S4E50 Has the Day of Miracles Ceased?

Summary

Standard of Truth Podcast: Season 4, Episode 50 – "Has the Day of Miracles Ceased?"

Release Date: December 12, 2024
Host: Dr. Garrett Dirkmaat
Guest: Dr. Richard Leduc

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1. Opening Banter and PhD Celebrations

Dr. Garrett Dirkmaat opens the episode with light-hearted humor, welcoming listeners and introducing his co-host, Dr. Richard Leduc. The conversation quickly dives into playful teasing about academic titles and the challenges of maintaining professional identities in everyday situations.

• Dr. Leduc shares an amusing anecdote about insisting on being called "Doctor" rather than "Bud" while getting gas, highlighting the subtle struggles of academic recognition:
  "[01:03] Dr. Leduc: ...I demanded that the convenience store worker refer to you as doctor rather than Bud."

The hosts celebrate Dr. Leduc's recent PhD defense, exchanging jokes about the complexities and stresses of academic pursuits:

• Dr. Dirkmaat remarks on Dr. Leduc's rigorous defense process:
  "[06:19] Dr. Dirkmaat: Getting a PhD is something that you just can't."

2. Listener Engagement and Humorous Emails

The episode features a segment where Dr. Dirkmaat and Dr. Leduc engage with listener emails, predominantly from missionaries. The interaction is filled with humor, showcasing the hosts' camaraderie and ability to entertain while addressing questions and comments.

• Dr. Leduc responds to a playful email from Elder Hunt, incorporating jokes about fundraising and humorous references to unlikely scenarios:
  "[09:23] Dr. Leduc: ...a pair of Cole Hans have been resting in the corner collecting dust..."

3. Highlighting Charity Work in Argentina

Transitioning to a more profound topic, Dr. Richard Leduc discusses his recent charitable mission to Argentina, emphasizing the impactful work done to assist Latter-Day Saints in accessing temple services. This segment underscores the podcast’s mission to blend faith with historical insights.

• Dr. Leduc describes the initiative inspired by Carlos Tipiani from Peru, who facilitated temple access for over 550 individuals:
  "[17:29] Dr. Leduc: ...we were able to help 100 saints from Rio Gallegos..."

4. Miracles in Latter-Day Saint History: The Case of Joseph Smith

A significant portion of the episode delves into historical analysis, focusing on Joseph Smith's miraculous healing. Dr. Dirkmaat provides a detailed recount of the events surrounding Joseph Smith's severe leg infection and the unconventional medical intervention by Dr. Nathan Smith.

• Dr. Dirkmaat explains the perilous medical practices of the 19th century and the miraculous nature of Joseph Smith's recovery:
  "[27:53] Dr. Dirkmaat: ...They're walking the sword's edge as you, you're over Niagara Falls with the, with the balance being there..."

• Dr. Leduc reflects on the divine orchestration behind these events, asserting that God's hand was evident in the providential meeting of Joseph Smith and Dr. Nathan Smith:
  "[37:40] Dr. Leduc: ...the Lord put into motion things that can only be described as a miracle..."

5. Testimonies and Personal Experiences from Argentina

The hosts share heartfelt testimonies from their Argentina mission, highlighting miraculous coincidences and the strengthening of faith among participants. These stories illustrate the ongoing presence of miracles and divine guidance in contemporary times.

• Dr. Leduc recounts a moving experience where a family’s faith was profoundly affirmed during their temple visit:
  "[45:50] Dr. Leduc: ...Vanessa and Augustina... had this series of experiences... they were able to get families and youth and people together in a large group to experience going to the temple."

• A notable quote from Dr. Dirkmaat emphasizes the interconnectedness of faith and miracles:
  "[48:36] Dr. Dirkmaat: ...it reminds me of the story of this gentleman... can you feel so now..."

6. Reflections on Faith and Divine Intervention

The episode concludes with deep reflections on faith, divine intervention, and the continuous manifestation of miracles within the Latter-Day Saint community. The hosts encourage listeners to trust in God's plan, even when miracles seem scarce.

• Dr. Dirkmaat offers comfort to listeners facing personal crises by relating their experiences to the miraculous events discussed:
  "[69:37] Dr. Dirkmaat: ...trust and know that your heavenly Father loves you just like he loved those people in Argentina..."

• Dr. Leduc underscores the importance of faith and collective effort in achieving divine goals, drawing parallels to scriptural stories like Abraham and Isaac:
  "[65:02] Dr. Leduc: ...this was an incredible miracle on many levels..."

