In Austria, all men of compulsory military age are obliged to take part in military exercises every few years. I, too, had to take part in such exercises. This incident happened during my last weapons exercise before I was released from my military obligation. On the last day of these exercises, all of our equipment had to be handed in along with our weapons. With the large number of men, this was always a very lengthy affair. I knew from the last manoeuvre that I would have a lot of spare time on that day. Since I was in charge of a youth group in our parish this year, I wanted to use this time to think about what I could do with the young people in the group lessons over the next few weeks. I had also taken my Bible with me to prepare for this.

The handing in of the equipment and weapons took place in a barracks, which is located in a very spacious area. I looked for a quiet place with my Bible, away from the other soldiers, where I hoped to be undisturbed. But that was not easy at all. There were many other men around who were also waiting to hand in their equipment and were feeling bored. So every now and then, men would stroll by for a quick chat.

I was embarrassed to be seen with the Bible, so I kept putting it unobtrusively to one side when I noticed a comrade approaching. Suddenly I realised what I was doing. I was ashamed to be recognised as a believer with a Bible. At the same time, I was aware that not far away was a group of men looking at porn magazines together, and they were not in the least ashamed of it. I decided that from now on I would no longer hide the Bible when someone came to me. The first person who came over and saw me reading it said with a laugh, "Hello, what porn are you reading?". When I showed him it was the Bible, he quickly walked away concerned. Others were quite positively surprised and stayed a while to talk to me.

Then a man called Benno came, I didn't know him. When he realised what I was reading, he reacted angrily at first because he rejected the faith and the church. But we got into an intense conversation. In the process, I learned that he had had very negative experiences in his childhood with people who thought they were religious but were actually very unloving. In the course of the conversation he accepted that human weaknesses and failures cannot be a reason to question the reality of God. He became increasingly interested in my attitude to faith and the experiences I had already had with God. To our chagrin, however, the group to which I belonged was soon called over the loudspeakers to hand in their weapons. We had to end our conversation. Benno wanted to talk to me longer about my faith and asked me if we could meet again for a talk after the handing in of the weapons. I gladly agreed. I knew that such a conversation was only possible that day, because the next morning after breakfast we all wanted to go home to our families as quickly as possible.

But things did not turn out as we planned. After all, this was the last weapons exercise for the entire team. When all the equipment had finally been handed in, we were officially discharged from our compulsory military service in a small ceremony and invited into a large hall for a meal together. Since there was also plenty of beer to drink, the mood became more and more boisterous. I noticed that Benno was constantly surrounded by friends and no longer saw any possibility that there could ever be a conversation about God with Benno in this loud, boisterous environment.

I was unhappy with this situation and could not enjoy the evening at all. I could no longer stand it in this room and went outside. In the meantime it had become dark and also foggy, after all it was already the end of October. I prayed to God. "Lord, if You want me to talk to Benno about You again today, then You have to do something. I don't see any way to have a quiet conversation with him. But you know we don't have much time today and no opportunity at all tomorrow." - I didn't even know which of the barrack buildings Benno was staying in, so I didn't know if I would see him at all in the early morning before leaving.

After this prayer, I didn't feel at all like going back to the noisy hall, where some men already gave the impression of being slightly drunk. I decided to go for a long walk outside, praying a rosary for Benno. The fact that it was dark and foggy didn't bother me at all, I knew the barracks area very well and wasn't the least bit afraid of getting lost.

I had already prayed almost the entire rosary when I collided with a man at a crossroads in the darkness. We were both very frightened, neither of us had seen or heard the other because of the darkness. Each of us gave a surprised shout. At that, we both recognised each other by the voice - it was Benno. "What are you doing here???" he asked me, completely astonished, and I could only answer truthfully: "I'm just going for a walk here and praying a rosary for you". His amazement can hardly be described. We walked a little way to a street lamp so that we could see each other whilest we talked, and then he told me, still completely dumbfounded, what had happened: "I had met friends and we had had a great time at the party. Suddenly I had a strong urge for a piece of chewing gum, but I couldn't find any in my pocket. Then I remembered that I still had a pack in the car. So I left my friends and went to get the gum. As I walked, I asked myself if I was crazy. The car is parked 500 metres away, so going that far for chewing gum is not normal. Besides, all I had to do was ask my friends if anyone had any chewing gum for me, even the cafeteria was right nearby where I could have bought some. Crazy. But having already been outside, I thought the fresh air would do me good and kept walking. Now I know that someone from heaven guided me here."

We were now sitting on a small wall under the streetlight and had a very long and intense conversation about faith and about God. At some point, as it was nearing midnight, we got so cold that we had to separate and return to our quarters.

I have no idea how things went on with Benno. If Benno had passed that crossroads 10 seconds earlier or later, neither of us would have recognised the other and it would not have come to this faith conversation. God obviously wanted my testimony of faith and fulfilled my request in a way that was really surprising to me.