My family just watched a Bonanza episode together.

A man was wrongfully accused of a crime ...and was sent to prison.  After serving twenty years in prison, he was found innocent and released.  Often our hope is that people can be rehabilitated in prison ...but, if you are wrongfully put there, what is there to be rehabilitated of, really?  

He became very disillusioned.  And he took his bitterness into isolation ...far away from civilization.

His family tried to visit him in prison, but were not allowed.  And they were not told when he was released.  When they did eventually find out, they decided to find him.  On their way, they had an accident ...far before reaching that goal.  Only the granddaughter lived, her parents not surviving the crash.  

The granddaughter was only twelve years old, and was blind since birth.  She was devastated by her parents death, but she wanted to continue to pursue their quest.  She wanted to visit her grandfather, but being blind, would need much assistance.  Of course, this is where Hoss and Little Joe came in.

When they found her grandfather, they found him to be wild and mean.

But, this did not deter the granddaughter.  The Cartwrights tried to convince her of how unwise it was for a young girl to attempt to chance another meeting with such a wild man.  They felt she didn't see his meanness, but though being blind, she saw more than many of us see.  

She could tell he was mean, but she said she was always having others help her because of her blindness ...and now she wanted to help someone.  She wanted to feel needed.  

That's sort of the way with missionaries.  They realize what God has done for them, and they want others to get to know Him.  Elisabeth Elliot is an extraordinary woman who continued to be a missionary to the same tribe who killed her husband.  She knew her husband had eternal life, and she wanted the same for the people who even more walking down the opposite path ...unless someone made an impact upon them, and made a difference in their lives.