7. Closing Remarks and Gratitude

In the final moments, Dr. Dirkmaat expresses gratitude towards the podcast’s listeners and contributors, acknowledging the collective effort that makes such charitable missions possible. The hosts reiterate their commitment to fostering faith and understanding through historical exploration.

• Dr. Dirkmaat concludes with heartfelt thanks:
  "[71:01] Dr. Dirkmaat: ...I'm grateful for everyone's faith who contributed, grateful for the faith of these incredible saints who are better than I'll ever be..."

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Notable Quotes with Timestamps

• Dr. Leduc on faith and miracles:
  "[17:29] Dr. Leduc: It was nothing but just the joy and the spirit that you feel connected to the temple."

• Dr. Dirkmaat on divine providence:
  "[52:53] Dr. Dirkmaat: ...they had these series of experiences... the Lord began to put in place a plan..."

• Dr. Leduc reflecting on President Ruggiero's faith:
  "[67:47] Dr. Dirkmaat: ...your Heavenly Father knows you and he knows about you..."

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Conclusion

Episode 50 of Standard of Truth masterfully intertwines humor, personal anecdotes, and profound historical insights to explore the continuing presence of miracles within the Latter-Day Saint faith. Through engaging conversations between Dr. Dirkmaat and Dr. Leduc, listeners gain a deeper understanding of faith-driven initiatives and the timeless nature of divine intervention. This episode serves both as an inspiration and a testament to the enduring power of belief and community support.

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For more insights and resources, visit standardoftruth.com. If you enjoyed this episode, please share it with others who might benefit from its message.

Transcript

[Narrator]

Welcome to the Standard of Truth podcast. In this podcast, Dr. Garrett Dirkmot and Dr. Richard Leduc explore the early history of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and the life and teachings of prophet Joseph Smith. They examine the original historical sources and provide context for events of the past. They approach the history of the church with faith, expertise and humor.

[Dr. Garrett Dirkmaat]

Foreign. Hi, welcome to another episode of the Standard of Truth podcast. I'm your host, Dr. Garrett Dirkmont, and I am joined. And as you might have heard in the Intro, joined by Dr. Richard Leduc.

[Dr. Richard Leduc]

Hello, Garrett. Thanks for having me back. I appreciate you throwing some respect on that name. I do appreciate it. It has immediately gone to my head.

[Dr. Garrett Dirkmaat]

Yeah, I noticed that even when you were getting gas, you demanded that the convenience store worker refer to you as doctor rather than Bud. It really is just as soon as they get a little authority as they suppose.

[Dr. Richard Leduc]

Yeah, yeah. He's like, hey, Bud. And I'm like, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.

[Dr. Garrett Dirkmaat]

It's Dr. Yeah. Let me tell you something about implied referrals that just immediately launches in to the entire dissertation. Richard's voiceover in our intro. I'm sure some people will think that, you know, maybe they've stumbled upon some kind of comedic podcast, which. But I think we're going to just keep doing that. We're just going to have you splice in different ways to say doctor Every.

[Dr. Richard Leduc]

Week, different ways to do it. Yeah, no, that. I think that'll be. I think that'll be really, really good. We spare no expense here at Standard of Truth podcast. And so I feel like the. The edit was seamless and I don't even know if people were able to notice it or catch it at all. By the way, I don't want to turn this into an Oscar acceptance speech, but.

[Dr. Garrett Dirkmaat]

Yeah. Who you want to thank?

[Dr. Richard Leduc]

Yeah, I'd love to thank my wife. My long, long suffering wife.

[Dr. Garrett Dirkmaat]

Suffering long before you went to PhD school, she was long suffering. Let's see, I'm going to guess somewhere around June 16th of 2001, somewhat while.

[Dr. Richard Leduc]

We were dating before that. So, yeah, I've known her since the third grade. So whenever that was. What was I, eight? So, yes, for some time. Over 35 years. But the thing is that, I mean, I've mentioned this before, but it's my favorite just to show how, like, there's one of my favorite clips in the show, the Office is when Michael Scott's talking about how he gives orders and that people are to follow them blindly. Right. And Becky did That here where again, the pitch was, you know, after. After I got my master's at the University of Utah. I had some desire to like Joseph and the Methodists. I've had some desire to be united with them in academia. I really enjoyed it. And so I had a couple professors that were recommended it. And Garrett, you did as well. I'm still not talking to you because of that. By the way, the only time Garrett and I talk over the past four and a half years has been on this podcast. I refuse to speak with him otherwise.

