Stopped to help Taiwanese pedestian. Tue, Sep 5, 2006.

09/05/2006. 717. I was driving on a road that crosses over the Interstate, and on the other side of the road, walking in the other direction was a lady pulling a suitcase on wheels. It was very out of place as there was no sidewalk. This road just connected a few apartment complexes and it was not someplace you normally saw pedestrians. And especially not a fragile-looking person in their late 50's or early 60's, wearing shoes that were totally inappropriate for the terrain, and dragging a suitcase on wheels.

I wanted to offer her a ride to wherever she was going, but first I had to move some boxes out of the front seat. When I got to a place where there was room, I pulled over on my side of the road, cleared the front seat, then did a U-turn to get back to her.

She was almost at the next apartment complex. I pulled over, rolled down the window and offered her a ride. It turned out she was going to that apartment complex anyway, so she was almost at her destination. She politely declined my offer of a ride.

She appeared Asian, so I asked where she was from. She said Taiwan. I asked if she liked to read Chinese, and she said something like she was too lazy. I offered her a Chinese Bible and Chinese Book of Mormon, and she gratefully accepted them. I also gave her an English Book of Mormon.

Yes, I realize it can be dangerous to offer rides to strangers, and it can be dangerous to accept rides from strangers. But she was so out of place on that road, it seemed likely that she needed assistance. The boy scout in me more or less demanded that I at least make the offer of assistance. And then since we were already talking anyway, the pragmatist in me demanded I offer her some free books. So off she trundled with 3 books in one hand, and pulling her suitcase with the other. At that point at least, the streets at that apartment complex were smooth.

After a while, I figured that the likely explanation was that a taxi-driver had dropped her off at the wrong apartment complex, and she had to walk over the bridge to get to the right one.