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I once read about a lady, who was placed in a institution in 1929 because of a nervous breakdown. She had left her native country and came to America with hopes and dreams. Unfortunately, nobody could speak her language. She was there until 1977--- for forty-eight years. Still, in all that time, nobody was able to understand her. It appears that they had given up on her. It would appear that she had lost all hope of her original dream. To those in the institution she was a hopeless case. To them, she just simply existed in her own little world. Then one day, there was breakthrough. In 1972, a multi lingual case worker by the name of John Kurz began to talk with her. Kurz was a case worker from the Bureau of the Aging. Not only did he understand her language, but he also found out her name Mary Peischl. Kurz also found out that she had left what was the former Austro-Hungarian Empire when Franz Joseph I, was in power. Kurz even helped her to get reunited with her five children. Jesus had come through this case worker to set her free from her prison of hopelessness. Imagine for just a minute that you were this woman. Imagine that people had written you off as hopeless. Then, imagine that one day there was a breakthrough for you just as there was for this woman.

(Paraphrased from Tarbell’e Teacher’s Guide. 86th Annual Volume. (Edited by Dr, William P. Barker). Elgin: David C. Cook Publishing Co., 1990, p. 248).

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