Moment #458. Arabic/English New Testament. Wed, Nov 2, 2005.

11/02/2005. Still on my way home from Carmel, I needed a bathroom break, and stopped at a convenient Wendy's along the way. I feel uncomfortable about using a store's restoom without buying something, and as it was almost supper time anyway, I bought something from their 99 cent menu.

The cashier was in her late teens, and looked middle eastern, and spoke with a slight accent. There were no customers behind me, so I asked if she was from India. She said she was from Egypt. I asked if she spoke Arabic, and she said yes.

I said my church has Bibles and Books of Mormon in foreign languages, and asked if I could give her some stuff in Arabic. She didn't say no, but wasn't sure if she was allowed to accept, as she was new there. Her tone of voice and attitude was not at all negative, so I decided to bring her something.

The Arabic Book of Mormon is kind of big, so I decided to give her just a pocket-sized Arabic/English bilingual New Testament from the International Bible Society. I made sure there was a Book of Mormon pass-along card in it. I wrote on the card "Available in Arabic." Also in it were a local-info flyer, with the list of chapels, and my business card.

There was one customer in front of me when I went back in, but there were no more customers behind me. When it was my turn at the counter again, I presented the New Testament, and she graciously accepted it. Upon leaving, I could hear one of the other employees politely ask her what it was.