Flooding the Earth with the Book of Mormon: Swahili at store. Mon, Oct 31, 2011.

Flooding the Earth with the Book of Mormon

(One drop at a time.) My journal entries about offering copies of the Book of Mormon, the Bible, and other LDS church books, mainly to immigrants in their native language, mainly in Indianapolis, Indiana. With 106 translations, the Book of Mormon (along with the Bible) is a good "Rosetta Stone" for learning English or other languages, in addition to being a missionary tool.

My goals in keeping this blog/journal are: to encourage others to offer people copies of the Book of Mormon and the Bible, to illustrate the incredible number of recent immigrants who are eager for bilingual material, to illustrate the ease of encountering them and offering them material, and to make known the wonderful deeds of the Lord (Ps 105:1, Isa 12:4) in arranging many of these encounters. I realize that the concept of offering foreign language books to strangers is just plain weird to many people, so here are some hints if you are intrigued by this and wish to try it. Respectful comments and constructive criticism are invited.

The goal of the book placement effort is to provide, in a friendly non-threatening way, gospel material to someone who is willing to receive it in their native language and English.

To the recipients of these books who read this: I thank you again for allowing me to be of service to you. I encourage you to read the material, and pray to God that He confirm the truth of it to you. The Bible and the Book of Mormon are both the Word of God. Living according to their teachings brings happiness.

Monday, October 31, 2011

Swahili at store. Mon, Oct 31, 2011.

10/31/2011. 1297. I was shopping at one of my regular stores, and there was another customer who was speaking in English (to her daughter) with a delightful accent. I did not recognize the accent, but it was sort of a British accent, not directly from England, that made me think of people who learned English as a second language from teachers in former British colonies.

I asked her where she was from and what languages she spoke. She was originally from Kenya, and spoke Swahili and another regional language. I offered her a book in Swahili from church, and she agreed to receive it.

I left my shopping cart in the store and retrieved a Swahili Book of Mormon from my car. I waited until they had paid for their purchases, and we went back outside to talk in front of the entrance.

It turns out she had been exposed to LDS literature before, including the Book of Mormon, as she had lived with LDS "host parents" in her youth.

She gratefully accepted the book.

Labels: store, Swahili