Follow Him: A Come, Follow Me Podcast - Christmas Part 2 • Sister Joy D. Jones • Dec 18 - Dec 24

Episode Date: December 13, 2023

In this message, Sister Joy Jones shares personal experiences, such as the gift of her son, Trevor Jones. She also shares the joy of serving the Savior during the holiday season.Show Notes (English, French, Spanish, Portuguese): https://followhim.co/new-testament-episodes-41-52/Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/follow-him-a-come-follow-me-podcast/id1545433056YouTube: https://youtu.be/0r39soLwQY0Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/followhimpodcastSpotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/15G9TTz8yLp0dQyEcBQ8BYPlease rate and review the podcast!00:00 Part II–Sister Joy Jones00:06 Sister Jones shares visiting Saints around the world03:55 Working at the Provo MTC06:02 Sister Jones shares about her son Trevor09:32 Letter from Trevor Jones11:52 President Nelson’s thoughts at Trevor’s funeral14:27 Sharing testimony amidst grief15:23 Temple service at Christmas16:35 John shares a story about Christmas in the Philippines18:14  Christmas story in Ecuador21:05 President Ballard and a special gift23:13 John and Hank share Christmas experiences27:09 President Monson and The Christmas Train30:19 Sister Joy Jones and her Christmas wish35:04 End of Part II– Sister Joy JonesThanks to the followHIM team:Shannon Sorensen: Cofounder, Executive Producer, SponsorDavid & Verla Sorensen: SponsorsDr. Hank Smith: Co-hostJohn Bytheway: Co-hostDavid Perry: ProducerKyle Nelson: Marketing, SponsorLisa Spice: Client Relations, Editor, Show NotesJamie Neilson: Social Media, Graphic Design

Welcome to Part 2 with Sister Joy Jones. Christmas. Joy, you mentioned your time serving as primary president and traveling to different countries. I think our listeners would love to know what that was like to you. There are not words to describe what I felt in those experiences. I just hold those tender experiences in my heart. And truly looking into the eyes of children, when we're talking about Christmas, I mean Christmas is about children. We've talked about remembering the sacred and wondrous gift of birth and babies. Babies make us feel such hope and newness of life.

And our Savior brings a perfect brightness of hope and the promise of eternal life. When I look into the eyes of babies, I have to comment on that first sentence in the Come Follow Me Lesson. Why does the birth of a baby bring such great joy? There is nothing like holding an infant. It's almost what I would imagine a celestial experience to be. And I want to know, brethren, where do you look first when you hold a little baby?

Where do you look first? Those big, bright eyes. Yes. You look right into those beautiful eyes. Eyes are truly the window to those precious souls as far as I'm concerned. I used to stare into the eyes of my babies, and I would literally desk little one, where have you just been? You know those moments where

you contemplate where they've been, what they still remember, what they've experienced. Babies connect me to heaven. They connect me to my heavenly father and to my heavenly home. They truly bring a spiritual connection, babies thin the veil. It's just sacred to hold a baby. I was thinking about all the art depictions that we see of how the Savior might appear, what He might look like. We see so many beautiful representations. And I've noticed that when I look at a new painting of the

Savior, I always tend to look at his eyes. I go right to his eyes. As I was serving on the temple and family history executive council, one of our responsibilities, along with three of the quorum of the twelve, was to approve artwork, new artwork for the temples. There was such a beautiful experience. Sometimes we would view the art on a big screen, and other times we would be in the boardroom, we would actually see these paintings being brought in, where we could actually see them framed,

and they were stunning. Of course, many of the paintings were of our Savior. My eyes were drawn to his eyes. I started thinking about why am I drawn to his eyes? What is that word drawn for? Why do I feel that? Because I feel that it does have special significance to feel drawn to him. Let's turn to 3 Nephi, chapter 27, verses 13 to 15. Behold, I have given unto you my gospel, and this is the gospel which I have given unto you that I came into the world to do the will of my father

because my father sent me, and my father sent me that I might be lifted up upon the cross, and after that I had been lifted up upon the cross, that I might draw all men unto me, that as I have been lifted up by men, even so should men be lifted up by the father to stand before me, to be judged of their works, whether they be good or whether they be evil. And for this cause have I been lifted up. Therefore, according to the power of the Father, I will draw all men unto me. I know missionaries, as we work with missionaries in the Pro-O-MTC. These missionaries are preparing for those kinds of experiences when they're meeting with people who are learning of the gospel for the first time, learning of Jesus Christ sometimes for the first time.

