Book #19: We Died Before We Came Here by Emily Foreman
Number of pages: 187
Emily Foreman and her husband Stephen were Christian missionaries in North Africa, until Stephen was murdered by extremists.
The autobiographical account opens with Stephen's death and then flashes back to tell of their mission work and the events that led up to the tragedy.
I really enjoyed reading about the challenges of being a Christian in a hostile environment, and about the culture and politics of the country where they were based, and also about some of the positive things that happened to them; for example, it looked like someone with opposing religious views was going to cause trouble at one point, because he was against what they were preaching, but miraculously, Stephen was able to reason with the other man and they became good friends.
Overall, I saw this as a book about how to follow Jesus is to expect persecution, but it was also an encouraging read that challenged me about the idea of moving out of my own comfort zone.
Next book: Good Wives (Louisa May Alcott)