Missionary Airplane Moment

I had an interesting experience this week. I was on a plane going to Denver to work for a couple of days. I was one of the first ones on the plane and the seat next to me was still empty as the plane started to fill up. The whole plane was full except the seat next to me. At the last second this guy who was probably 25, long hair, goatee, with dirty clothes and smelling like cigarettes came hustling down the isle. I stood up to let him into the window seat and as he passed I was worried about his strong smell making me sneeze the whole flight. After he got sat down and buckled up, he began to chat with me. He works in construction and was on his way back from Spokane (layover in SLC) where he had just put a bid on a house to buy. He is from Denver and wants to move somewhere with more of a country feel. He and his wife had been saving all their money from his construction job and her income as a bar tender. They were paying cash for the house. I told him how impressed I was that he had worked so hard and understood the wisdom in paying cash for things and avoiding interest. I joked with him that I wouldn't have a job if more people were as smart as him. (I had on my Medallion Bank shirt.) We talked about our families and he was fascinated when I told him I had two sons who were living in foreign countries on missions for my church. He asked me if I was Mormon after I gave him my cookies and got water to drink from the flight attendant. He said, "I see you don't eat sugar or caffeine, would it be weird to ask if you are Mormon?" I joked with him that neither are part of my religion, but answered that yes I was Mormon. He said, "I thought so. You are so nice. I have only known a couple of Mormons but they were the nicest people!" He asked me if we considered ourselves Christian. I was amazed. I told him that our entire religion was based on Christ as our Savior and we try to live as He lived. Serving and loving others was what we try to do always. He said Christ did get mad that one time in the temple and he was pretty mad then. I thought it was interesting that he knew the Bible. He said he had a sister that studied religion in college and most of his family was pretty religious. He said I am a pagan and my wife is an atheist. I told him he needed to follow his heart and live the way that brought him peace. He couldn't believe I wasn't going to preach to him. He said all those other religions just bash you and tell you you are going to hell. I told him that we try to show love to everyone like Christ did and living my religion brings me great peace. I want that for others too. I hope I said the right things to him. It felt good to talk to him and I definitely felt the Spirit guiding my words. After we got off the plane, I started to think I should have said some things differently or better. But, I did the best I could and tried to show him Christlike love. That was the best I could do. He said, "Thanks for the interesting conversation" as we were getting off the plane. I hope I said the right thing and planted some seeds for him. It was exciting and felt good. I thought of my missionaries and how great it must feel to do that every day.