Broke the sabbath, but gave out a Hindi copy. Sun, Nov 19, 2006.

11/19/2006. 751. I forgot to put gas in the car last night. I had enough gas to get to church and back this morning, but I needed to cross town to visit another ward in the afternoon, and then go to a fireside at our chapel tonight. So my sin of omission last night led to me buying gas this morning. I wasn't running late, but didn't want to cut it close, so I picked out a gas station that would be on the right hand side of the road, so that making a two left turns on the main thoroughfare wouldn't delay me. I chose one for which I have a pre-paid gas card. Maybe paying at the pump instead of the cashier makes it less of a violation of the sabbath.

Before I got to the intended gas station, someone called me on my cell phone, and I passed up that gas station while on the phone before I realized it. After we hung up, I chose another "right hand side" station, and figured I could use my debit card.

I paid at the pump, bought enough gas, but the pump said to see cashier for the receipt. I thought: okay, so this will be a "good enough excuse" to offer the cashier a Book of Mormon. This station is part of a chain that often employs people from India and Pakistan. I've given out books here before.

After the cashier gave me the receipt, there was no one else in line, so I asked him if I had given him one of my blue books before. He said no. I asked, and he said he spoke Hindi. So I offered him a Hindi Book of Mormon, and he agreed to see it.

I retrieved a Hindi copy and an English copy of the Book of Mormon from the car and went back in and gave them to him. I pointed out the list of languages on the back of a flyer I put in the books, and suggested he could call the phone number listed if he knew anyone who wanted books.