tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-170600682012-05-17T08:37:44.902-04:00(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.Bookslingerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15077778974473538408noreply@blogger.comBlogger1113125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17060068.post-28627518722100003512012-01-25T15:00:00.005-05:002012-01-26T12:20:30.233-05:00

01/25/2012. 1305. I was at a financial institution and the person who was helping me spoke with a beautiful accent. She looked and sounded East African. I guessed the wrong country, but she said she was from Ethiopia. She spoke Amharic. After chatting a bit about local Ethiopian restaurants, I offered her a book from church (the Book of Mormon) in Amharic, and she enthusiastically agreed to

Bookslingerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15077778974473538408noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17060068.post-77574521009049044752011-12-16T22:55:00.016-05:002012-01-06T17:46:05.887-05:00

I've written before that my mission president, over 25 years ago, sent my companion and I to Chinese restaurants with Chinese copies of the Book of Mormon. No baptisms resulted, but we had some "Hmmmm" moments. I forget if we paired them with Spanish copies or not. I still attribute that as my main inspiration for this Book of Mormon distribution project. Here is another item which I believe

Bookslingerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15077778974473538408noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17060068.post-80120274203995947662011-12-02T13:30:00.001-05:002011-12-13T23:39:02.421-05:00

12/02/2011. 1304. After volunteering at the storehouse in the morning, I went to a Post Office to run an errand. As I was going in, two young adult women were leaving, and were speaking English, but with an accent. I turned around and went back out, and before they got in their car, and from a respectful distance, I asked where they were from. They said Zimbabwe. I asked if they spoke Shona.

Bookslingerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15077778974473538408noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17060068.post-69721062543447043722011-11-22T18:45:00.000-05:002011-12-13T23:34:00.349-05:00

11/22/2011. 1303. I was taking a break while volunteering at the storehouse and went out to eat at a Chinese restaurant that I hadn't been to before. It was a very good meal. After I paid I offered the Chinese Book of Mormon to the waitress/owner, but she politely declined.

Bookslingerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15077778974473538408noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17060068.post-6314305029866651492011-11-21T21:30:00.001-05:002011-12-13T23:31:24.542-05:00

11/21/2011. 1302. I was shopping at a store and ran into a friend I hadn't seen in a while. He was going to eat supper by himself at a nearby restaurant, and so we could catch up, he invited me to go along. I had already eaten supper, but went anyway.I had been there before, and offered material, but the nearby Chinese restaurant was under new ownership, so I took in a Traditional Chinese Book

Bookslingerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15077778974473538408noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17060068.post-25953170129681128622011-11-21T20:30:00.001-05:002011-12-13T23:25:55.213-05:00

11/21/2011. 1301. I stopped at a gas station to buy a newspaper on the way to another store. The cashier was Korean, but declined my offer of a Korean Book of Mormon.

Bookslingerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15077778974473538408noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17060068.post-10880595953082319222011-11-12T21:30:00.001-05:002011-11-13T17:15:27.600-05:00

11/12/2011. 1300. I was at a checkout counter of a large national chain. The cashier had a name tag indicating an African name, and he spoke with an accent. I asked if he spoke French (Parlez vous francais?), and he said yes, and asked how I guessed. I said because of his name-tag and his accent, and many African speak French. He was from Togo, so I asked if he knew so-and-so, the guy from

Bookslingerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15077778974473538408noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17060068.post-1326217957555506352011-11-08T18:15:00.002-05:002011-11-09T21:23:19.119-05:00

11/8/2011. 1299. I had supper at a really good Mexican restaurant on the other side of town. It had been a while since I've been there. I forget if I had offered material there before, but the waitress was new, and I knew I hadn't given her anything. After eating and paying, I was the only customer there, so I offered her a free Bible in Spanish and English and some other material from church.

Bookslingerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15077778974473538408noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17060068.post-88139591219314765982011-11-07T21:00:00.002-05:002011-11-08T11:13:02.926-05:00

11/7/2011. 1298. I was driving home, and there was a gas station on the corner on the other side of the street. I was planning on going straight through the intersection, but I received a strong prompting to stop at the gas station, so I checked to see that there was no traffic to the left and in back of me, and made a last-second left turn and pulled in.I bought a cup of hot chocolate. The

Bookslingerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15077778974473538408noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17060068.post-30870846757583059512011-11-04T14:00:00.001-04:002011-11-08T10:56:47.330-05:00

11/4/2011. Journal Entry. While traveling around the far side of town, I spotted two elders putting air in their bike tires at a gas station/convenience store.I stopped to chat and see if they needed any church literature to give out.They did need English copies of the Book of Mormon. The local mission office has cut back on the number of copies of the Book of Mormon they give to the full-time

Bookslingerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15077778974473538408noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17060068.post-3873224574270517082011-10-31T17:00:00.002-04:002011-11-08T10:47:43.718-05:00

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

Bookslingerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15077778974473538408noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17060068.post-16474421975555766802011-10-26T13:00:00.001-04:002011-10-26T20:15:48.397-04:00

10/26/2011. Journal entry. The missionaries were in my neighborhood and they stopped by to say hi. I found out that the church's Ndebele Gospel Fundamentals was indeed the correct dialect for the ward's recent convert from Zimbabwe.They recently met another person from Zimbabwe and offered him "a church book in his language" as their conversation starter. He agreed to receive it, and the

Bookslingerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15077778974473538408noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17060068.post-82523491694304585702011-10-23T22:57:00.005-04:002011-10-26T19:38:51.289-04:00

10/23/2011. Journal entry. Our ward had a convert get baptized a couple months ago. I hadn't heard her speak, so I didn't realize she was from Africa. Our ward's missionaries knew where she was from, but didn't know the exact dialect she spoke. This past week they found out she spoke Ndbebele, so I took an Ndebele copy of Gospel Fundamentals to church and presented it to her. She was pretty

Bookslingerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15077778974473538408noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17060068.post-76226489304661263842011-10-22T09:30:00.000-04:002011-10-23T22:57:17.577-04:00

10/22/2011. Journal entry. Our ward's full-time missionaries asked for a Japanese copy of the Book of Mormon for the missionaries who have a Japanese investigator in a neighboring ward. I delivered it (and a Joseph Smith Testimony pamphlet in Japanese) to our missionaries, and they took it to meet the missionaries in the other ward "on the border."

Bookslingerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15077778974473538408noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17060068.post-10912717808553382172011-10-15T18:37:00.003-04:002011-10-15T18:39:43.812-04:00

The UK Daily Mail has an article on Mormon Modesty blogs and fashion.http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2049283/High-necklines-low-hemlines-The-rise-Mormon-modesty-blogs--fashion-bang-trend.htmlIt was given a sidebar headline on both their UK and US main pages.

Bookslingerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15077778974473538408noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17060068.post-54822622807600558422011-10-04T22:30:00.008-04:002011-11-08T11:39:37.333-05:00

The Indianapolis Star Newspaper had an article on October 3, 2011 on Indianapolis being a market for the "I am a Mormon" ad campaign. Other Indiana cities include Fort Wayne and South Bend.http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2011110030324One of the main goals of the campaign is to prompt non-members to visit www.mormon.org and learn about the church and the members.Some profiles of

Bookslingerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15077778974473538408noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17060068.post-38269762079783419352011-10-01T14:45:00.000-04:002011-10-03T12:37:08.496-04:00

10/01/2011. 1296. As I was going back to my car at the gas station (see previous post), a young man asked me if I wanted to buy any movies. I assume he had them inside his jacket. I said no thanks, but I had a couple of movies I'd like to give him. I went to my car and got out a "Testaments" DVD and a "To This End Was I Born" DVD, and went back and presented them to him, and he accepted them.

Bookslingerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15077778974473538408noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17060068.post-51166977780607973102011-10-01T14:30:00.001-04:002011-10-03T12:30:56.477-04:00

10/01/2011. 1295. Between conference sessions, on my way to lunch, I stopped at a gas station to visit a friend who worked there. He wasn't there, but the cashier on duty knew him, and told me when he'd be there. The cashier was from Benin, and spoke French and Fon, and a couple other languages in addition to English. I was out of stock of the Fon Gospel Fundamentals, but I offered him a French

Bookslingerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15077778974473538408noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17060068.post-18433792304625656692011-09-25T12:45:00.000-04:002011-09-25T23:16:43.612-04:00

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

Bookslingerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15077778974473538408noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17060068.post-63660691983990879492011-09-13T19:00:00.001-04:002011-09-16T22:08:49.817-04:00

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

Bookslingerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15077778974473538408noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17060068.post-10330640590025246562011-09-01T21:45:00.002-04:002011-09-02T08:15:17.165-04:00

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

Bookslingerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15077778974473538408noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17060068.post-54131805258622597932011-08-10T21:45:00.008-04:002011-11-25T12:09:19.520-05:00

I saw this guy on TV earlier this year.Machine Gun PreacherAngels of East Africa.His book at Amazon: Another Man's War: The True Story of One Man's Battle to Save Children in the Sudan [Hardcover] (about $10 including shipping, on used page)Update: I've now bought the book and have read most of it. WOW. WOW. WOW. I recommend the book with the caveat that it is not for the squeamish. Sam has

Bookslingerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15077778974473538408noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17060068.post-28619423072086532302011-08-05T15:00:00.000-04:002011-08-08T20:02:28.424-04:00

08/05/2011. 1291. I was on my way home from volunteering at the church's local storehouse, and felt inspired to explore for new ethnic places at a certain exit off the interstate highway. I found an Indian grocery that I hadn't been to before. I browsed around, bought some of my favorite stuff, and a couple of new things. I chatted with the cashier, who appeared to be the owner, and I found

Bookslingerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15077778974473538408noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17060068.post-41006823205096989212011-07-30T21:30:00.001-04:002011-07-31T22:50:39.382-04:00

07/30/2011. 1290. I met a man at the laundromat who was from Niger. He spoke English, French, Hausa, and Germa. He accepted my offer of the Together Forever and Special Witnesses of Christ DVDs that have French audio tracks.

Bookslingerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15077778974473538408noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17060068.post-49610033360403137502011-07-28T12:30:00.001-04:002011-07-29T21:28:45.137-04:00

07/28/2011. 1289. I had lunch at a Chinese restaurant I hadn't been to before. I ordered, sat down, and put out a Chinese copy and an English copy of the Book of Mormon on the table. When the cashier guy brought out my meal, I asked if he still liked to read Chinese, and he said yes. I offered him the Chinese Book of Mormon, but he politely declined, saying his family was Buddhist.

Bookslingerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15077778974473538408noreply@blogger.com0