About the Author

Barbara Bode Snyder was the author of numerous technical manuals and textbooks during her ten year career as a mathematician / programmer / systems engineer at IBM and later during her twenty years as an electronics and computer technology instructor at San Jose City College. A Sunday school teacher for 25 years, she has given many classes, seminars, and sermons on a variety of topics. 

She and her husband, Don, have volunteered on all six continents where there are people. They lived and worked as volunteers for six months in Mylapore, Chennai, India,  where she heard so many stories about Thomas the Apostle that she resolved to write his story as a novel.  She was also fascinated by many of the new ideas of Church of South India, especially how they have overcome denominational differences in order to be able to present a unified Christianity, in large part due to heritage of Thomas the Apostle.

Right after she and her husband, Don, had retired from paid employment, they served for three years with Habitat For Humanity in  Eastern Europe. Later they served with numerous shorter term HFH trips to help build with HFH in many countries including the USA.  Yes, she was privileged to work alongside Jimmy Carter in several countries, and she has gladly attended his wonderful Sunday School classes.
 

Today, she remains active locally with several organizations focused on affordable housing for all.  These include: Rebuilding Together Silicon Valley and Habitat for Humanity East Bay Silicon Valley.  She lives with her husband, Don, in Silicon Valley, San Jose, California. 

Internationally, she stays abreast of activities of Habitat for Humanity International (started originally by Linda and Millard Fuller) and Fuller Center for Housing (which is an organization also founded by Linda and Millard Fuller). 

The  author and her husband, Don, have traveled much of the world, and are  shown here before the Great Pyramid of Egypt. They have lived and  worked and volunteered on six continents, and visited on all  seven continents.
 

The author and her husband, Don,  have trekked extensively in the Himalaya, Andes, Alps, New Zealand, Transylvania, Sierra, and Appalachia.  This photo shows them at 16,000 feet (4877 meters) atop Salcantay Glacier in Peru before they hiked down to Macchu Pichu at only 8040 feet (2450 meters). They also trekked to 16,000 ft (4877 meters) north of Ladakh in the Himalayas of northern India.