Missionaries' first sashimi. Korean/Japanese. Mon, Mar 3, 2008

03/03/2008. Sorry for lagging on the entries. Rather than try to get all caught up, I'll just start up again, and hope to fill in later.

Yesterday (Sunday), the missionaries asked me for a ride to an investigator's (for today, Monday). Our missionaries share a car with another set of elders and only have the car every other week.

Journal entry. Today (Monday) I picked up the elders, and we went to the investigator's place. The missionaries then invited me to sit in with them. He had taken a few lessons from other missionaries in another part of town, and then he moved into our ward, so this was a get-acquainted meeting. We gave him an English Book of Mormon, a copy of "Our Heavenly Father's Plan" DVD, a copy of "The Restoration" DVD, and a "Contemporary English Version" (CEV) of the Bible (from American Bible Society).

We left the investigator's place around 8:00pm. The elders don't have to be back in their apartment until 9:00pm, and they can be as late as 9:30pm getting back if they have good reason.

1002*. They didn't have any appointments or firm plans for the remainder of the evening, so I offered to take them out to dinner to a Japanese restaurant that I've been to, but haven't made any book placements at. I knew from the previous visit that one employee was Korean and another Japanese.

One of the elders I took tonight had sushi before, but not sashimi, which is plain raw fish. The other elder has had neither sushi nor sashimi. This was going to be a fun adventure.

They agreed to go with me. We went there, and we were the only customers at first, so I figured it would be easy to present some material. I took in my Asian restaurant book bag, and after ordering, put out Korean, Japanese, and English copies of the Book of Mormon, a Korean Liahona magazine, a multi-lingual "Together Forever" DVD, and the "Finding Happiness" DVD.

On one of the waitress's trips, I offered the material, and she was very enthusiastic about receiving it. There are many Korean churches in town, but no Japanese churches as far as I know. I did not ask if she went to one of the Korean churches, but she indicated the Japanese employee, who is a Christian believer, did not have any contact with other Japanese Christians in town. So tonight's event merits a follow-up. Later, the Japanese employee came by our table to say thanks.

The waitress put the "Together Forever" DVD in a DVD player hooked up to the big screen TV to watch it. She didn't know how to select the language, so I helped her use the DVD remote to select the Japanese language. When I went to pay the tab, she said she liked how the music in the DVD made her feel. I also saw the Korean Liahona open at the cashier counter.

---

*Yes, the thousandth contact was last month. I don't keep track of actual number of copies of the Book of Mormon, because sometimes I give out other material (DVD's or Gospel Fundamentals/Principles). Some contacts decline to receive material, but I count all contacts where I made at least some kind of offer. As described in a previous Ensign article, just making the offer is a success. The offer is in itself a testimony.

My estimate is that 90% of the people I contact agree to receive material. And some contact events are with multiple people of different families who each receive something, but I only count it as one. Therefore, I would estimate that at least 1000 people (of different households or families) have received material.

I started this project in early June 2004, 3 years and 9 months, or 45 months ago. 1000 / 45 = 22 contacts per month, on average.