Missed op, Vietnamese, Hindi. Fri, Mar 6, 2009.

03/06/2009. I felt inspired to take a detour on my way home, but I think I allowed my own desires to side-track me, and not follow through correctly on where I was supposed to go. But I think I eventually got where I was supposed to go.

Missed opportunity. Long story about how I got there, but I ended up having lunch at a Chinese buffet restaurant in a town North of Indy. I put some material on my table as I ate. The waitress/cashier may have noticed it, but she didn't indicate so. She was so busy bussing tables, running the cash register, and putting out food on the buffet tables, that there didn't seem to be any opportunity to present something to her.

There were several people in line at the cash register (for either the pre-pay buffet or for carry out) when I was ready to leave, and I didn't think it appropriate to just wait around because it looked like she wasn't going to get a break at all. And it's not appropriate to interrupt the employees when they are in the midst of serving other customers.

Vietnamese Liahona at nail salon. 1119. After I left, the Spirit made clear to me that I needed to go to a certain town, and not just towards it. So I was going to back-track a bit, and then head on in my previous direction.

However, I saw a nail salon in the same shopping center as the restaurant. I normally don't do cold-calls at nail salons, but I felt a little spiritual "tug" to go there. I drove over, parked, got out a Vietnamese Liahona magazine (the Liahona is the international version of the Ensign) and an English copy of the same issue.

I went in, and there were two employees, and no customers; a lady up front, and a man towards the back. I asked the lady up front if they had any Vietnamese operators or employees, and she indicated the gentleman. I asked if I could give him a free magazine in Vietnamese from my church, and she said okay. I went back to see the man, and he was reading a book in Vietnamese.

I offered him the magazines, and he eagerly accepted the Vietnamese Liahona, and politely declined to receive the English. He didn't seem to catch the bilingual nature, but I didn't want to belabour the point. I thanked him and left.

Hindi Book of Mormon at hotel. 1120. As I got near the destination town, I saw a sign for a certain motel. The Spirit indicated that was where I was supposed to go. But I kept my eyes open to see if there were going to be other opportunities presented along the way such as ethnic grocery stores

I got to the motel, and got out Hindi, Bengali, and English copies of the Book of Mormon. Hindi and Bengali are languages I've placed at hotels before.

I went in and asked the caucasian clerk if the owners were from India. She immediately said: "Oh, you must mean the hotel over there" and pointed to a hotel that was practically next door. Boy, that made it easy, and saved me some awkwardness of having to explain why I asked.

This was not actually a mistake. The second hotel didn't have any advertising signs along the road like the first one did. There was nothing in view for the Spirit to use to guide me. So the Spirit used what was available to get me to someplace that was one easy step removed from the final destination. The Lord used what I could see, the first motel's sign, to get me to a place I couldn't see. The second hotel was actually on a cross-street, facing in a direction such that I wouldn't have seen it without twisting my head around as I drove through the intersection.

This process has happened before: being guided to a place that I could see in order to get me to a place I wouldn't have seen had I not first gone to "point A".

I then went over to that hotel, and there were no other customers at the front desk. I asked the desk clerk if the owners were from India. She said yes, and asked me how she could help me. I said I had a free church book in the Hindi language that I'd like to give them.

She went over to the office and spoke to someone, then came back and said I could go around to the office. I went over to the office, and asked the man if he'd like a free book in Hindi from my church, and showed it to him. He extended his hand to receive it, so I could tell he was curious. And then he flipped through the pages after I gave it to him. He was curious and appreciative, but not really enthusiastic. But he thanked me for it. He politely declined to receive the English copy when I offered it. I thanked him, and excused myself.