Farsi ( Persian ) at store. Wed, May 2, 2007.

05/02/2007. 819. Farsi (Persian) at store. I'd like to give more details, but out of respect for privacy, I don't want to give enough detail that would identify the store or the person I met. Local LDS leaders, both stake and mission, know who I am, and if they read this and want more information, they can contact me for more information. This was a really cool guy, but I didn't get his name.

I was on my way home from having lunch at the Chinese restaurant mentioned in the previous blog entry. Not far from home, I stopped by this one store because I had a $2 off coupon for any purchase, and my errands took me right by it on my way home. I went in looking for stuff I needed anyway, and browsed their store flyer. I'm in the process of building up a year's supply of food and consumables, so I'm currently a little flexible about what I can buy.

I was browsing some products, and heard a cool accent around the corner. I couldn't tell if the people talking were employees or customers or both. As I was studying which combination of stuff to buy that was on sale and with coupons, I somehow forgot to go around the corner to check out who was talking.

Anyway, when I checked out, the cash register printed a coupon for a competing product to one that I bought, and since I was stocking up anyway I decided to buy that product and use the coupon right there. After paying I took my purchases out to my car and went back in. The guy with the accent was still talking around the corner, and after I picked up the other products, I went around to where he was. And in a break in their conversation, I said he had a cool accent, and asked where he was from. He said Iran. I asked if he spoke Farsi, and he said yes.

I then asked if he were Muslim or Christian. He said Muslim. I said the reason I asked was that my church had a free book in Farsi called the Book of Mormon. He was very interested in seeing it. He said he used to live in _____, and had visited ____, and even went to a Temple open house. I said I had the Farsi Book of Mormon in my car, and asked if he'd be there for a few more minutes, and he said yes, so I said I'd be right back after paying.

I went up front and paid, and took the stuff out to my car, and got a Farsi and an English Book of Mormon from the car, and went back in.

He happily accepted the books, and started to flip through the Farsi one, and asked where there was a Mormon church. I showed him the flyer that has the list of chapels in the books, and also said my card was in there if he had any questions.

He probably would have chatted some more, but I didn't want to take up more of his time since he was on the job.