One summer evening my companion and I were street contacting in the Waltham Cross town centre, on the northern outskirts of London, when a man stopped us and, in a thick foreign accent, asked us who we were. We told him we were missionaries for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He looked hard at my name tag.
“Oh! Jesus!” he said after a few seconds. “You are for Jesus?”
“Yes, we serve Jesus,” I said.
“You come,” he said, motioning with his hand, and then walked into the pizza shop we were standing in front of.
“Pizza for Jesus!” he called out to his employees. Then he turned to us. “I give you pizza for Jesus.”
My companion and I couldn’t believe our good luck. Not only was someone actually talking to us, but he was also giving us food!
As his employees made the pizza I asked this man if we could visit his home to teach his family about Jesus. He gave us his address, and we said we would come the next day.
His name was Reza, and his wife was Masi. At our visit to their home we learned that they were from Iran, and came to England as refugees because Reza got in the crosshairs of the Islamic Republic by selling illegal books at his bookstore. (Pornographic books, if I recall correctly.) They were not particularly religious people, but they were kind, and they were interested in these unusual young men from America. Fortunately Masi spoke English pretty well, so we didn’t have too much trouble communicating with her. They invited us back for dinner the next week so we could sample some Persian food.
And let me tell you, Persian food is amazingly delicious! They just kept feeding us until we were stuffed to the gills, and when we finally begged them to stop bringing us more food I could see in Masi’s smile that she knew she had conquered us.
We brought them a gift that evening: a partial translation of the Book of Mormon in Persian. We asked Masi to turn to Mosiah 4:14-15, and she read it aloud:
۱۴ و شما روا نخواهید داشت که فرزندان شما گرسنه یا برهنه باشند؛ نه روا خواهید داشت که آنها از قوانین خدا سرپیچی کنند و با یکدیگر جنگ و ستیز کنند، و اهریمن را خدمت کنند که استاد گناه است، یا که روح اهریمنی است که پدرانمان از آن سخن گفته اند، او یک دشمن بر همۀ پرهیزکاری بوده است.
۱۵ بلکه شما به آنها آموزش خواهید داد تا در راه های راستی و هوشیاری گام بردارند؛ شما به آنها آموزش خواهید داد تا به یکدیگر مهر ورزند و به یکدیگر خدمت کنند.
“And ye will not suffer your children that they go hungry, or naked; neither will ye suffer that they transgress the laws of God, and fight and quarrel one with another, and serve the devil, who is the master of sin, or who is the evil spirit which hath been spoken of by our fathers, he being an enemy to all righteousness.
“But ye will teach them to walk in the ways of truth and soberness; ye will teach them to love one another, and to serve one another.”
When she had read these verses Reza became animated and spoke in Persian. Masi interpreted for us: “He says, ‘That is what I want for my children.’”
And so my companion and I were invited back to teach the gospel of Jesus Christ to a Muslim family. Reza was busy running his pizza joint, and didn’t have good command of our language, so he was usually not there when we came. But Masi welcomed us warmly each time and listened to our message with interest. At the close of every visit we prayed and asked God in the name of Jesus Christ to bless their home and all who lived in it.
It was not easy for Masi to understand everything we taught. Her English skills were good, but not great, and her vocabulary for religious concepts was very limited. The lessons proceeded slowly.
After six months of serving in that area, and probably three or four months of regular visits in this home, I was moved to a new area. On the evening before the move we went to visit Masi so that I could say goodbye. She cried when she understood that I was going away and couldn’t come back.
“Why do you have to go?” she asked.
“I have been called to serve in another place,” I said.
“And why can’t you visit us again?” she asked.
“I have to stay in the place I am assigned,” I said. then I pointed to my companion. “But he will have a new companion, and they can visit you again and teach you more about Jesus.”
“No, no!” she cried. “I don’t want another one.”
We left her home in a driving rain storm, and got in our car that was parked down the street. For a minute we just sat there, listening to the rain pelt the roof of the car. My companion and I looked at each other with long faces.
“We should say a prayer,” I said.
A heartfelt prayer really calms the troubled soul. As we prayed together in the car I remembered that we had not prayed with Masi before we left.
“Let’s go back, Elder,” I said. “We have to pray with her.”
So we walked back and knocked on the door again. Masi answered, and her eyes were still wet.
“We forgot to pray with you before we left,” I said. “Can we come in and pray with you?”
She hesitated for a second, but then smiled and let us in. We knelt on the living room floor with them, and I offered a prayer of gratitude for my Persian friends. I asked the Lord to bless their home, and to let his Spirit rest in their hearts.
As I closed the prayer new tears were on Masi’s cheeks. She turned to my companion and asked him to come the next week, with his new companion.
That was the last time I had any contact with Reza and Masi. As far as I know they never became members of the Church of Jesus Christ or decided to follow Jesus. But I was blessed for having known them. And I know that the Lord will bless them for the love they showed me.
“And whoso receiveth you, there I will be also, for I will go before your face. I will be on your right hand and on your left, and my Spirit shall be in your hearts, and mine angels round about you, to bear you up.
“Whoso receiveth you receiveth me; and the same will feed you, and clothe you, and give you money.
“And he who feeds you, or clothes you, or gives you money, shall in nowise lose his reward” (Doctrine and Covenants 84:88-90).
Iran has been in the news a lot lately, so I have been thinking about my old friends. Over the years I have known a handful of people from Iran. They have all been intelligent and good people. It would be wonderful if Iran were a place where the Persian people could live in freedom and safety.
I don’t have the solution for every geopolitical problem, but I do know that all people everywhere are children of God, and that he loves them, every one. That includes the people in Iran.
Alan B. Sanderson, MD is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and is a practicing neurologist.
Medicine and Faith 