Moment #681. French, Haitian Creole at store. Thu, Aug 3, 2006.

08/03/2006. After leaving a meeting a church, I picked up a package at a friend's house. On the way home from his house, I felt an obvious impression to turn left at the light towards a commercial area instead of continuing ahead to go home. The first thing that popped into my mind was to eat supper at a particular restaurant. That was a less clear impression, but it felt right. I ate there, but didn't see any obvious opportunities for book placements.

Leaving the restaurant parking lot, I felt a clear impression, or "tug" to go to the Meijer store. This probably meant that going to the restaurant was a "timing factor," and that my contact would be a fellow customer. I needed some groceries anyway, so it worked out.

I saw a family in the produce section, one of whom was talking on her cell phone. I wasn't close enough to hear if she was speaking a foreign language, but the kids were speaking English without foreign accents. So I figured they were not my contacts.

I passed through the frozen food section, and was about to head for the checkout when, just by chance, I walked directly past them going in the opposite diretion. Then it was clear that she was speaking a foreign language on her phone.

I started a conversation by asking if she spoke French, and she said yes. She was from Haiti, and spoke French, Haitian Creole, and English. In French, I offered her "books from my church" in French and Haitian, and she agreed. Switching to English, I said I'd bring them in from my car, and find her again.

I left my cart, and went out to the car and brought back in French, Haitian, and English copies of the Book of Mormon, and a French Liahona magazine. I found the family again, and presented the books and magazine to her. She was eager and happy to receive them. We chatted a bit more. She had married a man from the US and their children were raised in the US, so that was why they didn't have an accent.