English, French declined. French at gas station. Tue, Jan 23, 2007.

01/23/2007. 782. English declined. I was paying for my purchases at a dollar store, and the cashier (who I assumed spoke only English) was apparently required to pitch some doo-dad, and also ask for a donation to a cause or charity that the store was sponsoring. She apologized for being in-your-face about it, and I said it was all right as I used to be a Mormon missionary, and then I immediately asked her if she wanted a free Book of Mormon. Turn-around is fair play, right? She didn't say "no," but continued chatting in a way that implied "no thanks."

I don't know how I segued it, but as there was no one in line behind me, I started talking about how there were many immigrants from Africa on that side of town, and how the Mormon church has the Book of Mormon in over 100 languages, including many African languages, and that I've given many out to people from Africa, and they are tickled to have something to read in their own language, even if they aren't interested in the religion. It wasn't until later that I realized I still could have given her a pass-along card.

01/23/2007. 783. French declined. The cashier/manager of this restaurant spoke with an accent, but I couldn't recognize it. So I just asked what languages he spoke, and where he was originally from. He was from an Arabic country in Africa, and he spoke Arabic, French, and English, but didn't read Arabic. He's been in the US a long time. He declined my offer of a free French Book of Mormon, but we continued to chit-chat a bit when I went back to the buffet. He did accept a pass-along card and my personal card.

01/23/2007. 784. Finally on my way home, I stopped at a gas station. I went inside to pre-pay with cash, instead of paying at the pump, in case the cashier spoke any foreign languages. This cashier was from Senegal, and spoke French and Wolof, so I got to practice those. Like the many others I've met who are from Senegal, he was a positive upbeat kind of person, and seemed to enjoy the fact that I could speak a few words in his native languages.

I was all out of Wolof material (the Gospel Fundamentals manual), but I offered him the French Book of Mormon, and he agreed to receive it. So after gassing the car I took in French and English copies of the Book of Mormon, a French VHS tape of "Finding Faith in Christ" and a French copy of the Liahona magazine. He didn't have a VHS player, so I gave him a DVD of the same video.