And feeling drawn as they begin to understand the doctrine of Christ as they hear testifying from these wonderful missionaries. These individuals who are seeking truth feel drawn to Him. The Savior's purpose in being lifted up upon the cross is to draw all men and to Him. Considering Christmas, of course, again, the shepherds were drawn. The wise men were drawn. Children were drawn. So our question that we can ask ourselves is, are we drawn to Him? I think of things like that that we can talk to our children and our grandchildren about. Use some of the scripture terminology, read some of the scriptures, and then ask them to

explain, what does that mean? How does that apply to us? How can we draw closer to Him? I want to be drawn to him. Excellent. Joy, you mentioned the beautiful moment of looking into a baby's eyes. As you said that, I thought of my experience as a dad. For us, it was a baby boy.

We have one girl and four boys. And I would hold that little baby boy up to my face and look into his eyes, and then he usually threw up on me. And I both love and hate the back and forth between these serene spiritual moments and then the reality of mortal life. Christmas is a lot that way, isn't it? It's these serene, beautiful, amazing moments, like you said said sitting in the dark and looking at the Christmas lights on the tree, and then the long lines, traffic, and trying to prepare for Christmas.

In your experience as a mother and a grandmother, what have you learned that our listeners could benefit from? What have you learned about parenting and children? parenting and children. Lots. What an education it is to be a parent and a grandparent. My thoughts go to the education that we received as our son at the age of 39 passed through the veil and left his wife and five children. I look back and I remember thinking we're living the gospel, the family's all doing great, everything's good, everything's intact. Then we found out that Trevor had cancer and I thought, well, of course, he'll be healed, of course he'll be healed.

We prayed and prayed and prayed that there would be a miracle and that he would survive that illness. By the end of three years, we were praying that Heavenly Father would take him because of the suffering that he was experiencing. I share that only because it was an education. I want you to know we learned so much about Heavenly Father and His love and His mercy. I marvel at what it's like to have a child on that side of the veil, as well as children on this side of the veil. It's really precious because Trevor, he had time, he had three years not knowing if he was coming or going, but he prepared his family. And he told them, I'm sure that I signed up for this. He would always talk to them about what a great guardian angel they were going to have, that they'd always be able to call on him.

He said, I'll be able to do more for you from the other side of the veil than I could ever do for you here on the earth. I can remember Lil Sabrina came to me one day. This was before Trevor passed and she said, Grandma, Grandma, I'm so excited. I'm going to have the best guardian angel ever. It's amazing to me that our little children can really understand that life goes on. It's not over. This is an eternal process. I'm so grateful for the experience that I personally had grateful for the experience that I personally had to feel the peace that passeth all understanding. I had never felt peace like that before.

Trevor's funeral was the day before general conference began. It was a Friday. I was speaking that night in the women's session. I can remember, I'm not exaggerating, okay? You've got to believe me. I was so excited to speak in that session of conference because all I wanted to do was stand up and tell the world. He lives. He lives and he loves us. I was just so anxious to testify of my Heavenly Father and my Savior, Jesus Christ, to say,

I must have I have my Heavenly Father and my Savior, Jesus Christ, to say, their love is so perfect, so permeating, so real. I felt so carried through that whole experience, and I will never look back at Trevor's passing without feeling that peace and feeling the love of my Heavenly Father and feeling such a magnified appreciation and gratitude for what my Savior did to allow my Son to someday live again. It's just so big and so good. And I'll try not to get too excited. Elder Updorf said that hope is enthusiasm and confidence.

And so we've got to have enthusiasm about all things. I just pulled up a little email that Trevor sent to us right before he passed away. And I want to share it with you to get to know him a little bit. He said, family, I am so excited to see the other side. And don't you be bitter that I beat you there. As I was lying in my purple haze last night, I was thinking of how neat it will be there. No politics. Everyone is anxiously engaged. We're all blissfully happy all the time.

I will receive assignments and it will be a joy running to and fro fulfilling the will of the Father and the Son, helping others on earth, passing back and forth through the veil as needed. The plan is real. Christ is our Savior, and I can't wait to see Him. Even if just from afar, as He speaks, or makes a visit.

