Birth: 16-12-1784
Home Calling: 28-12-1864
Homeland: North Wales,
United Kingdom
Place of Vision: North Wales
Mary Jones was a young girl who saved her money for six years and walked twenty-six miles to buy a Bible in her own language. This little girl lived with her mother in a small cottage in the Welsh countryside. Mary’s father was a weaver who worked hard to support his family. Unfortunately, he passed away when Mary was four, and her mother had to work hard to support the family. Without grumbling, Mary would do her share of the chores around her home.
When Mary came to the knowledge of Christ at eight, reading Bible stories became her passion. On Sundays, she would walk to the little chapel in the village two miles away to listen to her pastor read from the Bible. She marveled at the beautiful words being read and store them up in her heart. One Sunday morning, it was announced that a school was to open in the village. Mary’s joy knew no bounds as she could now learn how to read the Bible on her own. After learning to read, Mary desired and determined to have her own Bible. Since her mother could not afford one, she did various jobs for six years to save enough money to buy a Bible.
The nearest place to buy Bible was from a pastor called Rev. Thomas Charles who was twenty-six miles away. She walked all the way to him barefoot, only to be disappointed to know that the last Bible was already sold. However, two days later, Mary got her own copy of the Bible. A short time later, Rev. Charles shared about his experience with Mary at a meeting of the Religious Tract Society in London. As a result, a new organization was formed to supply Welsh Bibles. The organization later emerged to be ‘The British and Foreign Bible Society,’ which since 1804 has published more than half a billion Bibles in 700 languages.