[Dr. Garrett Dirkmaat]

Even if we travel together. I write things on a card and show it to him. He says, becky, will you tell Garrett.

[Dr. Richard Leduc]

That, yes, we have a marriage like someone in the 18th century, where I'm back in England and you are somewhere in the Ohio. Right.

[Dr. Garrett Dirkmaat]

Yes.

[Dr. Richard Leduc]

That's about the closeness of the relationship now. So the pitch was to my wife, hey, I really think I want to pursue a PhD. I think I would really enjoy it. And I think that it's something that I want to do. And she said, okay, well, how much would it cost? This much. Wow, that's a lot.

[Dr. Garrett Dirkmaat]

But.

[Dr. Richard Leduc]

But how much more will you make when you. When you get it? Oh, oh, no, I'll make much, much less. All right, let's do it. So anyway, so to her and to my family, there. There is a. We've talked about. It is the Christmas season. We've talked about our favorite examples or our favorite Christmas Carol episode or versions. Right. And mine's the George C. Scott version. And at the end, near the end, when he's at his nephew Fred's house, he puts his arm around him and he says, God forgive me for the time that I've wasted. And I sent that clip to my family. As soon as I. As soon as I PhD, I apologize. I said, I promise to be less of an absent husband and father. But anyway, they've been very supportive and lovely.

[Dr. Garrett Dirkmaat]

I think if you buy them a prize winning goose, that seems to be what decides the difference in that.

[Dr. Richard Leduc]

He did that for. He did that for Mr. Cratchit. For Bob Cratchit.

[Dr. Garrett Dirkmaat]

Well, he didn't have any of it. I mean, for his own family. All I did was show up to the party.

[Dr. Richard Leduc]

Yeah. And tried some of their award winning punch. Yeah, you're right. So if I follow that example, it's like, you know what? The real gift to you is time with me. That's the real gift.

[Dr. Garrett Dirkmaat]

Tight as a drum. As a drum.

[Dr. Richard Leduc]

Tight as my Uncle Scrooge's purse strings. Anyway, so, yeah, it's very exciting. The defense. I'm reminded of Monty Python, Flying Circus, and nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition. That's what it felt like. I felt like when they brought out the torture devices that didn't seem necessary, but go pokes. And anyway, it's great.

[Dr. Garrett Dirkmaat]

Getting a PhD is something that you just can't. I'm sure Brent is. Is. Is listening right now, sitting back and going, you guys don't know anything.

[Dr. Richard Leduc]

Yeah. Yeah. You guys don't know.

[Dr. Garrett Dirkmaat]

Yeah.

[Dr. Richard Leduc]

You went to Oklahoma State. Try. And it was. Yeah, try Northwestern or Harvard. I. Yeah, he sent me a very nice note, by the way. So many people sent me so many nice notes. It's so kind of everybody.

[Dr. Garrett Dirkmaat]

Yeah, I'm sure Brent's sitting back saying, like, oh, you think you're hot stuff now that you've. Now you've got your little. Little Oklahoma State PhD defense? He said.

[Dr. Richard Leduc]

I think he meant it as encouragement, but he said, it's really just beginning, you know, And I'm like, well, that's. That's. What are you talking about? That sounds much, much worse.

[Dr. Garrett Dirkmaat]

Yeah, it's true. Well, congratulations, everyone here at the podcast. Our entire crack research team, they feel much better now knowing they're led by an actual doctor as opposed to someone pretending some ABD barking orders at them and demanding, you know, only green jelly beans and things like that. I think it's gonna. It's gonna help the work environment, too.

[Dr. Richard Leduc]

Oh, yeah. I think this will really be the thing that takes the podcast to the next level. I've already spoken more in this episode than I've spoken in an entire year of episodes. So, yeah, I've got a high opinion of myself, and people are going to hear about it.

[Dr. Garrett Dirkmaat]

And in all seriousness, we're also going to talk about Richard and the experience that he had with many other people in going to Argentina with the funds raised by listeners of this podcast to help take families, individuals, kids to the temple. And so we'll. We'll talk about that, but first, let's. Let's. Let's get a few emails. I mean, we have to have at least some missionary from Pennsylvania email or. It's not a podcast.

