Syria was one of the last countries left on Sam Goodwin’s list. He was young and on a mission to join a small group of people alive today who have visited every country in the world. 

By 2019, Goodwin had already traveled to 180 countries, including those with hostile regimes in Iran, North Korea, and Venezuela. 

“I had always traveled, because it was fun and I enjoyed it, but most importantly, I learned from it,” Goodwin says. “Travel was always the best education I'd ever had.”

With fewer than 20 U.N.-recognized sovereign states left to visit at the time, Goodwin—then 30—arrived in Syria on May 25, 2019. He had been in the country only for a couple hours when, while walking to meet his guide, “this black pickup truck abruptly pulled up next to me, two armed men jumped out of the back seat, and instructed me to get inside,” he said in an interview on “The Daily Signal Podcast.”

Goodwin would spend the next 27 days in solitary confinement in a prison cell with no windows. 

“Everything had been taken from me, my material possessions, my communication, my freedom,” he said. “But no matter what, I knew that my faith was absolute, and I would have been in a completely different situation without it. What I learned most significantly in that cell is that we're never less alone than when we're totally alone with God.” 

After those first 27 days, Goodwin was transferred to a cell with other prisoners, where he spent an additional 35 days. While in prison and accused of espionage, Goodwin had no idea the efforts that his family was making to rescue him, and the unlikely friend God would use to help set him free. 

In his new book, “Saving Sam: The True Story of an American’s Disappearance in Syria and His Family’s Extraordinary Fight to Bring Him Home,” Goodwin details his travels across the globe and how his faith gave him the strength to endure 63 days of captivity in the Middle East. 

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