Mary's beautifully written memoir of her life's travels -- both physical and spiritual -- places you right next to her heart and mind on often uncomfortable, if not dangerous, journeys into the unknown.Sharing her troubled childhood and teenage years -- growing up in an often-dysfunctional family in America's heartland -- Mary's distressing trials as a young person may well bring tears to your eyes, as they did to mine. I was blown away with her courage and determination as a teenager and young adult to hitchhike her way -- often alone -- into a world that is not always kind to, or safe for, a young woman without companions.But with a strong will and desire for personal insight and purpose, she eventually finds her way back from these early travels and later meets Mike, her future husband. The young couple, with two young sons, Andrew and Jon, travel to Pakistan in the early 1990s to help rebuild a country that has been torn apart by the occupation of the Soviet Union.Mary and her family learn how to live and work with minimal creature comforts in a male-dominated country that treats women as "less than." Completely enrobed in public in a long, white chador that hides her hair and body and restricts her movements, Mary adapts as best she can in this strange new land, so different from the U.S.You might sometimes be shocked at what Mary learns in Pakistan. You will find yourself incredulous at her experiences as a woman and wife in this extremely patriarchal society that uses power and force to keep women in their "place." My eyes were opened at the hypocrisy of a country that supposedly protects and places their women on a pedestal but, instead, uses them in shocking ways to maintain the male-dominated status quo.And yet, with persistence and an unwillingness to become "invisible," Mary, uses her education, knowledge, skills, and intelligence to make successful and powerful inroads into this challenging experience. She and Mike manage to make some useful and realistic differences in a society controlled by religious-based ignorance even more insidious than Western religious influences.Mary's travels become increasingly spiritual. Raised with a traditional patriarchal Christian view of the world, she struggles to fit her own beliefs into her life. Increasingly, she comes to understand that those beliefs do not always fit quite right nor do they make sense to a woman who feels the strong tug of feminism.I encourage you to read Mary's book. It contains not only her written travel stories, but also many photos that help you see and understand the conditions of living in Pakistan and other foreign countries, while doing work most individuals will never attempt. You will not be able to put this fascinating read down.