Chinese, Tagalog, Ilokano at baptism. Sat, May 9, 2009

05/09/2009. Books to Missionaries. Our ward had a baptism of a young married couple. Three sister missionaries from a neighboring ward attended. While the new members were getting dressed two of the visiting sister missionaries bore their testimonies. One of them said she was from China. The other didn't say where she was from, but by her accent I guessed the Philippines.

After the baptism service, I went out to my car and got some Chinese material to give to the one from China, three copies of the simplfied script Chinese Book of Mormon, and one traditional script, two issues of the Chinese Liahona, a Chinese/English bilingual New Testament, a "Finding Happiness" DVD, and a couple English copies of the Book of Mormon. I gave them to her, and told them about my success in placing material at Chinese restaurants. I asked the other sister missionary if she spoke Tagalog and she said yes. She also spoke Ilokano. So I went out to the car and brought back in two copies of the Tagalog Book of Mormon, an Ilokano copy, and two copies of Tagalog Liahonas, and another English Book of Mormon or two.

I told her about the Filipino restaurant in town, and she was excited about that, but it's pretty far from her ward.

Anyway, I told the sisters that I was pretty confident that now that they are "armed" with language matierial, they'll meet people who speak their languages.

English, Tagalog, Bikolano, Ilokano to RM's at church. Sun, May 20, 2007.

05/20/2007. Journal Entry. A bunch of 20-something members have moved to town for summer sales jobs, and are attending our ward. Two of them are RM's who served in the Philipines. One's mission language was Tagalog, and the other Bikolano. Last week I gave them the names/addresses of a couple of Filipino owned stores/markets in town, and said I'd get them some Filipino Books of Mormon to give out if/when they encounter any Filipinos.

Today, I gave the one a Bikolano, a Tagalog, and two English Books of Mormon, and an English KJV Bible. I gave the other a Tagalog, and two English Books of Mormon, and an English KJV Bible. The latter said he met someone in the past week who spoke Ilokano. I asked if he could find them again when he's back in that neighborhood. He said yes, so I went out to the car and retrieved an Ilokano Book of Mormon along with another English copy from the car and gave them to him.

Tagalog - Ilokano at dinner. Tue, Dec 12, 2006.

12/12/2006. 769. I was at a dinner and presentation for a group that promotes civic leadership among immigrant communities from a certain part of the world. I had met several of the people before at a festival earlier this year.

One of the ladies told me her mother had given her a Tagalog Book of Mormon (that she had received from me), and this lady wanted another one, so she could give it back to her mother. I went out to the car and got her a Tagalog copy along with two English copies so she and her mother could both have a set. She then mentioned an Ilokano-speaking friend who just recently came to the states and who could use a set, so I retrieved an Ilokano/English pair from the car.

I belong to two ethnic associations, and one regional association. I've been to several events. I didn't plan to make, and didn't make any pitches or presentations tonight, but the church did come up in conversation. I did give the name and phone number of a Mandarin-speaking brother at church, who is teaching a Sunday School class in Mandarin to investigators, to a Chinese couple sitting next to me. That was the most overt thing I did.

It was a cool time. I enjoyed meeting civic-minded, intelligent, uplifting, positive and energetic people from all over the world. And the food was great.

Moment #644. Tagalog-Ilokano at laundromat parking lot. Sat, Jul 8, 2006.

07/08/2006. As described in the previous entry, I was at the laundromat. I made a trip out to my car to put some stuff away, and a young couple exited about the same time I did and headed towards their car which was parked right next to mine. At an appropriate moment, I struck up a conversation by asking them if they spoke any foreign languages. The man said yes, so I asked where they were from. He said the Philippines. I asked if they spoke Tagalog and they said yes. I asked if they spoke any other languages, and he said Ilokano.

They were boyfriend and girlfriend, a cute young couple that looked like they would fit in well at our YSA branch. I ended up giving them Tagalog, Ilokano and English Books of Mormon, and a "Together Forever" DVD that has a Tagalog track. I also gave them wwo issues of the Tagalog Liahona, and I invited to YSA the branch.