Some of you may have read the incredibly inspiring stories at Bookslinger’s Flooding the Earth with the Book of Mormon blog. Every time I see his name commenting on a post in the Bloggernacle, I get humbled a bit. I usually hand out only three or four Books of Mormon a year, and here he is placing them every week. So, I have started carrying some Books of Mormon in my briefcase looking for opportunities as I travel. One such opportunity came up last week when I was in New York.
I’m in New York several times a month for work. Most of the people I work with are not interested in religion, so there are no prospects there. It seems the only real prospects I meet are taxi drivers, who come from almost every country on the planet.
Last week, my taxi driver was a nice guy named Paul from the Ivory Coast. I asked him if he spoke French, and he said he had been in the U.S. for more than a decade and he preferred English. I asked him if he would like a book in English, and he smiled very enthusiastically and said, “yes.” I asked him if he had heard of the Mormons, and he said, “yes, the missionaries in white shirts.” He had never met a missionary, just seen them on the streets. So, I gave him a Book of Mormon, and gave him the address of the Lincoln center chapel and temple, and told him that church was at 9 a.m. or 9:30 a.m. on Sundays.
He was truly appreciative. He told me several times he would go to church and he would read the book. I told him to ask God if it was true, and he said he was Catholic but that he would ask God. He told me he would definitely see me at church (I live in Miami and only go to church in Manhattan occasionally, but I didn’t have time to tell him this with traffic honking in the background).
I’m left to ponder why it seems so difficult sometimes to do missionary work. Yes, there is rejection, but then there are successes like my friend Paul here.
So, Bookslinger, you have inspired at least one person. I have Books of Mormon in five languages and will do my best to hand out one a week. Anybody else up for the Bookslinger challenge? Any other missionary stories to share?