Russian at laundromat. Wed, Nov 3, 2010.

11/03/2010. 1260. Laundry night at the usual place. A guy I hadn't seen there before struck up a conversation with me, asking what languages I spoke. Wow. I told him English and Spanish. He spoke Russian. He was waiting on his dryer, and seemed a bit desperate for conversation as he invited me to sit next to him to talk. He had been in the US for several years, but in Indianapolis only a few weeks.

After we chit-chatted a while, I found out he was Baptist, and was looking for a Baptist church within walking distance. I told him I had a book in Russian from my church, and he was very interested and eager to receive it. So I went out to the car and dug out a Russian and an English Book of Mormon, a Russian Liahona, and a couple DVD's. When I presented them he eagerly accepted them, but he didn't want the English Book of Mormon.

He gave me his name and number on a slip of paper, asking for business in his line of service work. We didn't talk about family, but I assume he's in town by himself. I might call him in a few days to see if I can buy him dinner.

Russian at EQ picnic. Mon, Sep 7, 2009.

09/07/2009. 1186. Our elders' quorum had a picnic on Labor Day. We used a picnic shelter next to a playground in the community area where a few members live.

A woman who I did not recognize as a member of the ward came to the picnic shelter and sat down on one of the benches while supervising her daughter in the play area. I encouraged one of the sisters at the picnic to greet her, which she did. She wasn't a member, but lived in the area and had just come to supervise her daughter play while she organized some papers.

As with most picnics, there was plenty of food, so after a while, I also approached her and suggested she could help herself to any of the food. She politely declined.

I detected an accent in her speech, so I asked her where her family was originally from. She said Russia, so I explained that we were a church group, and that our church had some free material in Russian if she'd like to read some. Since many Russian immigrants are Jewish, I asked if she was Jewish, and she said yes, but she still accepted the offer of material.

I excused myself to retrieve the material from my car, and to my horror, I discovered that I had not restocked the car with another Russian Book of Mormon after giving out my previous copy. But I still had a Russian Liahona, a Russian Joseph Smith Testimony pamphlet, and a "Together Forever" DVD (which has a Russian audio track) in the car.

I took them back to the picnic area. She politely accepted the Russian Liahona, and Russian and English copies of the Joseph Smith Testimony pamphlet. She declined the "Together Forever" DVD. I wrote the mission office phone number on one of them. One of the sisters joined in the conversation, saying her brother recently got back from a mission in Russia, and she wrote his phone number down for her too.

Russian, Croatian to church employees. Fri, May 2, 2008

05/02/2008. Journal entry. A couple weeks ago, one of the church employees with whom I associate mentioned that an employee of a company with whom he does business is from Croatia. I gave him a Croatian Book of Mormon, which he later presented to her. He later said that she was very pleased and excited to receive it.

Today, another church employee mentioned that someone whom he sees in her professional capacity is from Russia, so I offered him a Russian Book of Mormon, which he accepted, and plans to present to her.

Russian to missionaries. Mon, Mar 17, 2008.

03/17/2008. Journal Entry. Yesterday, our ward's full-time missionaries told me that the Zone Leaders needed some copies of the Russian Book of Mormon for a member in their ward (they meet in the same chapel as we do) who wanted to give them to some of his Russian-speaking friends. I suggested to our missionaries that the member probably ought to get them from the Distribution Center (www.ldscatalog.com), but that I'd drop off at least one Russian Book of Mormon.

I was passing not far from the Zone Leaders' apartment on my way home from an appointment, so I stopped by. They were not home, but I left one Russian Book of Mormon, 3 Russian Liahona magazines, and a Restoration DVD (that has a Russian audio-track), at their apartment door. I phoned the missionaries the next day and asked if they thought the member could afford to buy some copies, otherwise I would try to help out. They thought that he should be able to both afford it, and purchase them online; so he probably just didn't know how to obtain them.

If the books had been for active investigators, the mission office might have ordered them. But one mission president had previously told me that any books other than English and Spanish, (and any books in excess of the missionaries' allotment {10 every 6 weeks} need to come through the ward mission leader, and out of the ward mission budget.

