Found a lost member at laundromat. Sat, Jan 20, 2007.

01/20/2007. Journal entry. The laundromats I go to always have Spanish-speaking customers, so I usually take a Spanish Bible and a Spanish Book of Mormon in with me. I usually put them on top of the front-loading washer I'm using, and then put them in the laundry cart or on the folding table as I'm folding laundry.

Tonight, an Hispanic-looking lady passed by my cart and stopped, looking at my Spanish Book of Mormon. I asked her if she had read it, and she said yes. I asked if she was Mormon, and she said yes. She said she joined the church in Mexico, but hadn't found the church since moving here to Indianapolis. She wasn't able to bring any of her scriptures with her when she came here from Mexico, so I gave her the Spanish Bible and the Spanish Book of Mormon.

She asked about where the church was, so I took the "info flyer" (which lists the local chapels, meeting times, local mission office phone number, and church 800 number) from the Book of Mormon, and told her about the Spanish branch that meets downtown at the chapel next to the Indianapolis Zoo.

I also pointed out the nearest chapel, the one I go to. She said she doesn't speak English, but didn't want to go all the way downtown. I said that there were some bilingual English/Spanish speakers, besides myself, in both of the wards that meet at our chapel, both the 9:00 am ward and the 1:00pm ward. She said that she would go to our chapel the next day. But I wasn't sure at what time.

I had written the phone number of the Spanish-speaking misisonares on the info flyer, but they live on the complete opposite side of town. But at least she has my phone number, the spanish-speaking missionaries phone number, the mission office number, and the church's 800 number to contact.

Today (Sunday the 21st), there were several inches of snow on the ground early in the morning, and the streets were not plowed by the time I left for church at 8:25 am. It usually takes me to 20 minutes to get there, but took 30 minutes today. The streets, and especially the Interstate, were slow.

I mentioned to at a couple of the other bilingual people in our ward to be on the look-out for her, to be sure to greet her if/when she showed up. But she didn't make it.

After our meetings I stayed around until 1:00 pm to see if she'd come to the afternoon ward. I told the afternoon ward's missionaries and one of the bilingual families in the afternoon ward that she might show up, and they said they'd look for her too.

At the laundromat she seemed upbeat and positive about coming to church, so I expect she'll come next week.