Through this journey, I've never asked why. I signed up for this. I volunteered to return early to help prepare your grandchildren and to help you all get through this quickly dwindling to less children. When you pray, ask for me, ask for me to be assigned to fulfill your request. When I receive those assignments, I will be so happy each time that connection back to my earthly family. You will soon have your own personal guardian angel. We've all had them already, but this time it will be me.

And when your time comes to join me on the other side, know that I will be the first to greet you, there to welcome you and have all things prepared for you. I share that because isn't that the message of Christmas? Think of our Savior and what He has done for us. This is what we have to look forward to, to be together as eternal families, to live with our Savior, and God the eternal Father once again.

That is the most powerful message, and all the world needs to understand and feel and live it. I get so excited about the gathering of Israel on both sides of the veil, because we really are working with our loved ones. They're helping us when we're doing our family history, our temple work. I feel the influence and the urgency to continue to move forward and not be distracted, to

stay focused on what really matters. Thank you for letting me share. You would love Trevor. I wish he could say hi. He had a great sense of humor. That is priceless. President Nelson spoke at his funeral when he was president Nelson,

the president of the quorum of the 12th. He assured all the family. We were all sitting there in the front and he said, I just want you all to know that Trevor will be given hall passes, something like a hall pass that you had when you were in grade school or middle school, and you went to the library or maybe went to the restroom. He'll get hall passes too, and you can call on him and he will come and be with you. He will come and help. We have felt his presence

at ordinations of his children and special times when one of our family members have been speaking or something and they just have these impressions that Trevor is aware and he is there. I want to see what it is like over there. I wish we could get a glimpse of what they are experiencing on the other side because I know it is glorious and I know that wonderful things are happening there. One of our guests, Derek Sainsbury, I don't know if you remember back in our doctrine, Covenants here, he said, angels speak by the power of the Holy Ghost.

You know, you think of our loved ones like Trevor. And when we feel the Holy Ghost, we feel that beautiful uplifting and nobling influence to do good, and to be like you said, joy, having enthusiasm, that could be our loved ones speaking by the power of the Holy Ghost, angels speak by the power of the Holy Ghost. And when I feel that beautiful uplifting feeling, the other side of the veil can be communicating with me. And those moments, doesn't that dissipate the fear that we were talking about? Yeah. Fear seems to become unnecessary. It seems to go away and we feel hope in Jesus Christ.

You can see why the angels would say fear not. Fear not. Yeah. That letter from your son is a gift that keeps on giving. I think that would bless so many people to think of it that way. When people say religion is a crutch for weak-minded people, here is someone who the night before they're speaking at general conference, has a funeral for her son and then you are excited. That sounds like power. That sounds like your testimony. It's not a crutch, it's a sword. We call it the sword of the spirit. And sometimes you have to lean on your sword from time to time. That gave you power and enthusiasm to go speak at general conference the next day

incredible. John, I've had people say that to me. They'll say, how did you speak in general conference the day after your son's funeral? And all the glory goes to the father. I'd used that as an opportunity to tell them, I am so grateful to him. It was him. It was nothing that I did. I take no credit whatsoever. I was held up by angels and given that privilege. It was a privilege and it was a blessing and it fortified me to be able to stand before the saints and be able to declare my love and my testimony. I want to make sure that the glory goes to him and to our Savior because their power, your right, we cannot comprehend it. It's just too glorious. Your testimony of their power helped you do that. That's beautiful.

And I'm so grateful. Yeah. The gospel is not white. It is wings. Yes. I love that. Oh, I love that. Amen. I was going to share with you another quote from Elder Kieran because we're talking about the other side of the veil and work on both sides. He said, temple service at Christmas time can be especially meaningful. The temple corrects our focus, magnifies our joy and unites families here and on the other side of the veil. Consider temple service instead of another Christmas activity that may not help you in your longing for that Christmas stillness that we were talking about. Those holy ordinances, the peace and priesthood power they hold for all who cherish them, are only made possible because of the only begotten son of the father This lamb slain from the foundation of the world whose birth we now celebrate. It's not beautiful

I love that and I agree. I have to tell you I love all the Christmas lights I love it that you can look out and see Christmas lights everywhere But to me the lights of the temple, they're on all year long. I just love it. I just love it that you can always pick out the temples because those lights are shining brightly all year long to remind us of you. When I was on my mission in the Philippines, my companion I were walking in our barrio, and there was a tree that was just lit up with fireflies. I had never seen anything like it. All the people gathered around told me that they had never seen anything like it.

