Punjabi at gas station. Wed, Jan 2, 2008.

01/02/2008. 937. (Click here if you're looking for the Punjabi story that Elder Ballard quoted.) I had dropped off the rental car, and one of their employees took me back home. I asked him to drop me off at the gas station next to where I live. It is very cold today, and I thought they might have some hot chocolate. I had been there several times before, but never ran into any foreign-born employees. They're currently undergoing remodeling, so in hind-sight it may have changed ownership.

When I entered, I could tell the cashier was from the Indian sub-continent. They didn't have any hot chocolate, so I got a can of soda. As I paid, I asked him if he was from India, and he said yes. I asked him what state he was from and he said Punjab. I offered him a religious book from church in the Punjabi language, and he seemed a little interested. I said I'd get it from home and bring it back.

I walked home and got Punjabi and English copies of Gospel Fundamentals, and Punjabi and English copies of the Joseph Smith Testimony pamphlet. I walked back to the gas station and presented them. He was definitely curious about the Punjabi Gospel Fundamentals book. He didn't seem totally fluent in English, and didn't pick up the bilingual nature of two books immediately, but he eventually caught on and accepted the English edition too. He just wanted the one, so I didn't give him the pair of Joseph Smith pamphlets.