Born, raised and educated in Los Angeles, California, the author enjoyed camping with her family, vacation Bible schools at her church, and summers at Christian camps in the nearby mountains. There, she began to learn the value of Christian service.
Later, missionaries to the Belgian Congo (Democratic Republic of Congo) and the jungles of Brazil visited her childhood home, inspiring her even more. The result of all these events was a burning desire to become a missionary herself.
She prepared for this by attending Bible college and studying/training at the Lutheran hospital to be a nurse. In pursuit of her goal, she met and married a young minister who was preparing himself for missionary work. Meanwhile, they had a family, two girls and two boys, and they spent the next 22 years ministering to Christian churches in Washington, Idaho and mostly California.
During that time, her husband went back to school and got a doctorate in linguistics. Finally, in her late 40s, they went to the Philippines to begin what she had prepared for her entire life: missionary work, Bible translation in the Philippines.
Copyright © 2014
Rose Fern (Mickey) Richards
Self-published print version published through the Publishing Services of College Press Publishing Co., Joplin, MO, USA.
* * *
Click on chapters in Table of Contents at the top of any page or in drop-down box at right.
Click on photos in chapters to enlarge.
* * *
Chuck and Mickey Richards are no longer with us. Charles passed away in 2018 and Mickey a few years after. They have finished their mission and entered into the joyful arms of the Lord.
* * *
This book is not sold in any store. Mickey (Rose Fern) wrote it with her son, published it, and gave it away to all who asked for it. This website contains the full content of the book, which continues to be freely available to all with an Internet connection. The link is https://mickeyrichards.wordpress.com/
However, you can download the book in PDF format for small screens or large by clicking on the appropriate link below. Please send the PDF to anyone who has an interest in the book, or send the link above.
Want to view this without an Internet connection? Download the PDF ebook!
For mobile screens up to 7″ tablets: Small screen PDF viewing
For screens above 7″ tablets: A-Joyful-life-large-screen-PDF
* * *
Table of Contents
1 My Forebears
2 My Early Life at Church
3 My Early Life at Home
4 Grammar School Days, Part 1
5 School Days, Part 2 (Junior High and High School Days)
6 Denver Avenue Memories
7 Dawson Family Events Memories
8 Influential People in My Life
9 College Days, Part 1: LACC, Phillips University and NCC
10 College Days, Part 2: Life at SJBC
11 Nurses Training
12 Wedding and Honeymoon
13 Our First Home
14 Our First Full Time Ministry: Zillah, WA
15 Boise Bible College: Our Ministry in Idaho
16 Back to School in California
17 Our Ministry at University Christian Church
18 Life in the San Fernando Valley
19 Our Plans for the Future
20 Jungle Training Camp
21 Preparations for Moving to the Philippines
22 The Container Ship Washington, States Line
23 Looking for Our New Home
24 Our Second Trip to Abra, Part 1: Return to Abra
25 Our Second Trip to Abra, Part 2: All for Naught
26 Transition to Piat
27 Life in Piat
28 Language Learning and Linguistic Analysis
29 Cultural Observations
30 Activities Away from Piat
31 Early Growth of the Itawes Church of Christ
32 Dialect Variation Survey
33 We Move to Enrile
34 Our House in Enrile
35 Adding a New Section to the House
36 The Eight Steps of Our Bible Translation
37 The Printing Procedure
38 Dedication of the Itawes New Testament
39 Clothing Distribution
40 Eyeglass Distribution
41 Christmas Times
42 Fiesta in Enrile
43 Angel of the Lord
44 Running Water
45 The Pump Well
46 An Enrile Wake
47 Corn Harvest
48 VBS in the Itawes Region
49 Our Trip to Portugal, Part 1
50 Our Trip to Portugal, Part 2
51 Philippine Sightseeing with Our Sisters
52 Thanksgiving for Our Permanent Residence Visas
53 Our Golden Wedding Anniversary
54 Our Trip to Alaska
55 A Typical Day in Rizal
56 Malaweg Bible Dedication
57 Our Change of Plans
58 The Rats
59 Revision of the Itawes Bible
60 Preparation for the Launching of the Revised Itawes Bible
61 Launching of Ya Ergo Y Afu Dios (Revised Itawes Bible)
62 What We Did When We Retired
63 Our Trip to the East
64 Amelia Julian
Appendix: Lost, But Not Alone: Chuck’s Adventure in Abra
A Joyful Life in God's Hands book 
I wrote you a letter but never knew if it arrived. I am so excited about your book. I am so so so proud of you. You and Chuck are such an example to us and we love you. Bev. Skiles Taiwan
LikeLike
My all time high in reading your book was the feeling you were here beside me telling me all those stories.
LikeLike
I am very pleased that that you felt my presence so near. As I was writing it, that’s the way I felt about the people I was writing to, in fact. I really felt like they would care about what I was saying to them. — from Mickey Richards
LikeLike