[Dr. Richard Leduc]

We actually got a couple emails from missionaries from Pennsylvania. It's very funny, this, this first email, Garrett, it comes to us from Elder Hunt. He said, is he in Pennsylvania? I don't know.

[Dr. Garrett Dirkmaat]

I mean, I feel like the default at this point is the only missionaries who listen to the podcast are in Pennsylvania or in Tucson, Arizona.

[Dr. Richard Leduc]

Yeah. Your son's companion or missionaries, because I.

[Dr. Garrett Dirkmaat]

Don'T it's either Elder Roman or a missionary from Pennsylvania.

[Dr. Richard Leduc]

They're the only listeners on the P day this week. My son Rigden down in Peru reminded me that I haven't uploaded any episodes for quite some time. I had 14 EP that I needed to upload for missionaries, so I apologize. I will. It was otherwise preoccupied. But anyway, a bunch of new stuff that's there for missionaries, which is. Which is great. Okay, so this. This email comes to us from Elder Hunt, again, assuming from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Again, to your point, Garrett, if they don't put it, we'll just default that they're from Pittsburgh.

[Dr. Garrett Dirkmaat]

Everyone's from the Pennsylvania Mission.

[Dr. Richard Leduc]

Yes. To whom it may concern and somewhat eventually. Dr. Richard Leduc.

[Dr. Garrett Dirkmaat]

Not eventually, currently.

[Dr. Richard Leduc]

That's right. That's right. I come now before you, begging not for my sustenance or support, but yours. How can I continue to feed into Richard's post retirement plan to abscond with the filthy lucre generated by the premium content? If I have no premium content to hawk, how long can this business model continue?

[Dr. Garrett Dirkmaat]

My trainer has yourself the same question. Very astute, Elder Hunt.

[Dr. Richard Leduc]

My trainer has exercised unrighteous dominion by having the audacity to return home this month and takes my only source of vague references to subjects that may or may not appear in future episodes in further outrage. He doesn't even have the decency to finish my training. As such, I have to resort to desperate means. A pair of Cole Hans. I don't know what those. Those are shoes.

[Dr. Garrett Dirkmaat]

Maybe they're more bougie than we have the ability to.

[Dr. Richard Leduc]

Garrett and I are from Idaho, so.

[Dr. Garrett Dirkmaat]

And not their high end shoes that we couldn't afford.

[Dr. Richard Leduc]

The fact that I don't even know what they are. We're gonna get the crack research staff on this.

[Dr. Garrett Dirkmaat]

If you want. If you want us to know what you're talking about, Elder Hunt, you need to talk about Wonder Bread bags wrapped around our feet with rubber. Those are the only ways that you're. You're gonna have us go. Oh, so that and pro wings when I was. I was a kid. Do you remember pro wings, Richard?

[Dr. Richard Leduc]

Of course. Yeah.

[Dr. Garrett Dirkmaat]

And that they were some of the earliest zip up shoes. And boy, that. That was a time before I started getting made fun of for wearing them.

[Dr. Richard Leduc]

I had a pair of Voight shoes.

[Dr. Garrett Dirkmaat]

In honor of the actor or John. Yeah, they were made by John Voight shoes. There's a whole Seinfeld episode about owning his car.

[Dr. Richard Leduc]

Yeah, it's true. It's true. Actually, this was also. These shoes were also Made by Jon Voight, the dentist. So Cole Hans are a pair of our pair of shoes, by the way. So the research staff got that back to me. A pair of Cole Hans have been resting in the corner collecting dust and are awaiting the lack of response from you. I pray that you find it in your hearts and revoltingly fat pockets to grant this humble elder access to discourse on the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. If not, a reasonable man will be forced to do unreasonable things with all the love, hate, vitriol and pseudo scholarship of your ex uncle in law.

[Dr. Garrett Dirkmaat]

That's a great reference. That is a great reference.

[Dr. Richard Leduc]

This is about getting me the Google Drive. Elder Hunt. Well, Elder Hunt, I've sent it to you and as well as uploaded 14 additional episodes. So you know, the world is your oyster and help yourself, you know, get to it. It's very good. Thank you for the kind email. This next email comes to us from not even close to being Dr. Lindsay. And it's. It's now the subject missive from dissertation hell, which is very good.

[Dr. Garrett Dirkmaat]

Yeah. By the way, eight rings below the last one in Dante's.

