Book of Mormon Moment #449. Chinese. Sat, Oct 22, 2005.

10/22/2005. Laundry night, with just one load. I wanted to wash some stuff before my full laundry trip next Monday or Tuesday. Ok, you're probably thinking I'm a loser for doing laundry on a Saturday night (a fact I won't argue), but this turned into a very serendipitous "divine appointment". A double appointment even.

I went to the laundry down the street that's right next to a Chinese restaurant. I've placed Books of Mormon at this restaurant on at least two previous occasions, plus a third where I placed at least a DVD with a Chinese audio track, and maybe another Book of Mormon.

I was hungry and hadn't eaten supper, so I started the washing machine, got my computer case containing English and Chinese BoM's and a couple of DVD's from the car, and went over to the restaurant. Due to different shifts and employee turnover, you can often go back to restaurants and find diferent people working there.

The cashier and cook were just finishing their supper, and went behind the counter just as I arrived. I placed my order and sat down next to the table where they were sitting.

The cashier came back to clear the table where they had eaten, and I asked her if she liked to read in Chinese. She said yes, and I started to open my case. I asked if she was from Taiwan or China, and she said mainland China. I pulled out the Simplified Chinese Book of Mormon, said it was from my church, and free, and handed it to her. She immediately started flipping through it. I then offered the English and she accepted it too. She was very enthusiastic and was happy to receive them. The cook came out to look, they spoke a bit, and he went back behind the counter. I offered another set for him, but she declined, and I took it that they could share.

I noticed her reading the book back in the kitchen area when he had a few free seconds.

While I was eating, the cook came out front with the Chinese copy and started reading it at the table next to mine. He said he didn't read English, but I put out another English Book of Mormon on his table and tried to explain how they are the same translation and could be used together to learn some English.

He later went back behind the counter to cook when more customers came in, but he left both the English and the Chinese Books of Mormon on the table. This led right into the next moment.