John Mark Reynolds says nice things about Mormons.

I wanted a convenient link to this.

John Mark Reynolds says nice things about Mormons in the Washington Post, "The Christian case for Mormon values," Feb 9, 2011.

"How to reject an offer of a Book of Mormon."

Someone came to my blog after doing a web search on the above phrase.

So if you're not LDS, and someone offers you a Book of Mormon, (or gives you one before asking if you want it) and you don't want it, what should or could you say to turn down the offer?

• (Thanks, but) No thanks.
  
• I already have one, thank you.
  
• (Thanks, but) I'm not interested.
  
• (No thanks.) I'll read it online (or download the MP3's) if I'm ever interested.

But, if I may suggest, that if you have a personal library of what you consider to be important books, and if you include the major religious books of the world (Bible, Quran, Bhagavad Gita, etc.) that you also include the Book of Mormon in your personal library.

If you want a mobile version of the Book of Mormon, go here, where you can download versions for Android, Apple (iphone, ipod, ipad), Blackberry, Palm, and Windows Mobile. The Book of Mormon is under "Gospel Library" and then under "Scriptures."

You can download MP3's of the Book of Mormon here. You can download MP3's of a different narrator speaking the Book of Mormon here.

If you do decide to read the Book of Mormon, my suggestion is to first read (or listen to) the book of "3rd Nephi", from chapters 11 through 26.

Chichewa at grocery store. Sat, May 7, 2011.

05/07/2011. 1282. The grocery store was selling grilled hot dogs out front. I stopped to buy and eat one. There were several other grocery store employees out front on break. One spoke with an accent, so I asked him where he was from. He said Malawi. I asked what languages were spoken in Malawi, and he said about 15, but the main one was Chichewa.

As far as I know, the church doesn't have anything in Chichewa.

But I did have a Chichewa New Testament. (I forget where I got it from.)

I offered it to him, and he was interested, so I went back to my car and retrieved it, and presented it to him. He was able to read it, too, so that was cool.

I pointed out the list of local chapels inside, and indicated the one I go to. I didn't specifically invite him to church, I hope that was implied. But looking back, I should have made a specific invitation. Also included in the New Testament were a couple of pass-along cards, and my personal calling card.

He seemed of YSA age, so I'll look for him in the future, and invite him to the YSA branch.

Missed opportunity, on forest trail. Sat, May 7, 2011.

05/07/2011. Missed op. I joined some of the Young Men in the ward (along with the YM president, and a member of the bishopric) on a 10 mile hike in a nearby state forest. I brought along two copies of the Book of Mormon, and a King James Bible. The bishop's counselor carried one Book of Mormon, and another youth and I traded off carrying the other two books.

As we were hiking, we met a retired couple coming the other way on the trail who were doing trail maintenance as volunteers for the state forest. They chatted us up, and we talked about getting the Young Men ready for a bigger adventure/hike next month, but we never brought up the church, or said we were a church group.

So it was just a missed opportunity with a couple of nice people who wanted to chat with us.

Yoruba at rehab hospital. Tue, May 3, 2011.

05/03/2011. 1281. I was visiting an elderly friend in a rehabilitation hospital/nursing home, after he had a mild stroke. I hung out with him while a nurse took him to the workout room to do some exercises. I accompanied him back to his room to free up the nurse/technician to take care of others. But when he got back to his room, he needed a couple of nurses to help him from the wheelchair into bed. There is a science to getting people into and out of bed, and I haven't been trained on it, so he called for a couple nurses to help him.

One of the nurses spoke with an accent and had a foreign name on his name-tag, so I asked him where he was from. He said Nigeria. I asked if he was Yoruba or Igbo, and he said Yoruba. I offered him a free church book in Yoruba, but he said he never learned ot read it, just English. I ended up giving him one of my custom pass-along cards.

The writing systems used for most African languages are phonetic, so if he wanted to take the time, he could teach himself to read Yoruba with a pair of copies of the Book of Mormon in Yoruba and English.

If my friend is still there the next time I'm over at that side of town, I'll take in a Yoruba copy just to show the guy.