Moment #552. Amharic x2 at laundromat. Thu, Apr 13, 2006.

04/13/2006. I had two baskets of clothes to take in. After setting the first one down next to a washer and heading to the door, I noticed a middle-aged lady and a younger woman who appeared to be her daughter talking at one of the folding tables. They looked Ethiopian. So on my way out I approached them and asked if they were from Ethiopia. I tried to address both at the same time, but the younger was the spokesperson. She said they were from Eritrea. Eritrea is the country North of Ethiopia and used to be a part of it for a time. I asked if they spoke Amharic. She said their main language was Tigrinya, and they spoke Amharic too. I was unclear if they read Amharic. Sometimes people only speak their secondary regional language, and not read it.

I said my church has a book in Amharic, that it's free, and that I had a copy in my car. I offered to show it to her and she agreed.

I went out to the car to get the second basket of clothes, and I got out Amharic and English copies of the Book of Mormon, and Amharic and English copies of the New Testament.

When I got back, there was an Ethiopian man talking to the two ladies. I wasn't sure if he was a family member or an acquaintance, so I gave the books to him first. He wanted one too, so I went back out and got another set. He declined the English New Testament though. It turned out he was a neighbor, not a family member. The younger lady accepted all 4 books, Amharic/English Book of Mormon and Amharic/English New Testaments.

(The Amharic New Testament is $1.50 from International Bible Society, and the English New International Version New Testament is $.85.)

The man helped me with pronunciation of a couple forms of greeting in Amharic and explained a singular versus plural form. Ndemin-amashu (good evening) for addressing 2 or more people, versus ndayt-amashu for addressing one person.