Somali at gas station. Fri, Apr 2, 2010.

04/02/2010. 1238. I had lunch at a combination gas station/convenience store. As I was getting ready to leave, a man came in who was speaking in a foreign language on his cell phone, and he appeared to be from Africa.

I kind of dilly-dallied a bit hoping to be around when he got off the phone, but he never did. So I left when he did, and I decided to just interrupt him before he got into his car.

I spoke to him from across his car so as not to appear threatening. He was near the driver door, and I stayed near the front corner on the passenger side. He didn't seem to mind when I asked him what language he was speaking. He said Somali. And he was very interested when I said I had free church material in Somali. So I asked him to wait there while I retrieved it from my car. I brought back the Somali "Gospel Fundamentals" and an English copy of the same.

Since most Somalis are Muslim, I asked if he was Muslim or Christian. He said Muslim, but he was very interested in the material and eagerly accepted it. Though he did politely decline to receive the English copy.

We chit-chatted a bit about which Somali restaurant he likes in town, how long he's been here, etc. It was a very pleasant encounter. He was a cool guy, very friendly.