Moment #443. Punjabi. Wed, Oct 12, 2005.

10/12/2005. I still felt like there was another opportunity, so I drove further East on the street. There was a strip mall that I felt drawn to, but all the stores were closed so I figured it was the gas station in front of the strip mall. I went in and bought a paper, and the cashier looked and sounded Hispanic. I asked "Habla usted Espanol?", but he said no. Ack! A big faux-pas on my part.

He was from India and spoke Punjabi and Hindi. He had been in Indiana only a few months, but had lived in New York for 9 years. So that explained his somewhat Hispanic accent.

I offered to show him free books from my church, and he readily agreed. I brought in Punjabi and English Gospel Fundamentals, and Hindi and English copies of the Book of Mormon. He eagerly accepted the Punjabi and English Gospel Fundamentals, and declined the Hindi Book of Mormon. Most of the Punjabis that I've met can speak Hindi, but don't read it, so I didn't push it. I suppose I could have offered just the English Book of Mormon, but I didn't. He started flipping through the Punjabi Gospel Fundamentals. We chit-chatted a bit before I left.