To read the first part of our interview with Marsha, see here.
What are some of the reactions you’ve had to giving out the Book of Mormon?
I’ve had a lot of people say things like, “Oh, what a coincidence, I’m going on a plane tonight and I needed something to read, and now I have something—I love history!” because I give them a little background on what the Book of Mormon is. So many people have said things like, “Oh, I called the phone number for this book, and nobody ever sent me one,” or, “I just saw the missionaries last week. They came to my door but I didn’t let them in. I’d like to have the book.”
One person came to the door—it was a local candidate for office—and I thought, “If you offer this to him, he’s not going to want to carry this around in front of people,” and then I said to myself, “Let him make that choice, don’t you decide.” When I offered it to him, he said, “Oh, yes! I was just at your temple open house—I’d love to have a copy of the book!”
There are times when I have felt inspired not to offer a copy of the book. I don’t know why, but there have been a few times I have not offered the book. When I do give it, I put our testimony in, and I had a little card made with our meeting times and the address of the chapel, and then I put the Family Search information, and I have a box of pass-along cards with several different images of Jesus, and so I give one of those, too.
We had to buy a new washer and dryer last week, and I got into a really fun conversation with the salesman, and I went to my car afterwards and got a Book of Mormon and offered it to him. He had talked to me a great deal about how his father had died, and I happened to have the card in the Book of Mormon that said, “Where do we go after we die?” or something like that. I was able to say to him, “This will answer your questions about that.” Now, I also put in our business cards from BYU Pathway Worldwide, so that if anyone is interested in the program, or knows someone who might be, they can contact us, but generally I do not write my name and phone number inside the book anymore, because people throw them out, or give them to Goodwill or something, and I don’t want our name in there.
That is so cool! My mission president used to promise us that for every Book of Mormon that we gave out, someone would eventually be converted to the gospel. He said that it may not be the person we give it to, but someone would find it and be converted through that book. I remember reading a story in the Ensign years ago about someone who bought a Book of Mormon in a secondhand store and bought it, read it, and joined the Church—so it could happen! This is awesome! So, what number are you on, now?
957.
You’ll have to have a big party when you get to 1000!
Yes! A few month ago, I said, “Ok, you’re close enough, you won’t have to store that many books at the house,” so I bought enough to take me to 1000, to give me more of an incentive. Sometimes I’ll give it at a drive thru. I’ve left one at the bank—here’s one [pointing at an entry on her list] where a man’s car broke down right near the temple. I don’t know why I stopped to help him, because it was Atlanta Georgia, and a woman should not stop her car on the beltway to help anyone, but I felt inspired to do it, and I did, and he took it. I don’t know the story around that, I just gave it to him. I got on a plane with a copy, intending to give it away, and the lady next to me was named Alma, which was an automatic entry to the discussion.
We’ve had a lot of things break in our house—I don’t know if it’s because a lot of people need Books of Mormon or what, but it’s been expensive!
What advice would you give to people who are shy about giving away copies of the Book of Mormon, or are afraid of offending people, those kinds of things?
I think for a lot of people, the big fear is the fear of offending someone, right? Only one person has ever been offended by my offering the Book of Mormon, and that was a relative, who said, “How dare you send me a religious book!” For the most part, people who don’t want one very graciously say, “No thank you.” We are still smiling at each other when one of us walks away.
I try to think of it as, I love the people who have the opportunity to receive a Book of Mormon from me. I don’t give it to everyone I see—that would be way over the number I have. But, I promised myself I would offer one to people who come to our home, so I don’t go giving it out to other people. However, if the still, small voice prompts me, or if I’m on my way somewhere, and I know I’m going to give one away, I try to tell myself, “You know you care about this person, this is your brother or your sister.” You may be the only person who is a member of our faith that she will see in a long span of time, and instead of being afraid you’ll offend her, try to love her enough to give her the opportunity to decide for herself whether she wants the book.
And, I’ve had so many reactions of gratitude from people. I’ve had someone at the drive thru with tears running down her face, say “No one’s ever given me anything in this job!” or I’ve heard “No one’s even asked me how I am today, and you’re giving me this gift!” One man, who came to fix a leak in our furnace that just wouldn’t go away—I guess I hadn’t given out all the copies of the Book of Mormon I was supposed to—said, “This is so special! I did a good deed this morning, and this is my reward!” You never know, in your fear of offending someone, you might be missing the chance to make someone very happy. If the person doesn’t want the book, it harms no one.
A lot of times, if it’s an Evangelical Christian or something, the person might say, “Oh no, I’m a Christian,” then I’ll say, “That’s great, I’m a Christian, too!” and then I might explain the name of our Church, and say, “I know Jesus lives,” or something like that, and then that person might think twice about [what we believe].
This is not my comfort zone to do this, even though I love it, and I get great feelings afterward. There are a lot of times when I have the book in my hand and I’m nervous, and I’m thinking, “Just offer, just do it!” And I offer, and it always goes okay. My advice is first of all, not to worry that something negative might happen. Think of how much you care about the person to whom you’re offering this amazing gift, and then just do it.
I always have some little phrases in mind for how I might present the book, so if I’m frazzled, or there’s a lot of noise or activity around us, I have something ready to say. Like yesterday, the dryer repairman was here, and I just said, “Would you like a copy of the Book of Mormon to take with you?” and he said, “Sure, I’d love one!” But what I usually say is, “Anytime someone comes to our house for the first time, we like to offer them a Book of Mormon as a gift from our family. Would you like to have one?” Most of the time they accept.
I’ve had people standing here for a half hour asking me questions about the Church. They didn’t know when they walked in that I was a member, but they’ve had questions in their mind for a long time, and here I was right there, and they could ask all those questions. Or, they’ll say something about the Church that isn’t true, and I’ll say, “Oh, I heard that, too, before I was a member. But the truth is . . .” We’re here to gather Israel, and this is a great way to gather Israel.
I’ve received so many good feelings from sharing the Book of Mormon. That’s the advantage I have over others. I’ve had all these experiences—957 placements of the Book of Mormon—and I’ve probably had only 30 people say no. So, I have all these positive experiences that I can look back on. I feel really blessed. And, the more you do, the more courage you’ll have. It’s the best feeling!