Friday, November 05, 2010

Chinese declined at mall. Fri, Nov 5, 2010.

11/05/2010. 1261. I stopped at a mall to use their restroom, and on my way out I walked past a Chinese place in the food court. After walking past it, I felt drawn to it, so I went back and bought something inexpensive. There were no other customers, so I talked a bit with the operator. I offered him a free Chinese book from church and he wanted to see it. He asked where the nearest church was so I gave him a card with the name of the church and the web site address, and the address of one of the chapels, but I didn't actually say "Book of Mormon."

I went out to my car and brought back in a Chinese and an English Book of Mormon along with a DVD. When I went back in an presented him, he saw the title and apparently changed his mind, saying he already had one, and the DVD too. He said he goes to a Chinese church about 45 minutes away.

I think it was a case where the word used to translate "Book" in the title of the Book of Mormon conveys the wrong idea or impression. The word for "book" in the title of the Chinese Book of Mormon actually means "Holy Book" and is the same word/symbol used for "Bible." So, if you look at a Chinese Book of Mormon, the title actually says "Mormon Bible", and people think we use it instead of the Bible.

He was polite, and I didn't want to call him on it since he chose to say he already had one as his way of turning it down. Well, maybe he did have one. Anyway, the offer was made, and a testimony, even if was just in the form of an offer, was given. And he physically saw it, so he now has a memory which the Holy Ghost can use in the future when/if needed.

And he still probably has the customized pass-along card with the phone numbers, web site address, and chapel address on it.

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1 Comments:

At 11/06/2010 02:18:00 AM, Anonymous Tyler said...

Doesn't hurt to try. Every little contact counts.

 

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