[Dr. Richard Leduc]

Richard, I hope by now that your dissertation Virgil has found you, grabbed hold of you, and dragged you straight through dissertation defense purgatory and write into PhD paradise. And if you're currently wending your way through Purgatory, my deepest condolences. At least now you've discovered I'm in a Catholic universe, or I'm in a Catholic universe and not a Calvinist one. So I'll order some masses to be sung for your soul and will beg Garrett to put your show's filthy lucre to better use and buy indulgences on your behalf. Right after I finish this next chapter of my dissertation.

[Dr. Garrett Dirkmaat]

Anyway, she doesn't tell us what the dissertation's on. Yes, we just have to assume that it's terrible that. What? You know how hard it is because it's a dissertation. So regardless of the topic.

[Dr. Richard Leduc]

Yes, now is it is a woman for sure. I know men named Lindsay. We don't know man or woman Lindsay, soon to be doctor they go on. I also appreciate Garrett's recent comments likening doing a PhD to a nightmare on a runaway train heading off a cliff. I myself would personally alter that to a nightmare on a runaway train heading off a cliff in a blizzard. There's a couple of funny things, but I wanted to kind of skip ahead here just a little bit. Anyway, in all seriousness, thanks again to both of you for all of your continued work on the podcast, despite all of the other Demands on your time happily grading our happy grading season, Garrett. It's been life changing and I kick myself for not discovering it sooner. Especially looking forward to next month when we start the Doctrine and Covenants. I teach Sunday school for my 12 to 14 year olds in my ward and I'm hoping to help build up their spiritual immune system to attacks on and presentists concern about church history for 12 and 14 year olds. Really recommend that you start with the nature of. Yeah, the nature of God. That's a recommendation from a podcast standpoint. We think that'll be a really nice.

[Dr. Garrett Dirkmaat]

Right at the very beginning of class. DNC93 King Follett it's hard to make a big point about what we believe differently about God when they don't know what anyone else believes about God. So I mean, maybe it's not that bad if you give it a little bit of a lead up.

[Dr. Richard Leduc]

That's pretty funny. Oh, I lost my place. Here I am, et cetera, et cetera, that grad student in the Midwest who finally accepted her. Oh, there it is. It is a woman. There you go. Finally accepted her dissertation proposal, makes a better monograph, and is gleefully cutting corners in the meantime.

[Dr. Garrett Dirkmaat]

That's awesome.

[Dr. Richard Leduc]

So it's very, very, very fun.

[Dr. Garrett Dirkmaat]

Best of luck to you, Lindsay. We have now, I can say now we've both been there and we've gotten to that mountaintop and there is a, there is a valley down below. I mean, it's a valley filled with difficulty in finding work and being able to put the dissertation to use, but a valley nonetheless.

[Dr. Richard Leduc]

Yes, it's quite, quite good. We received many emails, many WhatsApp messages, many texts from many wonderful and kind people to which I'm, I'm very grateful. And, and I certainly don't want to make this all about this episode all about me, Garrett. So let's go on with talking about some of the charity work that I do.

[Dr. Garrett Dirkmaat]

Yeah, let's do that now. Tell now. So you just got back from, you just got back from, from Argentina. Yeah, very recently. So for folks who are maybe tuning in for the first time, maybe they just got called to the Pennsylvania Mission so they, they, they haven't heard everything before. Why don't you briefly recap what it is that your charity did and, and, and then we can talk about some of those experiences.

[Dr. Richard Leduc]

Yeah, it was, it was, it really was next level. In fact, there were, there were hundreds of people that, I mean, I'm obviously kidding about work that I do. Obviously I was being facetious there, but hundreds of People participated in either the organization of it or the financial support of it to make this happen. So I was very much kidding. That joke will likely make my wife irritated, so I just want to get that on the record. But so essentially, Garrett, what it is is that about 10 years ago, I had a neighbor, Carlos Tipiani, who's from Peru, and he heard Elder now President Holland's talk about 10 years ago, are we not old beggars? And when he heard that talk, he was so moved that he said that he had to do something for the people of Peru, where he's from. And so he has been doing charity work in Peru for over 10 years and is an incredible example to me and everyone that knows him of Christlike service. Well, one of the things that he did is he helped people from a pretty remote jungle part of Peru get to the temple, many of them who had never been to the temple before. In fact, he helped over 550 people be able to get to the temple.

[Dr. Garrett Dirkmaat]

Wow.

