CEDAR FALLS - Greg Mortensen reads the quote taped to his bathroom mirror each morning as he shaves: "When the heart speaks, take good notes."

He's uncertain where he found the quote, but he finds it both uplifting and motivating in his quest to promote education, particularly for girls, in the remote, impoverished regions of Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Mortensen is the best-selling co-author of "Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Journey to Change the World, One Child at a Time," and co-founder of the nonprofit Central Asian Institute and Pennies for Peace. He is presently on a book tour promoting a young reader's edition of "Three Cups of Tea" and a children's picture book, "Listen to the Wind: The Story of Dr. Greg and Three Cups of Tea."

He will speak Feb. 12 at the Gallagher-Bluedorn Performing Arts Center.

"Sometimes I'm amazed. I feel pretty much like anybody else. I'm a Midwestern Lutheran, a veteran, a husband, a father - I just happen to be passionate about education, especially for girls. I'm convinced that unless girls are educated in these countries, society won't change," said Mortensen.

For the past 15 years, Mortensen has built schools on the front lines of the war on terror. He has gained the trust of tribal chiefs, the respect of warlords, military commanders and government officials, and the affection of whole villages.

"I've learned more from them than I could ever teach them," he said. " They taught me building relationships is as important as building projects."

"Three Cups of Tea" is required reading for U.S. military and special forces sent to Afghanistan, and counter-intelligence officers. Gen. David Petraeus, commander of U.S. Central Command, has corresponded via e-mail with Mortensen.

In Pakistan and Afghanistan, people call him "Dr. Greg," and he is struck by their thirst to educate their children.

"Ask the women what they want most and they'll say they don't want their babies to die and they want their children to go to school. The Taliban doesn't like it. They have destroyed, bombed or shut down 500 schools in Afghanistan and over 100 schools in Pakistan. Nearly all the schools are girls' schools. They want to keep girls uneducated. Their greatest fear isn't the bullet, but the pen, the written word. If a girl gets an education, she grows up and as a mother, is less likely to condone her son getting involved in violence or terrorism. The Taliban then loses its ability to get willing recruits," Mortensen explained.

By 2008, Mortensen had established 78 schools providing education for more than 28,000 children, including 18,000 girls. He has visited villages where schools were destroyed by the Taliban to find children being taught in secret, scrawling their answers with sticks in the dirt. One group of children hikes three hours each day across windswept terrain to attend school for a half-day, then retraces their steps.

In Kandahar, Afghanistan, a dozen high school girls were disfigured with battery acid while going to school in December. In late January, the girls had returned to school. "They said the only way the Taliban will stop them from coming is to kill them. It's empowerment for women. I see that fierce desire," Mortensen said.

Nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize, Mortensen also will receive Pakistan's highest civilian award, Sitara-e-Pakistan ("Star of Pakistan") on March 23 in Islamabad.

Born in Minnesota, he grew up in Tanzania, near Mount Kilimanjaro, where his father co-founded a teaching hospital and his mother founded an international school, and served in the U.S. Army before graduating from the University of South Dakota and becoming a nurse.

A dedicated climber, Mortensen made a failed attempt in 1993 to climb Pakistan's K2. On the mountain for 78 days, he took a wrong turn coming down across the Baltoro glacier. He was rescued by villagers in a remote Himalayan village in Pakistan, Korphe. Grateful, he promised to return and build a school.

Some have said he stopped climbing mountains and began moving them.

Mortensen calls it fate. "It's like being taken to the edge of a big cliff and told to jump. I did and I've never regretted it. I've been incredibly blessed to meet so many good people."

Not that it's been easy. He was kidnapped at gunpoint in Pakistan and held eight days, escaped a firefight between feuding Afghan warlords, overcome two fatwehs from Islamic mullahs, been investigated by the CIA and received death threats from some Americans after Sept. 11, 2001, for helping educate Muslim children.

His wife, Tara, and two children, are supportive of Mortensen's humanitarian efforts. When he isn't working, he is at home in Bozeman, Montana. His 12-year-old daughter, Amira, has traveled with him as an advocate for the Pennies for Peace program for children and wrote a question-and-answer section in the new youth version of "Three Cups."

Go & do

What: Greg Mortenson, author of "Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Journey to Promote Peace … One School at a Time"

When: 7 p.m. Feb. 12

Where: Gallagher-Bluedorn Performing Arts Center, University of Northern Iowa, Cedar Falls