On Friday March 16, 2012 Harold was diagnosed with brain cancer (stage IV melanoma). This blog is to inform our many friends and family who are sharing this journey of faith.
Thursday, June 27, 2013
Passed
This afternoon Harold passed his mortal test and joined loved ones on the other side. It was a beautiful and tender moment while surrounded by all our children.
Love you President Jones! You touched my life in many ways that I will always treasure. Thank you for your unshakable testimony and for showing me how to truly embrace life. You will be missed and always remembered!
I will always remember and love "Bishop Jones"! He was a wonderful spiritual leader at an important time in my life; he is a great man and he raised an awesome family. I feel so blessed to know him, and while I and many others will miss him, I will be happy knowing he is free from pain and busy doing the work of the Lord on the other side of the veil. I love you, Jones family, and I'll be keeping you in my thoughts and prayers. May the Lord bless you and keep you.
My thoughts and prayers are with you all. Bishop/President Jones was a great man and a wonderful spiritual leader and friend. I will miss him very much. Like others have said, he taught me so much. He taught me to be a more patient primary president - to not expect little boys to be good all the time -- when I would counsel with him he would tell me about some of his antics as a child and suggested that we had angel-boys in our Primary, compared to how he used to behave, LOL. Not having children of my own, his counsel was good and sound and greatly appreciated !! I know he will be greatly missed by you all and so many others as well. I remember when my own dad passed and I was sitting at the airport to fly home, and was watching people go about their days like they didn't know that the world had just shifted and was teetering on its axis. No one seemed to know it but me... However, I do remember it was great to arrive home and be with family and feel that peace of eternal family surround me. I hope and pray that you will continue to feel the peace of God, our Savior and comfort of the Holy Ghost to surrounding you through the coming days, weeks, months, etc. Love, Kathy
We love you -- and we know Harold is busy organizing the missionaries on the other side -- but we are still sad for your loss. You have been in our prayers for more than a year -- and you'll stay there. Harold is a most wonderful righteous husband, father, and servant of the Lord, and I'm sure there were shouts of joy when he arrived and great relief that his ordeal is finally over. He passed his test and returned with honor. But we will all miss him here until we meet again.
Thank you for this wonderful blog. We can't tell you how we have appreciated your testimony and your willingness to allow all of us to follow you down this path of faith.
When I read this scripture, I thought of President Jones.
“I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand.
“I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith:
“Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.” (2 Tim. 4:6–8.)"
What an exceptional man of faith he was! Such an example to me as an impressionable child, but even more so as an adult. My love and prayers are with you and your family.
I feel compelled to write some memories of times with Harold and Sharon.
I remember being a brand new assistant to the President on our mission and having a brand new President who hadn’t met any of the missionaries and we had to do a transfer so my companion and I had to do the transfers. We had a missionary who needed to be senior companion but wasn’t completely trustworthy. The inspiration came to me so clearly to make him senior companion with Elder Jones (Harold) as the junior because I knew Harold would never allow anything wrong to happen. Harold was ready to be senior, in fact, ready to be a leader but he was not concerned with any of that…he just wanted to do the work. The result was that this other missionary soon became a leader in the mission because of what he learned from Harold.
I remember the comfort I felt when we first moved to Denver because Harold and Sharon were there and we had friends who made us feel welcome.
I remember starting a study group with Harold and Sharon and Dennis and Wanda Wilson. We had wonderful spiritual discussions. One time someone decided to have dinner first, so it became dinner, then study. Then a bit later someone decided to have games afterwards, so it was dinner, study, then games. Pretty soon it was just dinner and games. We weren’t quite as spiritual but we sure had a lot of fun.
I remember Harold and Sharon visiting us in Brazil and Harold teaching the missionaries 1 Nephi 3:7 in a way neither they nor I had ever heard before. It was fun listening to Harold try to speak Portuguese again after speaking Spanish for so many years since his mission. But mostly I remember the profound teaching from 1 Nephi 3:7. I have shared his insight many times since with many people.
I remember making ice cream in the back yard with no grass because we hadn’t had the time to plant grass yet and certainly didn’t have the money to buy sod. Our kids were playing in the dirt having a great time and Harold and I took turns hand cranking ice cream.
I remember the four of us spending a weekend in the mountains at Harold’s boss’s cabin and having a great time hiking, playing games and just enjoying the wonders and beauties of the Rockies.
I remember when they visited us in Brazil after we hadn’t seen each other for some years and it took about 5 minutes for us all to feel like we had been together yesterday. Thus it is with eternal friends. I can’t wait to be together again with Harold soon and share stories and laugh and play together again. I will miss you, my friend.
I felt a prompting that his passing had happened, so I checked the blog. Sending you love at this time of separation.
