Missionaries are known to travel long distances to find those ready for the gospel message. But Boris and Lilo Schiel went the extra mile - so to speak.

Brother Schiel left his native Latvia when he was 15 and joined the Church in 1954 in Karlsruhe, Germany. The new convert, who spoke Latvian, German and Russian, immigrated to the United States in 1957. He met Lilo Haertl in 1985, and they married in the Los Angeles Temple. Sister Schiel, from Munich, Germany, joined the Church in 1954, and immigrated to America in 1956. While serving a mission at the Frankfurt Germany Temple in August 1990, the Schiels met Sergei Golod, a 23-year-old from Moscow, Russia.

Brother Golod related to the Church News the events resulting in his September 1990 baptism:

"When I was living in Moscow, I met a group of young Germans who came to Moscow and I decided that I would go to Germany for a vacation. I went to Berlin and early one Sunday morning, I decided to go for a walk. As I was walking down the street, I saw a building that was different from all the other buildings. People were going inside, so I went in."

The building happened to be where a servicemen ward met, and it was there that he first met American LDS missionaries. He didn't speak German, but he knew English from his school days in Russia.

From Berlin, he traveled to Frankfurt, where he again met missionaries. They invited the young Russian to Church and that Sunday introduced him to Elder and Sister Schiel. The following month, he was baptized.

"From the time I learned the doctrines of the Church," Brother Golod related, "I felt it was my Church. I was very interested in its history and its teachings. When Elder Schiel began teaching me the lessons and when I learned of the Book of Mormon, I said to myself, `I must be in the Church.' When I went to the first meeting in Berlin, I felt I was among friends, although I did not know anyone there."

Brother Schiel recalled how well Brother Golod responded to the discussions: "He had the Spirit. He was one of our best contacts."

Today, Brother Golod is a medical assistant in Frankfurt and attends the Frankfurt Servicemen 2nd Ward. Brother and Sister Schiel returned home from their mission in October 1990, and are members of the Suncrest 2nd Ward, Orem Utah Suncrest Stake.

(Another in a series of "Missionary Moments." Illustration by Deseret News artist Reed McGregor.)