Croatian at restaurant. Tue, Nov 28, 2006.

11/28/2006. 762. It was around supper time, and I had the idea to go to one of the suburbs of Indy and look for a Chinese restaurant. I knew the general area where the restaurant was located, and took the road that goes there. Along the way, I passed a certain gas station and felt a spiritual tug to go there.

I bought some bottled water, as I've cut way back on soda. The cashier was an English-speaking lady. So I wondered what the "tug" was for. Sometimes, it's just a "timing loop" so that I arrive at the next stop at the appropriate time to meet someone. There was a restaurant in the same strip mall as the gas station, and it's name denoted a certain area of Europe, so I went there to investigate. The restaurant didn't stand out in my mind as I drove by, so perhaps the Spirit used what was uppermost in my mind at the time, the gas station, to grab my attention. Often in the past, the Spirit has used something I see to direct me to a place that I didn't see.

I went in to read the menu on the wall, and the proprietress spoke with a European accent, but I couldn't tell what language. I asked, and she said she was from Yugoslavia, and spoke Serbo-Croatian. I thought I had a Croatian Book of Mormon in the car, so I decided to eat there. It was a nice mom-and-pop type place, and I was the only customer.

She took my order, and I paid, and then I made my pitch, offering to show her a book from my church in Croatian. She asked what church and I replied. She agreed, so I went out to the car, and I did indeed have a Croatian Book of Mormon so I brought it, and English Book of Mormon, and Croatian and English copies of the Joseph Smith testimony pamphlet.

She was curious, and started flipping through it, and asked where the church was, and I pointed out the nearest chapel on the list of chapels that I include on an 'info flyer' that I put in all my books.

I sat down to wait for my order, and in a few minutes she also came over and sat at my table to ask more questions. I love that casualness in small mom-and-pop restaurants.

She said she wanted to find a Croatian Bible too. She said she was Catholic, but when I asked, she had neither a Croatian nor an English Bible. I pointed out the phone number for the International Bible Society that I had stamped on one of the info flyers. As I write this, I checked and they don't have one, but the American Bible Society does, so I'll have to follow up.

I went out to the car and retrieved an LDS edition King James Bible that I bought on sale, and a paperback New International Version from IBS. I ended up giving her the paperback as she said she didn't read English very well.

Throughout my stay at the restaurant, she was conversing with "Pop" in Croatian.

It was a very pleasant encounter, and the food was good. Friends can email me for the name/location.