Who was Mary Jones
Mary Jones was born in December 1784 into a poor Welsh family. Her father was a weaver while her mother was a house wife. Her parents were Calvinistic Methodists and Mary herself became a christian at the age of eight (8) they lived at the foot of the Cedar Idris mountain, in Gwynedd, Noth Wales.
At school, she had one ambition. To own and read a Bible as her teacher, Mr. Evans did. Since her parents were too poor to afford a Bible, Mary decided to work and save money to buy herself a Bible.
She worked for six (6) years and saved money to buy her Bible (she was 16 years by that time). Then she had to walk for twenty-five (25) miles through hills, mountains and valleys until she reached a town called BALA. There she went to Rev. Thomas Charles with her money to buy a Bible, her feet swollen from the long journey. She bought her Bible which was a last copy of the Welsh Bible in the shop. It had been reserved for a customer who had paid in advance for it. Rev. Thomas Charles was moved by the state of the young lady who sacrificed so much to get herself a Bible and was compelled to sale it to her. The next day she started her journey back home where her parents and everyone in the village were waiting for her. She lifted her treasured Bible for all to see and said, “thank you Jesus, thank you Rev. Charles.” (she said thank you to Rev. Charles for giving her the opportunity to buy the Welsh Bible though it had been reserved for someone else.)
The determination of Mary Jones made Rev. Charles to travel to London to discuss the visit of Mary Jones with some important men. This was at the Council of the Religious Tract Society. Those in attaendance felt so touched and immediately made a decision, to help translate the Bible and make them available world-wide for all nations.
In that year 1804, the British and Foreign Bible Society was formed. (The Bible that Mary Jones sacrificed to buy is now own and stored in the British and Foreign Bible Society’s archives in Cambridge University Library).
In 1946, the United Bible Societies (UBS) was formed. In 1966, the Bible Society of Zambia was officialy formed.
