A minister concluded that his church was getting into serious financial
>troubles. Coincidentally, by chance, while checking the church store room,
>he
>discovered several cartons of new Bibles that had never been opened and
>distributed. So at his Sunday sermon, he asked for three volunteers from
>the
>
>congregation who would be willing to sell the Bibles door-to-door for $10
>each
>to raise desperately needed money for the church.
>Peter, Paul and Louie all raised their hands to volunteer for the task.
>The reverend knew that Peter and Paul earned their livings as salesmen and
>were
>likely capable of selling some Bibles, but he had serious doubts about
>Louie
>
>who was just a little local farmer who had always tended to keep to himself
>because he was embarrassed by his speech
>impediment. Poor little Louis stuttered badly. But, not wanting to
>discourage
>poor Louis, the reverend decided to let him try anyway.
>
>He sent the three of them away with the back seat of their cars stacked
>with
>
>bibles and asked them to meet with him and report the results of their
>door-to-door selling efforts the following Sunday.
>
>When they got together, the reverend immediately asked Peter, "Well, Peter,
>how
>did you make out selling our Bibles last week?"
>
>Proudly handing the reverend an envelope, Peter replied, "Pastor, using my
>sales prowess, I was able to sell 20 Bibles, and here's the $200 collected
>on
>behalf of the church."
>
>"Fine job, Peter!" the reverend said, vigorously shaking his hand. "You are
>indeed a fine salesman and the Church is indebted to you."
>
>Turning to Paul, he asked "And how many Bibles did you manage to sell for
>the
>church last week?"
>
>Paul, smiling and sticking out his chest, confidently replied, "Reverend, I
>am
>a professional salesman and was happy to give the church the benefit of my
>expertise. Last week I sold 28 Bibles on behalf of the church, and here's
>$280
>I collected."
>
>The reverend responded, "That's absolutely splendid, Paul. You are truly a
>professional salesman and the church is also indebted to you."
>
>Apprehensively, the reverend turned to little Louie and said, "And Louie,
>did
>you manage to sell any Bibles last week?"
>
>Louie silently offered the reverend a large envelope. The reverend opened
>it
>
>and counted the contents. "What is this?" the reverend exclaimed. "Louie,
>there's $3200 in here! Are you suggesting that you sold 320 Bibles for the
>church, door to door, in just one week?"
>
>Louie just nodded.
>
>"That's impossible!" both Peter and Paul said in unison. "We are
>professional
>salesmen, yet you claim to have sold 10 times as many as we could."
>
>"Yes, this does seem unlikely," the reverend agreed. "Please explain how
>you
>
>managed to accomplish this, Louie."
>
>Louie shrugged. "I-I-I- re-re-really do-do-don't kn-kn-know f-f-f-for
>sh-sh-sh-sure," he stammered.
>
>Impatiently, Peter interrupted. "For crying out loud, Louie, just tell us
>what
>you said to them when they answered the door!"
>
>"A-a-a-all I-I-I s-s-said wa-wa-was," Louis replied, "W-w-w-w-would
>y-y-y-you
>l-l-l-l-l-like t-t-to b-b-b-buy th-th-th-this b-b-b-b-Bible f-f-for t-t-ten
>b-b-b-bucks ---o-o-o-or--- wo-wo-would yo-you j-j-j-just l-like m-m-me
>t-t-to
>st-stand h-h-here and r-r-r-r-r-read itt-to y-y-you?
>