We had just come from Christmas conference. They put on Mr. Krugrish Christmas. I'm watching snow falling on Temple Square in Salt Lake City, my hometown. I come home and I see this tree lit up with fireflies. I couldn't help it. I thought, did I just get a Christmas card from Heavenly Father? Did he send that to me? No, no, I am not near that important. But he would, but could he have, and I was stuck in that place of acknowledging his hand and all things and I didn't know what to do with that.

But I just decided Heavenly Father steered me to walk down that street and see that tree. Remind me when you talked about the lights. And it was, was glowing. And he did do that just for you. He don't even question it. There is no accident. He loves you that much. There is no accident. He loves you that much. It's funny that of all the Christmases that I've had, they blend into each other. But my mission, oh, I remember that one, you know, in great detail. Divine orchestration. How he does that is amazing, isn't it?

Heavenly Father said, Mary Christmas Elder. And I thought this is the coolest thing. Oh, I love that. And I know he does that for his missionaries. I know he does. Joy, what you said there reminds me of a story told by my friend Carl Grossin. He talks about experiencing Christmas away from home

as a missionary in Ecuador. And he says, being so near the equator, I knew I would not be having a white Christmas like those I was accustomed to. I had lots of thoughts of home, turkey, games, lights, caroling. And then he said, I had that sense of a need for a familiar feeling of Christmas in my unfamiliar surroundings. He said, I felt a renewed urgency to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ, so I could make the Christmas season more meaningful. He says, one day we were given a warm welcome at the humble home of senior tourists. He told us he'd been waiting and praying for the truth for eight years.

For two months, my companion and I had passed by this house daily without stopping. Brother Torres told us later, I always wanted you to stop, to ask about your church, but you were always walking so fast that I thought you were too busy for me. Prayers had been answered, we began teaching senior torres and his family with great joy. Christmas day drew nearer, and we could hardly wait to see this family as we quietly approach their home for a fourth visit. Before we knocked on the door, we saw through the window a scene that touched our hearts. Beauty emanated from all around the family as their loving, dark eyes, rosy cheeks, and soft innocent faces glowed in the dimly lit room.

Beneath a two-foot artificial tree on a table in the corner of the room lay the miniature figures of an activity scene, telling the story of another small family. Centuries after that nativity, the Torres family, in similar humble circumstances sat around an old table. Two young girls leaned anxiously over their mother's shoulder as she read the book we had given them. He says, the eldest child, eight-year-old Victor was seated across from his mother, watching attentively as his father played silent night on a rusty old xylophone. When they said they Victor ran to greet us,

came in, we sang silent night, then he says this. On the third week of December, Christmas seemed complete as I watched brother and sister tour as end victor all dressed in white, enter the waters of baptism and become members of the church. My companion turned to me and said, looks like it's a white Christmas after all. I love that idea of Christmas. And you said, the temple, one of our activities could be a Christmas tradition of making it a white Christmas and getting our family to the temple. That's so beautiful. Joy, this has been so fun.

I mean, these insights and these stories. This is a perfect Christmas episode for follow him. Is there any other thoughts you had coming into this that our listeners could benefit from? Is there any other thoughts you had coming into this that our listeners could benefit from? I want to know your Christmas traditions, but I wanted to share something because we're missing our dear President Ballard. And I want to read this to you, but I want you to imagine his loving voice. Here President Ballard, as I read this story from him, his words. He said, sometimes at Christmas, we have trouble finding the right gift for a loved one. As a missionary, I had the opposite problem. I had the perfect gift.

I just wasn't sure who I was going to give it to. When I was in Edinburgh, Scotland near the end of my mission, I saw a beautiful pink cashmere sweater set, a Scottish specialty and a shop window. There was no one I had in mind for it. I just knew I wanted to buy it, so I did. Scottish specialty in a shop window. There was no one I hadn't mind for it. I just knew I wanted to buy it, so I did. When I got home and was unpacking, I showed the sweater set to my mom who asked,

what in the world are you going to do with this? Very confidently, I answered, I'm going to find the girl who fits it, and I'm going to marry her. I gave that sweater set to Barbara Bowen for Christmas in 1950. It was a bold move considering we weren't even steadily dating at the time. I was pleased to see that she adored the sweater set, a short time later we were engaged. That was more than 70 years ago. During this Christmas season,

