Bien’s family refused to allow her to attend the Adventist church.

Image © John Clement from GoodSalt.com

When she insisted, they tried to force her to live with her grandmother on a small island. Bien tried to hide her fear. She wanted to continue her schooling, but the island had no school.

She refused to be separated from the people at the church, people who were praying for her, who encouraged her, and who had shown her what true love was. When her parents realized that Bien would resist their efforts, they took her clothes, her personal items, and her schoolbooks to her grandmother’s house, leaving Bien with nothing.

Bien returned to the pastor’s house. She borrowed clothes from a friend so she could go to school, but then she realized that she didn’t have her textbooks and couldn’t attend without them. So she looked for work with someone in her church. She was sad that she couldn’t complete her studies.

Bien continued attending church and studying her Bible. And following evangelistic meetings, she asked to be baptized.

Then a family learned about Bien’s situation and visited her parents. They offered to take Bien to the Adventist academy on the island of Palawan [pah-LAO-wan] and pay for her studies. Imagine Bien’s joy when she learned that her parents had agreed to let her go.

Bien had never been so far from home, and the thought frightened her. But the pastor assured her that she would love studying at the Adventist school. She reminded herself that her prayer to continue her studies was being answered. Bravely she set off for the Adventist school.

The principal took Bien into her own home and provided work for her so she could earn money for her necessities. “I am blessed to have so many people looking out for me,” Bien said. It’s so good to be back in school! The academy has become my refuge and my haven. When I finish high school I want to help others who have problems, just as I was helped. I want to defend what is right and stand for the truth.

Palawan Adventist Academy, where Bien studies, received part of a recent Thirteenth Sabbath Offering to help the school expand its academic program. Let’s continue to give faithfully to mission so that others in the Philippines and throughout the world can know that Jesus is not only their Savior but their friend and brother as well.

Produced by the General Conference Office of Adventist Mission.
Find more stories like this at AdventistMission.org

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