While cleaning up after a Time Out for Women conference, someone asked Jeff Clark, a vice president at Deseret Book who helps out with many of the events, if he had “given away his Book of Mormon yet.” I learned that Jeff usually has one or two on hand when he travels. When he meets someone who is not a member of the church and if he senses their interest, he offers them a copy. He related how uplifting it is to meet people and share that wonderful gift with them.

I felt inspired by his enthusiasm. So, as I prepared for a recent trip to South America with some BYU students, I took along a few copies of the Book of Mormon in Portuguese and Spanish.

Our group of travelers included a few women. During our stay in Rio de Janeiro, we were often swarmed with vendors, anxious to show us their wares. We saw custom made license plates, skirts, blouses, soccer shirts, blankets, jewelry, water bottle holders—you name it! One young man seemed to appear each time we entered or exited the bus outside our hotel, showing us colorful purses made out of zippers. He enthusiastically told us his name was “Alan,” and charmed us with his adolescent smile.

By the end of our three-day stay, we figured our group had bought over 20 of Alan’s inexpensive purses. We had furthered his economic development all right, but we also felt as if he had become our friend. I knew it was with him that I wanted to share my Portuguese copy of the Book of Mormon. Some in our group knew the language quite well, and they wrote a message to Alan, highlighting a few favorite scriptures.

I witnessed two feelings of joy when we offered him the book. The first was somewhat anticipated: the joy on Alan’s face when we presented it to him. Each of us wanted to tell him about the book, and we all began talking at once. This time we were the ones doing the swarming! I was certain poor Alan felt overwhelmed as we all chattered in a mixture of English, Spanish and Portuguese. He wore a big smile, however, as he tried to make sense of what we were attempting to say. But it was when I took a step back from our little group of women to watch this somewhat amusing scene that I experienced an overwhelming feeling of joy. Joy in simply sharing the Book of Mormon. Joy in sharing something so precious, something we believed in and which had influenced our lives so greatly, a gift which had brought us such joy, that we couldn’t help but share. I remembered the promise, “. . . if it so be that you should labor all your days in crying repentance unto this people, and bring, save it be one soul unto me, how great shall be your joy with him in the kingdom of my Father!” (D&C 18:15).

It had been a long time since I had given away a copy of the Book of Mormon. Through Jeff’s example and feeling such joy in sharing the book, I have vowed to watch for more opportunities to share this precious gift with others!