A Man on a Park Bench in Spain: A Mission Memory

One morning my companion and I got ready and knelt down in prayer to start our day. We had decided beforehand to stay in the apartment for a few minutes after our prayer and mark Books of Mormon and then leave for the day.

As I knelt in prayer with my eyes closed I saw a distinct image of a man sitting on a park bench. I recognized the plaza where he was sitting. He sat alone on one edge of the bench. It wasn't a dream and to this day I don't know what it was but I knew what I saw and where it was. Along with this image I felt an incredibly strong sense of urgency and that we needed to find him quickly.

After the prayer I told my companion we needed to leave right away and I tried my best to explain what was happening. We headed out the door and nearly ran to the plaza. My heart beat in my chest as we made our way there. I was excited, the spirit was strong and I knew we were being guided. Sure enough the man was there on the bench by himself in the nearly empty plaza waiting for a bus that would arrive soon.

I was so excited that I anxiously approached him. He was smoking a pipe and his eyes widened as he looked at me and realized two sister Mormon missionaries were about to talk to him and he said loudly and definitively "No!". Because of the events leading up to this moment instead of being offended or frightened by his response I did something that neither he or I expected...I burst out laughing.

His reaction had taken me completely off guard, and consequently my return reaction took him completely off guard. It even disarmed him a bit. I plopped down beside him and began to talk with him and shared a message of the restored gospel. He was receptive to the message and was really responsive and touched by the testimony of companion Sister Matthews who was at that time new to the mission but strong in conviction and spirit.

He reminded me of a philosopher willing to theorize the idea of a young boy who received a vision. We gave him a Book of Mormon with passages marked and some information inside. We were able to share parts of the first discussion and answer his questions. His bus arrived moments later and he boarded and was off. We could not have waited a moment longer in the apartment just minutes before. I don't know what happened to him after he left, since he was in route to a different city but I know in those short moments of our meeting that we shared what we were supposed to share with him and that for some reason he was meant to hear the beginnings of the good news of the gospel at that time.