Mary lived a long time ago, and she was born in the year 1784. That's a long time ago, isn't it? Hundreds of years ago. But she's a very important little girl. And I want to tell you today, and over the weeks to come, the story of Mary Jones. Mary was born near the seaside. Hands up who would like to live near the seaside? Well, I would. She was born in a country called Wales, and she was born on the east coast, or the west coast, I should say, of the country that we know today as Wales. Has anybody ever been to Wales? No? Well, whenever I was younger, I went to Wales. And this is the country that Mary was born in. So here we have Mary, and she's outside her house. It's just a humble wee cottage in the valley there, and you can see the mountain in the background. And this is where Mary Jones lived. Well, here's her dad and her mom. He was a hardworking man. He worked as a weaver. There you can see it in the background. He's weaving the cloth. But something very sad happened to Mary's dad. He died when she was very young. And that meant that it was just Mary and her mother who were left. So Mary had to do the chores. She had to help her mom with the chores. I hope that you help at home with the chores, do you? Not sure? Well, make sure you help your mum at home. Somebody, good boy, at least you help at home, the chores. And maybe you help with the hoovering or the dusting. Do you make your bed? Tell me this, do you make your bed in the morning? Do you? Good. Well, Mary did the chores. She helped out around the house. She kept the house tidy. She scrubbed the floors. They had chickens, and so Mary would go out each day and she would feed the chickens. So this was the house and the home that Mary was brought up in. Next slide. There was one place that Mary loved to go to. What's that up there? It's a church, yeah? That's Mary's church, and that was the place that she loved to go to on Sundays. She couldn't wait to get there on Sunday morning. Mary just loved to go to her local church. I wonder, do you like to go to church? I hope you do. Because coming to church is something special that we should be thankful for. There's boys and girls in other countries and they don't have a church like this to come to, but they're sitting at home and they would just love to have a church like this that they could go to. So you be thankful to God that you have a church to go to. And here's Mary and Can you see her? She's got her dad and she's kind of pulling his hand because she wants him to hurry up because she can't wait to get to church. And so they go to church each Sunday and Mary loved every minute of it. And she loved whenever the minister got up in the pulpit and he started to read the Bible and to tell the stories from the Bible about Samson, And about Daniel in the lion's den, and Joseph with his special coat, and David fighting the giant Goliath. My, she loved these stories. I hope you love the Bible stories as well. And remember, you've heard me say this before, they're true stories. They're not fairytales. This is not like, maybe you watch Disney movies at home on the TV. Well, the stories in the Bible aren't just like that. They're not make-believe. They're true. And Mary loved to go, boys and girls, to church to hear the Bible. And you know, she loved it whenever the minister would read from the big black book at the front. And she would listen. every word. Now Mary was just young, she was only a wee tiny girl, she couldn't read or write, but she listened and she just said to herself, one day I'm gonna be able to read that big book. And you know what she did after the service was over? She would sneak up to the big black book and she would look at it And she looked at the back of it, and she, remember I said a wee minute ago she couldn't even read, but she saw the squiggles on the side of it, and she thought that the squiggles probably said, Holy Bible, and she was right. Mary loved this giant black book at the front. Do you know why she loved it so much? Because she didn't have it at home. Hands up, who has a Bible at home? All your hands should be up. Yeah, you've all got Bibles. I've got a Bible at home. In fact, I would say, boys and girls, if I went round our house, I could probably maybe find half a dozen Bibles. Mary didn't even have one. And she really wanted a copy of the Bible. So every Sunday, She went to church in her big car. Do you think I'm right? How do you think she got to church? Walked, yeah, you're right, she had to walk to church. How far do you think she had to walk? You're right about the miles, yeah, it was miles. Some people wouldn't even cross the street to go to church, isn't that right? Not as many as 1,000 miles. That'll be a long, long way to come to church. She had to walk for two miles, two miles. I suppose that's from here to into the city, isn't it? Imagine having to walk into Derry every Sunday to church and then back out again home. How would you like that? You'd be tired. Well, Mary didn't mind because she loved going to this place. She loved going to the house of God where she could hear the Bible. Next slide, please, Robert. And here she is in the church, and there's the minister. And look at the big smile on Mary's face, because she loves to be there, and she loves to listen to the minister talk about Jesus, and how Jesus made everything. He made the mountains and the valleys, and Mary thought to herself, well, I live in the valley, and I can see the big mountains all around our house. My, this great person called Jesus, he made it all. And then the minister said, this wonderful person, he came into the world to save you from your sins. And Mary just thought this was almost too good to be true. Mary became a Christian when she was just eight. Maybe some of you are eight. Some people think, oh, well, you have to be older. You have to be a big person before you can become a Christian. Boys and girls, I want to tell you, you don't have to be. You don't have to be a big person. You can become a Christian when you're eight or even younger than that. I know of people who have become Christians at maybe four or five or six. So even tiny boys and girls can start following the Lord Jesus, and that's what Mary did. Mary didn't go to school. That sounds good, doesn't it? But do you know why Mary didn't go to school? Because she couldn't go to school. Because there was no school. And Mary wanted to go to school. Do you know why? She wanted to learn to read. And why do you think that she wanted to learn to read? Any ideas? Nice and loud. Yes, Susanna, to read the Bible. Is that what you were gonna say, Cameron? Good boy. She wanted to learn to read, not just so that she could read magazines or newspapers or storybooks. She wanted to learn to read so that she could read the Bible. And then one day, in church, Because that's where all the announcements were made in the church back in those days. One day the minister stood up and he said, I've got good news for you boys and girls. There's going to be a school in our village. Mary was delighted. She was thrilled. She couldn't wait to get to school, and the ministry said, there's a couple who are coming, Mr. and Mrs. Evans, and they're going to start a school, and they're going to teach you how to read and write. Well, Mary, she jumped for joy, and she went out of the church that day with a spring in her step. She was going to be able to read. And someday, she'll be able to read the Bible. The last slide, please, Robert. Here she is. This is not her own house. This is the house of the schoolteacher, because Mr. Evans, the schoolteacher, he would teach Mary at home, even after school. Mary would go to his house, and he would help her to learn how to read and how to do her sums and how to write. Hands up who would like to go to their teacher's house after school? I thought you'd be tired by the time the school day was over, but there's somebody who would like to go for extra tuition. There you go, moms and dads, you can take them. You get some peace and quiet at the end of the day as well. But Mary, she wanted to go every day after school to Mr. Evans' house. Do you know why? It was not only because she wanted to learn how to read, but there was something in this house that she loved so much. Yeah, what? A Bible. You know how Mary learned to read? Her teacher got her to read the Bible. You know how you go to school and you've got books that you have to read? You've got your library book, your reading book, and you have to read them, maybe at school, and then when you come home at night, you have to read so many pages or so many chapters? Well, that's how you're learning how to read, isn't it? But Mary, her teacher just said, Mary, read the Bible. This is how you're gonna learn how to read. Mary loved God's word. I hope you love God's word. I hope you cherish it. Boys and girls, as you grow older, don't be like some people who stop reading the Bible and say, oh, not interested anymore, it's not for me. Don't you make that mistake. Okay, next week, if you come back, we'll tell you some more about Mary Jones. Let's pray.