ReplyDeleteBrenda
Love you President Jones! You touched my life in many ways that I will always treasure. Thank you for your unshakable testimony and for showing me how to truly embrace life. You will be missed and always remembered!
ReplyDeleteSending our love and prayers.
ReplyDeleteI will always remember and love "Bishop Jones"! He was a wonderful spiritual leader at an important time in my life; he is a great man and he raised an awesome family. I feel so blessed to know him, and while I and many others will miss him, I will be happy knowing he is free from pain and busy doing the work of the Lord on the other side of the veil. I love you, Jones family, and I'll be keeping you in my thoughts and prayers. May the Lord bless you and keep you.
ReplyDeleteMy thoughts and prayers are with you all. Bishop/President Jones was a great man and a wonderful spiritual leader and friend. I will miss him very much. Like others have said, he taught me so much. He taught me to be a more patient primary president - to not expect little boys to be good all the time -- when I would counsel with him he would tell me about some of his antics as a child and suggested that we had angel-boys in our Primary, compared to how he used to behave, LOL. Not having children of my own, his counsel was good and sound and greatly appreciated !! I know he will be greatly missed by you all and so many others as well. I remember when my own dad passed and I was sitting at the airport to fly home, and was watching people go about their days like they didn't know that the world had just shifted and was teetering on its axis. No one seemed to know it but me... However, I do remember it was great to arrive home and be with family and feel that peace of eternal family surround me. I hope and pray that you will continue to feel the peace of God, our Savior and comfort of the Holy Ghost to surrounding you through the coming days, weeks, months, etc. Love, Kathy
ReplyDeleteWe love you -- and we know Harold is busy organizing the missionaries on the other side -- but we are still sad for your loss. You have been in our prayers for more than a year -- and you'll stay there. Harold is a most wonderful righteous husband, father, and servant of the Lord, and I'm sure there were shouts of joy when he arrived and great relief that his ordeal is finally over. He passed his test and returned with honor. But we will all miss him here until we meet again.
ReplyDeleteThank you for this wonderful blog. We can't tell you how we have appreciated your testimony and your willingness to allow all of us to follow you down this path of faith.
God bless, Wendell and Deanna Tolman
When I read this scripture, I thought of President Jones.
ReplyDelete“I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand.
“I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith:
“Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.” (2 Tim. 4:6–8.)"
What an exceptional man of faith he was! Such an example to me as an impressionable child, but even more so as an adult. My love and prayers are with you and your family.
You are in our hearts, thoughts and prayers.
ReplyDeleteMy thoughts and prayers are with you and your family. May the Lord Bless and keep you now and in the days ahead. Faith will prevail.
ReplyDeleteRuth Ann Harkness
I feel compelled to write some memories of times with Harold and Sharon.
ReplyDeleteI remember being a brand new assistant to the President on our mission and having a brand new President who hadn’t met any of the missionaries and we had to do a transfer so my companion and I had to do the transfers. We had a missionary who needed to be senior companion but wasn’t completely trustworthy. The inspiration came to me so clearly to make him senior companion with Elder Jones (Harold) as the junior because I knew Harold would never allow anything wrong to happen. Harold was ready to be senior, in fact, ready to be a leader but he was not concerned with any of that…he just wanted to do the work. The result was that this other missionary soon became a leader in the mission because of what he learned from Harold.
I remember the comfort I felt when we first moved to Denver because Harold and Sharon were there and we had friends who made us feel welcome.
I remember starting a study group with Harold and Sharon and Dennis and Wanda Wilson. We had wonderful spiritual discussions. One time someone decided to have dinner first, so it became dinner, then study. Then a bit later someone decided to have games afterwards, so it was dinner, study, then games. Pretty soon it was just dinner and games. We weren’t quite as spiritual but we sure had a lot of fun.
I remember Harold and Sharon visiting us in Brazil and Harold teaching the missionaries 1 Nephi 3:7 in a way neither they nor I had ever heard before. It was fun listening to Harold try to speak Portuguese again after speaking Spanish for so many years since his mission. But mostly I remember the profound teaching from 1 Nephi 3:7. I have shared his insight many times since with many people.
I remember making ice cream in the back yard with no grass because we hadn’t had the time to plant grass yet and certainly didn’t have the money to buy sod. Our kids were playing in the dirt having a great time and Harold and I took turns hand cranking ice cream.
I remember the four of us spending a weekend in the mountains at Harold’s boss’s cabin and having a great time hiking, playing games and just enjoying the wonders and beauties of the Rockies.
I remember when they visited us in Brazil after we hadn’t seen each other for some years and it took about 5 minutes for us all to feel like we had been together yesterday. Thus it is with eternal friends. I can’t wait to be together again with Harold soon and share stories and laugh and play together again. I will miss you, my friend.