Okay, I did mention it and a few people are now asking. And yes, we did teach English to kids at Boy Scout offices, boys and girls from the local community. The Boy Scout World Jamboree was supposed to be held in Iran in about 1980 but for obvious reasons that didn't happen. In preparation, it was an opportunity for kids to attend a free English class from some funny American guys.

For the first 18 months there were only four missionaries. Starting fall, 1976 three groups (4-2-4) were trained one after another. I was in the last group of four beginning April 1977. The final group of four would not arrive until 1978 and only spent a couple of months in Iran before being transferred to the London Mission under Elder Robert D. Hales. By the way, Elder Hales was cool and had a wicked sense of humor. During my four months in England I got along well with President Hales and liked him a lot.

A story about lunch with Mullahs. Keep in mind that this was 45 years ago so I'm digging back into my memory.

My companion and I travelled 620 km by bus from Tehran to Tabriz near the Turkish border to look up a referral that came from Temple Square. The referral said he would like to learn more about the Church.

We were not allowed to proselyte, but responding to a referral was okay as long as we did not begin the conversation about religion. We were allowed to answer questions and then let the conversation take its own course.

We tracked down the address on a side street in Tabriz and knocked on the door. We introduced ourselves and showed the referral to a boy about twelve years old. He brought us in and said, "wait here," then ran out the door.

A short time later three or four Mullahs from the local mosque came into the room. They were brothers and greeted us politely. My companion showed them the referral and a moment later they started to laugh. "Oh this is ___ !" They explained that it was just a joke by one of their friends who was visiting the USA. Honestly, we thought it was funny too and just par for the course in terms of how things were in Iran.

The men were very gracious. We stayed for lunch and had a good time. This is just one example of the hospitality that is common among the Iranian people. About a year later we were invited to dinner in the city of Ahwaz where I was serving with one of the last four Elders who arrived in late summer, 1978. One of the guests was an Ayatollah. He was very polite to us and talkative. After dinner we talked a little about religion and answered some of his questions. Mostly, he just wanted to talk about Disneyland.

One last thing. Two teachers taught all 18 of us in the MTC (LTM back then). Hamik was and Fereshteh. Hamik had joined the Church at BYU. Fereshteh was also studying at BYU. What I remember most is how much the loved us, especially Fereshteh Bashir. She was maybe 5' tall soaking wet, and had a heavy accent. She was so dedicated and took her became a turn saying opening and closing prayer during our classes. She prayed that we would learn Farsi and become good missionaries.

Fereshteh became a special education teacher in Provo, married and LDS man and was with him until she passed away several years ago. But Fereshteh never joined the Church. I am sure there has never been another Muslim teacher in the MTC, but to this day, and even now, every time I speak or write about Fereshteh Bashir I am overcome with emotion to the point that sometimes I can't even speak. I am sure there is a special place in the kingdom for the kind and devoted Muslim lady who helped prepare every Elder who served in the Iran Tehran Mission.

Cougar Board won't allow me to tell every story, but this is also available online.

About the mission:https://nothingwavering.org/2009/06/21/12722-mormon-church-in-iran-a-brief-history-and-iranian-mormon-converts.html

“Organized in July 1975, the short-lived Iran Tehran Mission was the only Latter-day Saint mission headquartered in the Middle East since 1950. Dean B. Farnsworth served as mission president until July 1978; he was then replaced by William J. Attwooll, who remained in Iran until his evacuation with the other missionaries the following December. The Iranian government granted the Church official legal recognition in 1977, the first Middle Eastern country to do so.

Despite these difficulties in proselyting, the missionaries strengthened the Church in other ways: providing leadership in the main branches and groups (located in Tehran, Shiraz, Isfahan, Ahwaz, and Charchesmeh), visiting Church members in outlying areas, and teaching and baptizing non-Iranian expatriates (mostly Filipinos, Koreans, and Americans). Two apostles, Elders Thomas S. Monson and Howard W. Hunter, visited Iran on separate occasions. Unlike Palestine in the Turkish-Armenian Mission, which was dedicated on numerous occasions, an apostolic prayer dedicating the land for missionary work was never offered in Iran. Because of increased fighting between Islamic revolutionary forces and the Shah’s army, President Attwooll and the missionaries were evacuated from Iran in December 1978 and reassigned to other mission fields. A final sacrament meeting was held in May 1979; after that, all Church activities ceased. In December of that year an apartment building owned by the Church and used for meetings, offices, and living quarters was confiscated by the Iranian government and reconverted into public housing. In the year 2000 the Church had no official presence or organized units in Iran.

The opportunity to establish the mission resulted from the Shah’s efforts to promote national development through a policy of openness to Western economic and political values, including tolerance of non-Muslim religions. The missionaries, a total of 18 (all elders), learned to speak Farsi but were not allowed to discuss their religious views openly or to initiate gospel discussions. Much of their time, therefore, was spent in non-proselyting activities, such as teaching English in schools, assisting with local Boy Scout programs, and contacting referrals from Latter-day Saint visitors’ centers around the world. Missionary work was further hampered because none of the LDS scriptures except the Bible had been translated into Farsi; however, the mission managed to have some tracts, as well as a 2,000-word English-Farsi glossary of the Book of Mormon, translated and published. Few Iranians embraced Mormonism (about 15 altogether) due in part to the daunting problems that Muslim converts to Christianity often faced in Islamic societies: ostracism, unemployment, disinheritance, and even threat of death. For this reason, Iranians who joined the Church abroad and returned to Iran usually did not acknowledge their conversion or participate fully in Latter-day Saint activities.

After the revolution of the late 1970s, however, some Iranians who fled the country but had had contact with the missionaries or other Latter-day Saints in Iran joined the Church in Europe and North America.”