Urdu at another chapel. Sun, Sep 25, 2011.

09/25/2011. 1294. After my ward got out, I went to visit another ward in another chapel to see a friend. There was a South Asian family milling about in the hallway. They were from Pakistan and spoke Urdu. They already had an Urdu Book of Mormon. I asked if they'd like an Urdu church magazine, and the mom said sure. I went back out to my car and dug out a couple copies of the Urdu Liahona out of my trunk. I took them back in and presented them, and the lady graciously accepted them.

I don't know if they were members or investigators. I didn't see them in the sacrament meeting, so they must have been with the ward that was just leaving.

Yoruba at grocery. Tue, Sep 13, 2011.

09/13/2011. 1293. I was on dinner break from volunteering at the local storehouse, and after eating I had stopped at a nearby grocery store to stock up on some things. After returning my cart to the store, there was an African couple standing near the door waiting for another person in their party. I asked them where they were from and they said Nigeria. I then asked if they were Igbo or Yoruba, and they said Yoruba. I said there were a lot of Nigerians in Indianapolis, and that my church has a free book in Yoruba, that it was Christian material, and then I asked them if they would like a free copy. The man deferred to the woman, and she eagerly said yes. I said I'd get it from my car and bring it back.

I went back to my car and dug out a Yoruba copy of the Book of Mormon from my trunk and went back. They had already entered, so I went in. They were just a little bit down the first aisle, and the woman saw me and met me half way. She eagerly and very thankfully accepted the book. I suggested she could call one of the numbers to get an English copy of the book. She asked where the church was, and I pointed out the chapel that I attend, on the list of local chapels that I had put inside the front cover. She said they were from a nearby city, so I said the people at that number could also tell her where the church was in that city too.

It was a very pleasant encounter.

(THANK-YOU, Emily Jensen, for the link.)

Punjabi at gas station. Thu, Sep 1, 2011.

09/01/2011. 1292. Wow. It's been too long since my last placement attempt. Since the last blog entry, I've had a couple of missed opportunities that I didn't blog. It's too easy to get out of the habit, of offering people material, and of blogging.

Tonight I was on my way home from a friend's house and due to a road closure, I had to take a different way home than I normally do. I passed a gas station where I think I had offered/placed material a couple of years ago. Gas stations usually have some turnover of employees, so I figured it was time to try again.

I went in a bought a newspaper, and the two cashiers seemed South Asian (ie, from India, Pakistan, or Bangladesh).

I asked my cashier if he spoke Hindi or Punjabi, and he said Punjabi. I offered him a book in Punjabi from my church, and he agreed to receive it. I made sure he knew it was Christian material, and he was okay with that. So I went out to the car and retrieved a Punjabi copy of the Joseph Smith testimony. I wrote the phone number from the Book of Mormon pass along card (888-537-2200) on it, the local mission office number, and my name and number. I went back in and offered it to him, and he graciously and gratefully accepted it. The other cashier seemed interested too.