Chinese at Asian restaurant. Thu, Aug 14, 2008.

08/14/2008. 1046. On my way to an appointment, I had supper at a restaurant that I hadn't been to before. It turned out that all the employees there were from China, and some spoke Mandarin and some spoke Cantonese.

I didn't put any material on the table other than the Church News newspaper I was reading. When the waiter came to refill my drink, I asked where he was originally from. I first offered him a Chinese Liahona magazine, and pulled one out of my book bag. He accepted it and flagged down the hostess, probably because he wasn't very fluent in English.

He gave it to her, and she accepted the Chinese Liahona and the corresponding English edition, and then I presented both editions of the Chinese Book of Mormon to her, the Traditional Script version, and the Simplified Script version. She accepted one of each, plus an English Book of Mormon. I think she understood the benefit of the bilingual nature.

I forget if it was then, or on another trip she made to my table, but I also presented two DVD's, Together Forever, and Finding Happiness. The Together Forever has a Cantonese sound-track, but not a Mandarin sound-track, and she spoke Cantonese, so I especially wanted her to have that one. (It does have sub-titles in Traditional Chinese script, so a Mandarin-speaker could understand it if they turn on sub-titles.) I asked if she was married, and when she said yes, I pointed out it had good advice for couples.

She may have accepted the material just mainly out of politeness, but she was very friendly about it. They weren't too busy, and I didn't take much of their time, so I'm confident that our conversations didn't affect their service to any other customers.