I give thanks to God our Father for sending His Son, Jesus Christ to the earth. The Savior overcame death and sin. If we follow Him, we can experience everlasting joy at this time. He said, although my sweetheart and eternal companion has passed from this earth life, I know that because of Jesus Christ willingness to come to earth, to fulfill God's plan, we all can return to our heavenly home, to live with our heavenly parents, our Savior, and our loved ones once again. And I'd love that story thinking of him being back with Sister Ballard, truly with all of his family and loved ones on the other side

of the veil, what a grand, great missionary. He's been called the greatest missionary. What an example, President Ballardless to us and just love and miss him. Can I ask you what your favorite Christmas traditions are? I have to credit my wife for this. She felt the nativity scene needed to rival the Christmas tree. Usually the Christmas tree is the big object, right? The bright thing. Usually the Christmas trees, the big object, right? The bright thing. She got one, the figures are pretty tall. We put this on a table, but underneath she puts a layer of lights and then some burlap.

And then that on top of there, we have a Bluetooth speaker playing Silent Night in a loop. They'll tell you, it draws you in when you see that. We also, she found a Christmas village of Bethlehem. So instead of small town USA, it's this Bethlehem Christmas village. And it gives us a backdrop for reading the Christmas story. That's been something that I really grateful that my wife had this idea of the nativity scene drawing you more than the Christmas tree. I mean, it does me, I don't know, maybe with the kids, no, but that draws your eyes because

it's so beautiful and lit up. Sounds inspiring. Yeah. There's something about getting those boxes out and getting those decorations out that really brings a wonderful feeling when my wife Sarah brings out those Christmas ornaments that we've collected. When you see each one, it brings back a flood of memories. Even the ones we had when we were first married, we still have some of them. Many have fallen victim to a child grabbing them and pulling them off the tree. And then we think, well, there goes the Christmas ornament for 2001.

That was a good year. We don't have that Christmas ornament anymore, but some have survived. And the flood of memories that comes with each one of those ornaments is fantastic. For a while, and this is something we probably need to do again. Sometimes Christmas traditions come and go, and I think the pandemic slowed a lot of our Christmas traditions or changed them, but maybe I need to talk to my sweet wife about bringing this one back. For a couple of years, we would give our children 20 or $30 starting on December 1st, an amount of money. He doesn't matter how much.

And we would say, we want you to give this away at some point between now and Christmas Eve. Can be to anyone or anything, can be a donation. You can't give it to yourself. That was often the first thought was, okay, I give it to myself today. Let my children to be on the lookout for people who might need something. I remember my son, Mason, we were at dinner. He looked across the restaurant and saw a family eating. He thought, I wanna use it right now.

We brought their server over and we were able to give them the money and we were able to watch as their server told them, hey, your meal is covered here. That, to me me was a really neat tradition, something that I had forgotten about. Thanks for asking joy. Oh, I love that. That is Christmas. And you never forget those experiences. You hold that right in your heart and to see your children experiencing the joy of giving. My kids are a little bit older than Hanks now, but it's really fun to see them get to that place

where suddenly they get more excited about giving than getting one of my daughters that's good on the smartphone has created a text for everybody except Andrew, everybody except Natalie, everybody except and we're all texting what's a great gift and to see them get excited about I found just the perfect thing. To experience how fun it is to give this perfect gift instead of just to get one, it's so

fun to see them get to that place where you can't wait to see what I got from Matthew. You know, it's really fun to see them get there. Now how fun. Now. They'll remember that more than the gifts they received. They'll remember the gifts that they were giving. Oh, that's so sweet. President Thomas S. Monson wrote a book called The Christmas Train.

And he talked about giving a train card to another kid. And he said, that is the day when giving became more important than receiving. He reached that moment. And it's fun to see that happen. Because I just tell my kids, I don't need anything, just be nice to each other. That's all I need. Yeah.

It reminds me of ring and runs. You've probably done where you're anonymously leaving things on people's porches. And I have memories of the scrapes and the bruises of the kids, you know, as they're sliding on the snow, trying to get the two blocks where the cars waiting for them to come and jump in. But our children are all grown and they still talk about the ring and runs. Doing 12 days of Christmas, reading and acting out the nativity on Christmas Eve. Remember this year's theme for Light the World is Let Your Light Shine. That's pretty appropriate.