I'm willing to help out in my ward, and provide material that missionaries are giving out directly, but I think if a member has the means to buy the Book of Mormon on his own, to give to his friends, then he can order them online like I do at www.LDScatalog.com

Chinese, Ukrainian-Russian. Tue, Mar 11, 2008.

03/11/2008. 1005. I had arranged to have supper with a friend. We met at a Chinese buffet restaurant near his side of town. I had been there and made at least one placement before, but I thought there would be more people to contact than those I had previously spoken with.

I put some material on the table as we ate, and the waitress saw them, but didn't comment. During one of her trips to the table, I asked if she liked to read, and offered the material. She was a bit busy, and she didn't take any of the material from the table, but she seemed to agree to receive the Chinese/English bilingual New Testament, and the Chinese Liahona. She was called away, and didn't come back since we had already paid by then, so I'm not sure what all she wanted. Anyway, when we got up to leave, we left the bilingual New Testament, the Chinese Liahona, and the corresponding English Liahona, and a "Finding Happiness" multi-lingual DVD.

I don't like to just leave things on the table when I leave, because it seems a bit pushy. But I honestly thought she did want the magazine and bilingual New Testament. Most people are timid about accepting more than one or two items, but I think that's mostly out of politeness and deference.

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03/11/2008. 1006. After leaving the restaurant, I received a cell-phone call from another friend who lived in the area, so I stopped by his place.

On the way home, I took a different route than I normally do, and there were a couple choices of which exits I could take to get off the Interstate.

My path took me past a drug store which was closed for the night, but which I had been to before, and I thought about doing a follow-up there, so that's for another trip. Then going past a 24 hour chain store, I felt that I might have been inspired to go there and get something. I wasn't sure. But it was worth a shot.

At the store, one of the employees spoke with an accent. Based on her name-tag and her accent, I asked the cashier if the other employee spoke Russian, and she said yes. So after taking my purchases out to my car, I brought back in Russian and English copies of the Book of Mormon, and a couple Russian editions of the Liahona. She was not too busy when I came back in, so I approached and offered them to her. She gratefully accepted them, and I asked if she spoke any other languages, since there are several countries where Russian is the secondary language. She also spoke Ukrainian, so I said I'd bring in something in Ukrainian. I retrieved a Ukrainian Book of Mormon, and a copy of "The Testaments of One Fold and One Shepherd" DVD that has a Ukrainian audio track.

She was busier when I got back in the second time, so there wasn't time to make a more formal presentation or explanation, but she accepted them.

Daily Recap: Urdu followup, Russian-Turkish, Igbo, Punjabi. Fri, Aug 31, 2007.

08/31/2007. Journal Entry. I went back to the restuarant where I had supper Tuesday, where the manager had accepted Urdu and English copies of the Joseph Smith Testimony pamphlet. (The church is currently out of the Urdu Book of Mormon.) I had told her I'd bring back an Urdu Bible. So I took one over, and had lunch there today. She accepted it and an English Bible. I gave her an NIV (New International Version) English Bible, from the International Bible Society.

875. After eating, I went to a discount store near there to buy another pair of pants that they had on sale, but they were out of my size. I bought some other stuff I needed, and when I was checking out, there were two young ladies in line behind me speaking a foreign language in what sounded like an Eastern European accent. After checking out, I loitered near the door, and after they paid, I asked what languages they spoke. One said Russian and Turkish. They accepted my offer of Russian and Turkish books from church, and I asked them to wait there while I went to the car to retrieve them.

They didn't wait long, because by the time I got the books out of the car, they were already in the parking lot, but they were coming towards me anyway. They cheerfully accepted the books, and also eagerly accepted the English copy too.

876. Igbo-speaking Nigerian man at Post Office. One of his friends had given him an English copy of the Book of Mormon, but he left the book back home in Nigeria. He gratefully and enthusiastically accepted the Igbo and English copies I gave him.

877. Clerk at convenience store. Punjabi and English copies of Gospel Fundamentals.

Books and referrals to mission office. Wed, Aug 1, 2007.

08/01/2007. Journal entry. I took the sheets we used at the Festival on Saturday to record contacts, material delivered, and follow-up requests to the Mission Office. I gave it to the office missionary in charge of referrals. And gave her a Russian Book of Mormon for the person who requested one. She then asked for an Arabic Book of Mormon, and I retreived one from my car for her.