Chinese at restaurant w/missionaries. Wed, Aug 26, 2009.

08/26/2009. 1183. I took our ward's two full-time missionaries (elders) out to dinner. The senior companion got transferred in right after the last baptism. The junior companion, a greenie, just arrived in the mission this morning. So this was his first dinner (supper) in the mission.

I took them to an Asian restaurant that is within the ward's boundaries, but I wasn't sure which language the employees speak. The senior companion asked our waitress what languages she spoke, and she said Mandarin, so I got out some Chinese material from my book-bag that I had taken in.

On one of her later trips to the table, we asked if she still liked to read Chinese, and she said yes, so we offered her the Simplified script Chinese (she's from China) Book of Mormon, and a Chinese Liahona, and the "Finding Happiness" DVD. She accepted all of them, but wasn't very enthusiastic about it. I forgot to offer her an English copy. (The restaurant is real good, so I hope to follow up in the future, and maybe talk to other employees.)

Another waitress who refilled our glasses looked Chinese too, but she was so quick we couldn't get a word in with her.

The greenie elder was impressed for his first day in the field. Both elders knew how to use chopsticks, and both ate what I ordered for them, so I was impressed with them too.