Warmth and Story-Telling in the Spanish-American Mission, ca. 1949
Lorin F. Jones, accompanied by his wife Ivie Huish Jones, served as president of the Spanish-American Mission – with responsibility for all Spanish-speaking members and the proselytizing of Spanish speakers from California east through Texas and beyond – from 1943 through 1951. This couple was well prepared for their mission. Having grown up in the Mormon colonies of northern Mexico, and having fled Mexico in the Revolution to live in New Mexico, they spoke Spanish fluently and had experience with and sympathy for the difficult economic circumstances along the border.
The Joneses organized the first Spanish-American Mission Day in the Arizona temple (an event we should post here – it was a moving experience), and were later responsible for the first non-English language temple sessions conducted anywhere in the world. Sister Jones taught the members of her mission both the importance of and the practical skills necessary for recording genealogical information and taking family names to the temple – under her guidance, many thousands of ordinances were performed by members of the mission.
In the late 1940s, Sister Jones developed a craft that became very popular in the mission for a couple of years. Inexpensive, practical, easy to do, involving adults and children, and very decorative, she taught the sisters of her mission how to make simple quilts for their children. These quilts used inexpensive muslin squares sewn together with contrasting bands of fabric. Illustrations in outline form of scriptural stories – Sister Jones used drawings obtained from a Kansas City craft house, but you could easily duplicate the technique using coloring book pictures – were traced onto the fabric. Adults or older children used a simple backstitch to embroider the designs. Younger children colored the designs, using ordinary waxy crayons. Then blotting paper was placed over the designs, and the crayon was “fixed” onto the fabric by means of a hot iron.
But the fun of making the quilt was only half the purpose: After a child was tucked in at night, he or she could choose one of the pictures, and a parent or older child would tell the scripture story as a bedtime story. Eventually the small children could tell the stories themselves. In this way, the gospel stories were reinforced for all members of the family.
Below is a sample of Sister Jones’s quilts, based on the New Testament. I wonder if any similar ones survive in the childhood possessions of Latter-day Saints of that era?
I love that. Thanks.
Comment by Hunter — September 9, 2009 @ 8:54 am
The Joneses seemed to be forward thinking in setting up the temple day and non-English language sessions. I’ve actually have been in non-English sessions in Dallas (Spanish) and last month in Bern, Switzerland (French). At the Swiss temple it really hit me how significant and important it was to the Church to develop the non-English sessions.
Comment by Steve C. — September 9, 2009 @ 9:07 am
Glad you like it, Hunter. I’ll bet one or more of your girls would like it, too.
Steve, I’ll do something soon on the Joneses and the temple — like you, I think it was/is essential, and I’m a little shocked at how long it took. That’s cool that you got to go to the Bern Temple on your EMSA trip — it was in my mission, but we weren’t allowed to go, even on our way home. I regret that since I’m unlikely ever to be in Europe again.
BTW, I can figure out all the stories and titles except for the one in the lower left corner of the quilt — padblo ensenando. Can someone help with that one?
Comment by Ardis E. Parshall — September 9, 2009 @ 9:33 am
Interesting, Ardis. Thanks.
Pablo is Paul, so, Paul Teaching.
Comment by Jared T. — September 9, 2009 @ 11:36 am
Cool, thanks Ardis.
Comment by David G. — September 9, 2009 @ 11:51 am
I would really enjoy something on the Joneses and the Spanish temple sessions. Again, I think that non-English temple sessions was a significant and vital part for the expansion of the Church outside the USA.
That’s too bad you didn’t get to go to the Swiss Temple on your mission. I know how they were back then about missionaries going to the temple. I hope that someday you can get back to Europe and do some of that.
Comment by Steve C. — September 9, 2009 @ 12:35 pm
Ardis do you know if the Joneses knew any LDS soldiers leaving for WWII or Korea? Any Spanish speaking soldiers?
Comment by Joseph Soderborg — September 9, 2009 @ 12:54 pm
I love this. Add me to the list of people interested in hearing more.
Comment by m&m — September 9, 2009 @ 5:08 pm
Ardis–There is a quilt in the Church collections from this mission from the 1940s in a similar style, although I do not recall any scripture stories on it. It is one of those quilts (so common throughout Mormondom in a certain time period) where an individual unit (in this case) or an individual sister would create a block which would then become a part of a greater whole. This quilt, along with a number of similar examples from far flung areas of the world were used in the RS sesquicentennial in 1992 to represent sisterhood. These quilts (and other items) where a number of people contributed are in the tradition of 19th century album quilts, (although the motifs on most Mormon quilts I have seen are quite different from traditional album quilt motifs.)
Comment by Marjorie Conder — September 9, 2009 @ 8:55 pm
Add me to the list of those who’d be interested in hearing about the beginnings of the Spanish-language temple sessions. My grandparents served as temple workers in the Mesa Temple for many years, beginning in the late 50s or early 60s, and in their old age learned enough Spanish to serve in the Spanish-language sessions.
On a slightly related topic, I heard President Hinckley tell of his experiences in taking the temple films to Switzerland for the opening of the Swiss Temple. The Swiss customs officials apparently had the right to watch any films that were brought into the country, and the brethren were obviously concerned. So they asked Brother Hinckley, not yet a general authority, to come up with a solution. He said that he went to Alexander Schreiner, the tabernacle organist, and had him record 20 or 30 minutes of “unlistenable” organ music, and patched that onto the beginning of the tapes with the temple ceremonies, figuring that that would stop any nosy customs officer. And that’s where my memory goes off the tracks–whatever happened at customs inspection, the films made it through without being watched, but I forget the details.
Comment by Mark B. — September 11, 2009 @ 6:27 am
I used to live in a ward with a man in the church’s AV department who was responsible on at least some occasions for carrying the films to temples in Central/South America. His preferred stories tended toward implications of the supernatural (“The censor was just about to watch the movie when he got an emergency call and waved me through!”) — I think I like President Hinckley’s and your pragmatic version better.
Comment by Ardis E. Parshall — September 11, 2009 @ 7:11 am
I’m glad Mark B. brought this post up again. The other day when it posted, I didn’t have the time to look up whether Lorin F. Jones was related to Daniel W. Jones, who led a fascinating life and played a role in early missionary efforts among Spanish-Americans and Native Americans. He left an autobiography, Forty Years Among the Indians. (Tangent alert! I wish someone would write a biography of Ammon Tenney, another fascinating early Arizona settler. Tenney served as president of the Mexican Mission around the turn of the century.)
But, I find that Lorin Jones and Daniel Jones do not seem to be related.
Comment by Researcher — September 11, 2009 @ 7:41 am
Mark B: My parents were sealed in the Mesa Temple in the late 1950s. Maybe they crossed paths with your parents.
Comment by Steve C. — September 11, 2009 @ 7:56 am