In the Valley He Restores My Soul
November 29, 2007 by Ingrid Schlueter
I couldn’t resist sharing one more photo with you sent by Robert H. in England after our program on Mary Jones today. This is the valley in Wales where Mary Jones’ cottage was, just to the right of the farm buildings in the upper right of the photo. You can see the kind of country in which the young girl had to travel, barefoot, on her 50 mile trip to get a Bible in her own language. What beautiful country this is! It reminds me a little of the foothills of the Appalachians where our family lived for a year.
This place is breathtaking and makes the story of Mary Jones so real. What a blessing, Robert, that you would take time to share this wonderful picture with us. Thank you. God is so good!
How nice of Robert H. to send the photo. It is beautiful.
In the valley . . . and on the lake shore. “Oh, rest in the Lord, wait patiently for Him . . . “
Ingrid, I am glad this is of some use. (I was afraid I was sending too much.)
To explain a little, the view is looking out towards the coast (out of sight), and taken from the first stage of the path marked as the modern version of Mary Jones’s route.
It is on MultiMap where her cottage is at Tyn-y-Ddol and I took the photo from near the “h” on the map of the name Llanfihangel-y-Pennant where the path (red dotted line) goes to Nant-yr-eira. Of the whole 25 mile walk, this first 10 or 12 is the most hilly. If anyone is visiting Wales, it is worth attempting at least the first 6 miles to the car park at Minffordd, which is also the main starting point for going up to Cadair Idris. This is the second highest mountain in Wales, and is the peak of the horse-shoe surrounding Llyn Cau.
The dark mound in the middle of the picture, slightly left of centre, is the hill where Castel-y-Bere stands, now a ruin. This is one of the few castles in Wales built by a Welshman, rather than by the English to keep the Welsh under control.
Also very much worth a visit is the home of Bishop William Morgan, now in the care of the National Trust.
Bishop William Morgan was selected by Queen Elizabeth I to translate the Bible into Welsh. She paid for 1,000 copies to be printed, one for every Parish Church in Wales and a few spare. His is one of the best examples of Bible translation in the world, both for accuracy and for linguistic style. His work was a major factor in rescuing the Welsh language from oblivion, such was the decline under the Tudors - in spite of their own Welsh ancestry!
Amongst Welsh speakers, the William Morgan translation holds the place of the Authorised Version amongst English speakers.
Who knows how much William Morgan’s translation of the Bible laid the foundation for much of the work of GOd in Wales during the following 400 years.
Sadly, Wales is a land of spiritual decline just as is England. But not totally. I have an uncle in a village not far from Anglesea who became a Christian because of a tract through his letter-box. He is now a leader in the local Gospel Hall.
Robert: How good it is to know we have true brethren where you are. . .God has his people everywhere, doesn’t He? I have always wanted to travel to Great Britain, Wales and Scotland. I do travel there in books and biographies of the saints from the old paths. We owe a great debt to those who have gone before us, those who just obeyed the Lord because they loved Him and had a desire to do God’s will. We owe our forefathers in the Lord a great debt for all they have done to preserve the Word and give us an example of persevering faith under great hardships. Thank you Robert for sharing all these things with us.
Robert, that was a beautiful post. Thank you so much for sharing.