbors as a way of sharing the story of Jesus.