Rebecca's Mission Call Letter

MISSION CALL FROM THE PROPHET

Cover Picture for my mission book

 

Summary/Testimony of My Fourteen Months As A Service Missionary

I have had amazing experiences being a service missionary. So many great memories!! I loved every minute of it!! I’ve had so many great opportunities doing service for my community and people, but want to emphasize time with the sister missionaries, time at the library and time in Wisconsin with Yuxin, as follows:

• Time with Sister Missionaries:  I have enjoyed being with the sister missionaries and doing service with them. The service I did with them is: helping someone to move in, went to the farm, did district council, zone conference, library, set up or run some activities, animal shelter, gave blood, Yovanna Richardson center, Rehab Center for older people, Restore Center, personal study and going with them to teach a family, among other things. 

• Time At The Library: I have done a lot of service at the Fayetteville Public Library, from dusting to moving furniture around. By being there I have met wonderful  people and the people that worked there. They loved having me around and the hard work I put in every day. What’s cool is Sam Palmer from the ward was the main guy in charge of the Expansion Of the Library. It was neat to see the progression of the expansion. The expansion is supposed to be done Fall of 2020. I have to say they are getting close to finishing the expansion up now and I got to be part of it!

• Time In Wisconsin With Yuxin: Being with Yuxin for a couple of months has been an amazing experience for both her and I. I learned a lot from her and she learned a lot from me. Being a foreigner from China and during this pandemic, it was a little hard living alone by herself. That is the reason why I went and stayed with her so she wouldn’t feel lonely. She enjoyed my company. I did some fun things with her while being there. The amazing experience she had with me is every Sunday my parents would always call me for church and she would sit by me/listen to what is being said. She really enjoys doing that!! Having that experience being companions with her and teaching her the gospel, through the Come Follow Me Manual and being with my family for church over Facebook messenger, has helped her to learn more about the gospel.

Since being a service missionary, I've grown spiritually and physically as a service missionary along the way. I have done a lot of service for different people and those people I served, I will remember the feeling of joy they had inside them and how happy they were. I have met a lot of wonderful people along the way and those people are going to be cherished in my heart forever. Even though I will be released as a service missionary, doesn’t mean I should quit serving people, I should always serve people when they need it.

SISTER REBECCA RICHARDSON MISSION JOURNAL -- Celebrating my handwork as a service missionary with the Nothums before I get released

Saturday 8, 2020:

This was a fun day. To celebrate ending my mission soon, Brother and Sister Nothum invited my parents to come down to their place in Missouri. My two brothers Mason and David joined us for the fun!! That morning we got up and drove 2 hours 15 mins to their place. They lived out in the country. There at their place where their home was, they showed my parents around. They showed them their backyard, their barn/a place: where people can stay, watch movies on the big screen they have in there, cook up food in the kitchen, and play games upstairs, showed the horses, the bulls, and the arena. They also had bathrooms in the “barn house” and in the two bathrooms, there were showers. Then Brother Nothum loaded up two horses to take with us to their 180 acres property they owned. We headed off to go see their big-o property. The property is called Turkey Creek. We were there for quite a while. There were a lot of things we did out there. My two brothers and I went swimming in their beautiful pond, while my parents and the Nothums were visiting together on the dock that was shaded, I drove the side by side with my parents in there and brother Nothum showing them their property, rode horses, they showed my parents the inside of the place where people can stay, eat lunch with them, and finally had a good visit with them. My parents loved their two properties. After we had a blast, we headed over to Brother Nothum’s business he owns down in Springfield, Missouri. There he showed us around and told us about how his business works. Offered us free shirts and two hats for my two brothers and my dad. Then we headed back home. We were with the Nothums from 9ish and headed back home about 4:30ish. The Nothum’s are amazing service missionary couples. They are fun to be around and make things fun. I am going to surely miss their gatherings for the service missionaries. I admire and appreciate them so much!!

Me on a stand up paddle boat. I balanced myself pretty well on it!!

SISTER REBECCA RICHARDSON MISSION JOURNAL -- End Of April through July 8th

 Somewhere at the End of April, I went on an airplane from XNA to Dallas. Then went on another plane from Dallas to Minneapolis. Never in my life have I gone through an airport by myself and flew alone. It was a good adulting experience for me and I enjoyed it. Tip from me: always follow the signs and you will know where to go. Want to know an easier way to find the baggage claim you are looking for: Follow the people that went on the same flight as you. What helped me get through the airport by myself was the companionship of the holy ghost, God, and my parents being by my side supporting me along the way. If it wasn’t for those three, I would feel alone and nobody would be by my side. Yuxin picked me up and drove to Eau Claire, Wisconsin. I stayed with her until July 8th. During my stay with her, we did some fun things together. At the same time, I was finishing up my last semester of the BYU-Pathways Program. The four best memories I had with her were dying each other’s hair, cutting my hair, teaching me how to cook some Chinese food, doing our nails with her fancy special nail polishes and her cool looking little machine, where you can stick one hand in and the special lights inside the machine dry our nails. For dying the hair part, you see I have never dyed a person’s hair nor dyed my hair, but I went for it anyway; I want to try something new. The color she dyed my hair was dark red auburn and the color turned out fine. We both did the same dye hair color. Afterward, it looked like a murder scene in the bathroom. I was even brave enough to try a duck neck and pig ear. Both of them tasted strange or interesting. The neighborhood she lived in was gorgeous. One time I came back from walking around the neighborhood and I was just standing by the pond. Out of the blue, I saw something moving in the pond and it was an otter. I just couldn’t believe it!! I got so excited!! I also saw a bunch of tadpoles in the water alongside the pond. It was so amazing to see that many tadpoles!! Since living there, she and I have grown a great friendship. We get along really well. I love being around her, learning Chinese from her, and teaching her English. I have enjoyed getting to serve her by being there, so she wouldn’t be lonely and help her out by putting together/moving furniture around. It was sad when the day came of me leaving her. When I was getting close to leaving her, she would always say, I am going to miss you and what I'm going to do without you. I said back to her, I am going to miss you tons. Almost forgot to mention, I brought back a whole bunch of different kinds of cheese home for the family to try, that Yuxin and I bought from the Weavers Store in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. I had the cheeses in a package and it was super heavy. The good part, is it got to the XNA airport safe.

On the way to Eau Claire, Wisconsin

The pretty view right outside my window

Two Beautiful Pigeons

Look at all those Tadpoles

A otter in the pond. I have never seen a otter in a pond. I always thought they where only in the ocean. So it surprised me!! Then I figured out later, there are different types of otter. One is a sea otter, which lives out in the sea and I don't know the type of this otter is called.

Another park we went to

Hoffman Hills

Found a tiny frog along the way

Yogurts I got at the Weavers store. I loved the Maple Vanilla a lot!!

This is a Amish store

Cooking Black Pepper Chicken for lunch

This is a type of street food, which I do not know the name to. Basically it has egg, tomatoes, and sauce on this type of flatbread or something.

Tomatoes and Egg which was my favorite dish there

Eggplant and rice, which is another dished I loved

Tried Pig Ear for the first time. This one was rubbery/chewy. It had a very interesting texture for sure.

Yuxin and I made this cheesecake. It has crushed up oreos on the bottom to count as a crust, whipping cream, cream cheese, and powered sugar mixed together to make that middle part and crushed up strawberries on top. The taste was absolutely amazing!!

Tried Duck Neck for the first time. This one was spicy!!

On the way back to XNA