She stopped and asked me. English/parking lot. Sun, Sep 19, 2010.

09/19/20. 1253. I was getting ready to go to church (afternoon meetings), and was restocking the trunk of my car with some copies of the Book of Mormon to replenish ones I had recently given out.

A neighbor drove by, stopped her car, rolled down her window, and asked me what church I went to. (I was wearing a long-sleeved white shirt and tie on Sunday, so my look screamed "church guy.")

I told her, and then she asked where it was. I got out an info flyer that lists the local chapels and gave it to her, and told her the address, and said she was welcome to visit, or she could call one of the numbers, and church representatives could visit her if she wanted. I then asked if she would like any church literature. She said okay.

I thought I had some missionary lesson pamphlets, but I only had them in Spanish. So I offered her a Book of Mormon and a Finding Faith in Christ DVD. And she accepted them.

Words fail me to express the awe I feel about this encounter. And there are so many implications and lessons in this, that I don't know where to start. Or, even if I should, because the reader will either get or won't get it, regardless of what I say. And, I don't understand all the lessons and ramifications myself. I know one thing where I fell short, and that is in bearing testimony. It was a perfect opportunity for bearing testimony, and I didn't. I invited, but I didn't testify.

Amharic x 2 in parking lot. Sun, Oct 18, 2009.

Lesson #1: Be kind to those who despitefully use you.
Lesson #2: EVERYONE is a potential investigator.

10/18/2009. 1196. I had just finished putting air in a car tire that had a slow leak. I was parked in my parking spot in the apartment complex's carport. An Ethiopian-looking man came over to talk to me, and asked me if I had been in Ethiopia because on the front of my car I had a license plate that has the Ethiopian flag on it. (I did that because I like the Lion of Judah that's on it. It's actually the previous flag of Ethiopia, and it remains popular with the Rastafari movement and people loyal to Haile Selassie.)

I thought that he might be the owner of the taxi-cab that had parked in my reserved carport spot the previous week. And he was. It turned out that he just didn't know that the carport spots were reserved, and people had to pay extra for them. (I'm so glad I didn't get angry when I called the phone number painted on the side of his cab. No one answered, and I left a message, very politely asking him to park elsewhere, and let him know it was a reserved and paid-for spot. It was probably the taxi-cab company phone number, not his personal number anyway.)

Anyways, he was actually from Eritrea, and spoke Tigrinya as his main language, but Amharic (the language of Ethiopia) was his secondary language. I offered to him, and he accepted, a Book of Mormon in Amharic and in English. So I reached into the trunk and got a couple out. He was genuinely interested and grateful.

A little later, I was back out at the car for something, and again saw him, this time, a couple ladies were also approaching, and he asked if I would give a copy of the Book of Mormon in Amharic to them. They were his relatives and were visiting him. Woo hoo! A two-fer.

So I got a second copy out of the trunk. (I always keep two or three Amharic copies in the car since there are so many Ethiopians in town.) The ladies accepted both an Amharic and an English copy too. When they got in their vehicle, I realized their vehicle was the other one that had parked in my reserved and paid-for carport spot the night before the taxi had trespassed.

Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy. That night when they had parked in my spot, I was so frustrated, and angry, and had such a sense of violation. But, the scripture about blessing those who despitefully use you came to mind, and all I did was leave a Bible pass-along card under their windshield wiper.

Anyway, it turned out to be a nice encounter, and he told me his address and asked me to stop by some time. I really LOVE Ethiopian/Eritrean food, and I'm thinking of how to wangle a dinner invitation. I'd even PAY them to have me over for dinner. That's actually a good idea, I think. I'll ask if, for $30, if his wife will prepare a typical Eritrean meal for me and "two of my young friends from church."

Hey! The $30 is for the FOOD, not payment for listening to a missionary discussion. But, if he asks what my "two young friends from church" do, then hey, they'll just have to answer the question. :-)

Bengali in parking lot. Thu, Jul 16, 2009.

