Flooding the Earth with the Book of Mormon: Vietnamese at Restaurant. Mon, Sep 10, 2007

Flooding the Earth with the Book of Mormon

(One drop at a time.) My journal entries about offering copies of the Book of Mormon, the Bible, and other LDS church books, mainly to immigrants in their native language, mainly in Indianapolis, Indiana. With 106 translations, the Book of Mormon (along with the Bible) is a good "Rosetta Stone" for learning English or other languages, in addition to being a missionary tool.

My goals in keeping this blog/journal are: to encourage others to offer people copies of the Book of Mormon and the Bible, to illustrate the incredible number of recent immigrants who are eager for bilingual material, to illustrate the ease of encountering them and offering them material, and to make known the wonderful deeds of the Lord (Ps 105:1, Isa 12:4) in arranging many of these encounters. I realize that the concept of offering foreign language books to strangers is just plain weird to many people, so here are some hints if you are intrigued by this and wish to try it. Respectful comments and constructive criticism are invited.

The goal of the book placement effort is to provide, in a friendly non-threatening way, gospel material to someone who is willing to receive it in their native language and English.

To the recipients of these books who read this: I thank you again for allowing me to be of service to you. I encourage you to read the material, and pray to God that He confirm the truth of it to you. The Bible and the Book of Mormon are both the Word of God. Living according to their teachings brings happiness.

Monday, September 10, 2007

Vietnamese at Restaurant. Mon, Sep 10, 2007

09/10/2007. 884. I was heading towards a particular Chinese restaurant that I haven't been to in a long time, and noticed this new Chinese restaurant that I hadn't seen before, just a few blocks away. When I arrived at the restaurant I had intended on going to, it was closed. So I backtracked and tried out this new Chinese restaurant.

This place was indeed new, and had opened just a few months ago. I ordered, sat down, and put my standard Chinese material on the table: bilingual Chinese/English New Testament, both kinds of Chinese Book of Mormon, English Book of Mormon, and a "Finding Happiness" DVD, and I started reading a local newspaper.

The Caucasian-American waitress/cashier brought my food, and didn't show any sign she noticed the material on the table.

The food was great. And it was interesting in that it reminded me of the meals I've had at Chinese restaurants that are owned and operated by Vietnamese families. The recipes, both the entree and the rice, were extremely familiar so I put away the Chinese material, and got out a Vietnamese Book of Mormon from my book bag.

When the waitress checked on me, I asked if the chef was from Vietnam, and she confirmed that he was.

When the chef came out, I was able to strike up a conversation with him, and he accepted my offer of the Vietnamese Book of Mormon. He declined the English, but I didn't push the English edition like I normally do, because I plan on going back soon anyway.

Labels: restaurant, Vietnamese