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.
Tuesday, August 28, 2012
Sunday, August 12, 2012
Samoan at laundromat. Sat, Aug 11, 2012.
08/11/2012. 1313. Things have slowed down. I haven't been traveling as much, or going to as many restaurants. So I don't strike up as many conversations with strangers as before, and therefore have less chances to offer church material. There have been some other placements this year that I haven't bothered to log, so I've lost track of the exact number.
This evening I was doing laundry at a popular laundromat, I heard some folks speak a language that I did not recognize. We were within conversation distance, so I asked the lady who looked like the mom if they were Pacific Islanders (I just guessed). She said yes, and that they were from Samoa.
I then asked if they were Mormons, since Mormons make up a large percentage of Samoa. (I forget where I read that, so it might have been Tonga, or some other Pacific island nation.) She said they weren't. I asked if they'd like a free book in Samoan from the Mormon church. She was genuinely interested and said yes. I said I might have a copy in the car, and I asked if I could give it to them there. She said okay.
So I stopped what I was doing for a bit, and went out to the car and dug around the trunk and found a Samoan copy of the Book of Mormon. I also grabbed an English edition. I took them back in and presented them to her, and she still seemed genuinely interested.
I had a list of local chapels in the books, and I pointed out the nearest one. And I introduced myself with my calling card that I had in the books. I said that if they wanted more copies for the various members of her family, she could call one of the phone number for more free copies.
It was a very nice encounter. Nice folks.
Labels: laundromat, Samoan