Burmese & Spanish at laundromat. Thu, Aug 6, 2009.

08/06/2009. 1175. Burmese. This was an encounter such that if you believe the Holy Spirit can guide us, you'll understand it, but if you don't believe, you'll think I'm crazy or making up stories.

I had just dropped off some Spanish copies of the Book of Mormon with the ward's full-time missionaries at their apartment. I spent a few minutes talking with them. I did another errand and then headed towards one of my favorite laundromats to do the week's laundry. However, on the way there, the idea of a certain laundromat I had seen on the South side of town came to mind. I had spotted it while on another errand in that part of town months ago. Then it became an impression that I should go there. It was going to be at least 15 minutes more out of my way, beyond the 15 minutes to the closer one. But I wasn't in a hurry, so I decided to follow the impression, and thought "Let's have an adventure."

When I got there, there weren't any people who looked foreign-born. However, after I started my wash (I put everything in one of those big front-loaders), a man walked in who looked to be from Southeast Asia. A few minutes later, I took some stuff out to my car, and as I was heading back towards the front door, he came out and headed towards his car. It was a perfect opportunity to say something.

I asked him if he spoke Vietnamese, but he was from Burma. So I offered him a free booklet from church in Burmese. He had only been in the US two years, so he wasn't too fluent in speaking, but he seemed to understand. He agreed to see the booklet, so I asked him to wait by his car, and I went to mine and got out a Burmese and an English Joseph Smith Testimony Pamphlet. I took it back to his car, wrote my name and number on it, and wrote the mission office number on it, and he enthusiastically received it.

After I went back in, he stayed in his car. It looked like he was reading it.

(I just checked ldscatalog.com, to get the above link, and noticed that "Gospel Fundamentals" is now available in Burmese. Woo-hoo! I'll have to order some.)

1176. Spanish. After I finished doing laundry, and as I was putting the clothes back in the car, I noticed an Hispanic lady folding her laundry. I felt prompted to offer her something, so I went back in an offered her a recent Spanish Liahona, which she accepted. I wrote the mission office number and my phone number on the back.

On the way back home, I stopped for dinner at a Chinese restaurant hoping for another opportunity.