Don't Be a Weak Link

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There is a talk given by Gordon B. Hinckley that has always made an impression on me.  (Entire talk found here.)  He talks about how each of us is a link to the generations that came before us and the generations that come after us...especially a link of faith.

Gordon B. Hinckley

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As President Hinckley sat in the celestial room before the dedication of the Columbus Ohio Temple, he had these thoughts:
"In that sacred and hallowed house there passed through my mind a sense of the tremendous obligation that was mine to pass on all that I had received as an inheritance from my forebears to the generations who have now come after me.

As I sat in the celestial room of the temple pondering these things, I said to myself, “Never permit yourself to become a weak link in the chain of your generations.” It is so important that we pass on without a blemish our inheritance of body and brain and, if you please, faith and virtue untarnished to the generations who will come after us."

He also said at a different time, "We stand on the shoulders of those who preceded us, men and women of courage and conviction who, in the midst of adversity, put their trust in the Almighty and worked endlessly to make their dreams come true."

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We are so blessed in this Jones family to have a long heritage of faith that has come down through the years and has been passed on to us.  Our ancestors have preserved this faith and taught their children and grandchildren "that our children may know to what source they may look for a remission of their sins." (2 Nephi 25:26)

Elisha Jones is one of our ancestors who was a convert to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  He passed the legacy of faith on to his son, Hyrum Jones.  Hyrum Jones maintained his testimony and passed his faith on to his son, Harold Guy Jones.  Guy taught his children the gospel through example and passed his faith on to his son, Harold Jones, who is my father.  My father taught me the gospel and I am very grateful for men and women of faith whose shoulders I stand on!

Elisha Jones 1813-1880

Here is Elisha Jones' conversion story in his own words.

"About 1842 there came a man into the neighborhood that told of a people called Mormons. His name was James Dunn. My brother James believed the work and left immediately for Illinois. I read their books and believed them, especially the Voice of Warning. My wife was dissatisfied with my reading so I laid them by for a while. My brother James went to Illinois and joined the Church and was gone four years. 

At this time Joseph Smith and Hyram Smith were murdered on the 27th day of June 1844. The Church was driven from Illinois to Winter Quarters. My brother James came back to Ohio to my father's and stayed all winter. 

As soon as my brother came I was anxious to know about the work of the Lord. My brother James N. Jones baptized me and my wife in the nighttime, because of persecution, about the 3rd of March, 1847.

I immediately began to get ready to start for Winter Quarters with my family that was left: Martha, Richard, John, Mary, Sarah and Elizabeth. The mob spirit raged and enemies would have mobbed me if they had known I was going. We arrived in Winter Quarters on July 27, 1847. Heard Orson Hyde preach. My wife took sick with the fever and lay three months. About this time I was building a log house and broke a blood vessel in my breast. I lost so much blood I could not stand. I lay five months and lost all of my property."

Elisha Jones and his family came across the plains with the Mormon pioneers soon after their stay at Winter Quarters.  You can read more of Elisha's journal here (after signing in to familysearch.)