Michelle Layer Rahal (EdM ’93, Elementary Education) wrote and published “Straining Forward” in 2018, which depicts the story of Minh Phuong, a Vietnamese girl who endured abuse, prison and torture during the Vietnam War to become the third Asian woman in America to be ordained a Presbyterian pastor. “I didn’t set out to write Minh Phuong’s story,” says Rahal. “I felt called to it, and sometimes we need to follow our gut.”