The Messiah, that's always a wonderful tradition at Christmas. Missilto, don't forget the mistletoe. The stillness of Christmas day, that's something that I always think about is how the world seems to just stop on Christmas and you'll look outside and you don't see any cars going by and everything just feels quiet. And hopefully there's a blanket of snow depending

upon where you live. But there's something really special about that. I want to share my favorite Christmas tradition because we've done it forever. It makes me realize, wow, we've been around for a long time but we started a tradition early in our marriage and it's a testimony meeting. It's the very last event. We have to go through all the events of Christmas Eve, but that's the very last. We all gather around the dining room table and each person has their own candle in a little holder and we light the candles and each person takes a turn bearing their testimony. It doesn't matter the age, however young or old, everyone participates. It's become a really sacred little experience. We've been really happy to see that our grown children are now doing that with their children

and their homes. It's just sweet to be able to recognize how we feel about him and to be able to express it to each other, to voice our feelings. And sometimes I see a tear or two on the cheeks of a grandchild. And we sing a reverent version of Happy Birthday to Jesus. And then we have a little birthday cake. It's sweet. It always reminds me, therefore, hold up your light

that it may shine into the world. Behold, I am the light which she shall hold up. I am the light which shineeth in darkness. That's what we want to do. So many of our Christmas activities and traditions are cherished and remembered because they're concentrated, focused time as family. That's what I love remembering for my childhood is I got to see more of my dad at Christmas. He was so busy and I just remember that was just sweet to have fun time Down time with both of my parents cherish that time together. What's your children want most for Christmas is you?

Yes, so true so true Joy, what a treat this has been I think our listeners will think of it as a Christmas gift Having you join us. What would you think our listeners will think of it as a Christmas gift having you join us. What would you like our listeners to take in? One of you mentioned the importance of giving that that's more important than receiving and I couldn't help but think about Christmas as being about ministering. We talk so much about ministering. We're trying to learn how to minister as the Savior ministers

We can do ministering all year long. We don't have to do it just at Christmas It's such a privilege. Ministering though is the true spirit of Christmas. I believe We can practice the spirit of Christmas and our missionary service our temple and family history service We can give that gift to someone else here or across the veil. What a gift we give as we share friendship, as we share our testimony, as we share our love, and our time. Time is often the greatest gift of all, isn't it?

President Nelson said, and you're familiar with this. He said, anytime you do anything that helps anyone on either side of the veil, take a step toward making covenants with God and receiving their essential baptismal and temple ordinances. You are helping together Israel. And that is gift giving at its best. That's what really matters. Here we are preparing for the Savior's coming. What a glorious time it is to be on the earth and what a glorious opportunity it

is for us to celebrate Christmas as the Savior's life, as His mission, as all of the incredible blessings that come to us because of Him through his atoning sacrifice and his resurrection. It's such a blessing. And I wanted to share a scripture from Dr. Nenkovnis 109, verse 77. This was, of course, the prophet Joseph Smith, and he's describing the Savior. I love this scripture. Listen to all of his superlatives as he tries to describe the Savior. He describes him as a being who is enthroned with glory, honor, power, majesty,

might, dominion, truth, justice, judgment, mercy, and then perhaps sensing the futility of trying to list all of the Savior's virtues. He ends excitedly summing it up with an infinity of fullness from everlasting to everlasting. Isn't it a comfort to celebrate an worship of Savior that we can never exaggerate? I remember President Nelson's sweet, simple, but powerful counsel in last general conference when he said, put Jesus Christ first. As we strive to think celestial, put Jesus Christ first. Hopefully, we can make that our application from our time together today.

Let's put Jesus Christ first. What a beautiful Christmas message. Merry Christmas. What a day. I think that there will be thousands of people who listen differently and think of their loved ones as guardian angels. Because that beautiful letter from your son, what a Christmas gift. Thank you. Yeah. We'll thank Trevor. Thank you.

However, Sister Jones, thank you for taking your time with us today. It's been delightful. Thank you so much. I have loved being with you. Hmm. Mary Christmas. Mary Christmas. We want to thank Sister Joy Jones for being with us today. It's been an absolute treat. We want to thank our executive producer, Shannon Sornson.

Shannon, thank you for giving us and our listeners such a wonderful gift each and every week. We want to thank our sponsors, David and Verla Sornson, and we always remember our founder, Steve Sornsson. Join us next week. We have another lesson on the Book of Revelation. We're going to finish the New Testament on Follow Him. Today's transcripts, show notes, and additional references are available on our website, follow

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