07/16/2009. 1167. I went to the missionaries' apartment to pick them up to take them to a lesson. As I was walking from my car to their apartment, a man drove by whose car stereo was blasting what sounded like Indian music in Hindi. He parked just a few feet away, so I paused a few seconds while he parked. He saw me standing there, so I motioned with my hand (index finger pointing up) indicating I wanted a minute of his time. When he got out of his car and approached me, I asked him if that was Hindi music he was playing. He said yes. I said that the reason I asked was that I had some free books in Hindi from my church, and would give him one if he wanted. He didn't seem interested. I mentioned we had other languages of India too, like Telugu, Sinhala and Bengali. When I said Bengali, he got very interested, and he said that he'd like to see one, since that was his main language. I said I had them in my car, and as I went to get one, he followed me. I made sure he knew they were religious and Christian in nature, and he said that was okay. I retrieved a Bengali copy and an English copy and presented them to him, and he eagerly accepted them. I pointed out my card inside, and that he could call if he wanted any more. "And I went on my way rejoicing."

Swahili, English at singles event. Fri, Jul 4, 2008.

07/04/2008. Journal entry. I was at a dinner/cook-out for singles at one of the local chapels. A single member from one of the local wards brought one of her non-member friends. During a conversation she mentioned that she spoke Swahili, so I asked if she'd like a Swahili copy of the Book of Mormon. She enthusiastically said yes. She already had an English copy that her friend had given her.

I went to my car in the parking lot to retrieve the Swahili copy from the trunk of my car. There was a family passing near me who had used the church parking for a nearby event. Local church leaders knew of this event, and had let it be known among the members, including the singles, that the church parking lot was open to non-members for this nearby event.

1037. It just seemed natural to offer that family free Bibles, since they were using a church parking lot. The dad said sure, and sent a couple of his older children over to my car. I gave them a couple paper-back copies of the NIV Bible, and then offered them a free Book of Mormon. The dad said for his kids to get one of those too, so they accepted an English Book of Mormon.

I then took the Swahili copy back to the other lady, and she was excited to have something in Swahili.

Missed opportunity. Tue, Nov 27, 2007.

11/27/2007. Journal entry. I had just pulled into a parking space in front of a little strip mall of stores. Just as I was getting out of my car, the owner of the car next to me crossed the parking lot and was about to put her purchases in her trunk.

It occurred to me to say something to her, but I ignored the feeling. Twice more, while I was crossing the parking lot towards the store and again after I got in the store, I turned around, feeling like I should say something to her, and offer her a Joy to the World DVD.

But I "quenched the Spirit" and lost the opportunity. I chickened out.
 

English DVDs at store parking lot. Sat, Sep 15, 2007.

09/15/2007. 886. As I left a store I passed another car in the parking lot on the way to mine. There was a man in the front passenger seat with the door open. As I got back to my car, my attention was turned back to the man. He was still in the car, door open, so he apparently was just waiting on the driver, and was keeping the door open to keep cool. He was an elderly African-American man, and was dressed as if he had just came back from church.

It occurred to me to offer him something from my stash of church material in the car. Rather than analyze the thought/feeling to figure out if it was actually a spiritual prompting, or merely my own idea, I decided to just do it.

I grabbed three DVDs, Joy to the World, To This End Was I Born, and Finding Faith in Christ.

I took the DVDs back to his car, and stood off to the side at a respectful distance, in front of his car door, so that the door was between us.

I said "Excuse me, sir" a couple times before I realized he was asleep. But he was sitting perfectly upright, so it was not obvious at first that he was asleep, and was probably not in a deep sleep.

I feared that I had begun the wake-up process, and figured it was better to continue than just slink off. So I said "Sir" a couple more times a little louder, and he opened his eyes.

I offered him the Christmas DVD first, pointing out that it featured the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. He was interested, looked at it, and politely accepted it. I then offered the other two DVDs, which he also accepted.

I sort of apologized that it was early for Christmas, and he responded something like "Not really."