Moment #545. Amharic at gym. Thu, Mar 16, 2006.

03/16/2006. I was at the gym using an elliptical machine. The man next to me appeared to be Ethiopian and was talking to the guy on the other side of him. I had thought I had already given this man an Amharic Book of Mormon. When the guy on the other side left, I struck up a conversation. I was mistaken, I hadn't given him anything before. He let me practice a little Amharic that I had learned from a CD.

When he was done with his workout on the elliptical, I offered to give him a Book of Mormon in Amharic that I had in my car. He accepted, and asked me to let him know when I left. He then moved to another kind of machine. I finished my elliptical workout, and he was still on the other machine. I didn't want to interrupt his workout, so I got the Amharic and English Books of Mormon in a plastic bag from my car, and stayed longer and did some more exercises until he finished.

When he was done, I approached him again, made sure he really wanted the books, and handed them to him. It's bad form to pester or proselyte fellow customers at a gym, but there's nothing wrong with conversations as long as both parties engage willingly. A couple of the employees may have seen me approach him and give him the books, but I can honestly say he sincerely wanted them, and was glad to receive them.