Fr. Nikolai had been baptized Lutheran but raised with little or no religious education. His faith journey began when he befriended a fellow student in HS. That young man was a catholic, overburdened with family problems. Each day, they would get together and talk about life in general and at a certain time, the friend would drag him off to mass. This went on for years until one day when they were hitchhiking to the church, 20 miles away, in a remote section of Quebec, a 1 1/2 hour journey on foot each week. It was the middle of winter, bitter cold and Nikolai's feet were frozen. He pleaded with his friend to abandon the trek that day, saying God would understand if he missed one mass. The friend turned to him and said - "Aren't you asking the Guardian Angel?" This was the first Nikolai had ever heard of praying to a guardian angel, and was quite skeptical. The friend assured him that if after praying to the guardian angel, 4 minutes passed without a car passing, they would turn back.
Nikolai, skeptical as he was, begain praying to the "guardian angel". In less than 1 minute, a car pulled up and the driver invited them in. He asked them where he could drop them off and Nikolai's friend simply gave the name of the town. The driver persisted ... where in the town? The friend mumbled the name of the church. The driver repeated the information, looked over at his 8 year old son and said out loud - "I haven't been to church in many years. In fact, I have never even baptized my son." He not only dropped them off, he joined them at the mass.
Once inside the church, Nikolai watched his friend drop down on one knee and bow his head before stepping into the pew. He had seen him genuflect many times before but, on that day, he was so moved by his friend's reverence, that he joined him in the pew and for the first time in all those years, he actually began to pray, himself.
It was such an amazing story of a friendship that lead to a person's faith conversion and ultimately to the priesthood.
I watched that show. Fr. Nikolai’s friend was/is amazing. An unwavering faith no matter what the situation. Very moving.