[Dr. Richard Leduc]

And I was so moved by this, as was my wife, that we. We took a trip to Peru in. In April of this year, and we said we wanted to try to do something similar. And with. With the help of many, many people, we. We were able to do something like that. And it was incredible. And it was. You know, when you do any type of charity work, especially humanitarian work in places that are third World countries, relating to food or shelter or clothing or something like that, it can feel pretty overwhelming. You're doing wonderful things, but then when you leave, you have a. At least I have had a tremendous sense of sorrow and sadness because they're going to be hungry tomorrow. And so the feeling that we had in Peru was one that I. That didn't feel like that at all. It was nothing but just the joy and the spirit that you feel connected to the temple. So when we got home from that experience, it was an incredible experience, and we worked with some incredible people to set up an organization called Sweetwater Rescue. And we did an episode about. About Sweetwater Rescue where you gave some. Some great additional context to that story that President Hinckley shared in General Conference several years ago about some of the boys that go and. And help. One of my favorite parts of the thing that you shared was Brigham Young and General Conference saying, this is your religion, right? Like this. All of the things that we confess, you going out and getting those people on the planes and bringing them in, that's your religion. That's the test of the real faith, real belief in what it is that we're talking about is the action to do those things for our brothers and sisters. So set up that organization. And we had some folks down in Argentina that we, through a series of what can only be miracles, were connected to. And we're able to help 100 saints from Rio Gallegos. Because in Argentina, it's not the ll isn't ya, it's ja.

[Dr. Garrett Dirkmaat]

It's not Gallegos.

[Dr. Richard Leduc]

It's not Gallegos. It's Gallegos. Kind of like she is in Aya. It's Asia. So I was. They were very kind.

[Dr. Garrett Dirkmaat]

Now, I bet Jobless Rob could probably.

[Dr. Richard Leduc]

Oh, yeah, Jobless Rob could probably, absolutely. And Jobless Rob, by the way, friend of ours, he says he works, but I've never seen him not at Garrett's house playing video games or just hanging out. He's brought up to me, he's like, well, why are you also here? That's a fair point.

[Dr. Garrett Dirkmaat]

True that every time you find you, you catch him hanging out, you're also here. So that.

[Dr. Richard Leduc]

Yeah, it's fair. But anyway, it's like saying, you know.

[Dr. Garrett Dirkmaat]

Garrett had his eyes open during the prayer.

[Dr. Richard Leduc]

How'd you know?

[Dr. Garrett Dirkmaat]

I recorded it on my phone. See, now you have a new answer. With smartphones, you can start recording people's faces during the prayer while your eyes are closed. It really. I think kids need to step their game up.

[Dr. Richard Leduc]

It's true. So anyway, 100 people came, and we. We had. We worked with the mission president over that area. Area president over that area. They made the area presidency aware of it. The district president, President Ruggiero, made all of the things happen. And. And then we spent a week with. With the saints in. In the Buenos Aires temple. It was. It was incredible. And there. There one of the. The families that were, you know, very important in making this whole thing go and that came down were the ports. And one of the things. He was talking with one of the people that was there and asking them, it's like, what can I compare this experience to? Because we all had a difficult time trying to explain what it felt like. And one of the people that was there, Cora, talked about how it felt like. Felt like being on a mission. That's what it felt like. Now, she served a mission in Mexico City, by the way. I think her experience and our experience, Garrett was a little different. So when I heard that, I said, yeah, it does actually feel like being on a mission about 30 of the days, about 700 of the days, not so much. But for an entire week, it felt like the best day on your mission for an entire week. It was the most incredible thing ever. And so here we wanted to share a couple of experiences, talk about, you know, miracles generally relating to Joseph Smith and some of the things that happened with him. And then we recorded an interview that Garrett and I had with President Ruggiero that we wanted to.

[Dr. Garrett Dirkmaat]

And President Ruggiero is the.

[Dr. Richard Leduc]

Is the district president for the Rio Gallegos district. And we wanted to play that clip as well. Okay.

[Dr. Garrett Dirkmaat]

Well, I think that the happenstance that we see in sometimes when we're reading the past, you know, there are things that are just so happen to happen at the exact right time that people end up, you know, meeting one another, that they end up. They end up making connections that end up being very, very important. When we look at Latter Day Saint history, there are different things that just so happen to be the case that can easily be dismissed by people who, you know, don't have any faith as well. That's just coincidence. It's very coincidental that that happened. But it's also the reality that we know that God has a plan for this world and he has a plan for this church, and he certainly has a plan of salvation for all of us. And we came to this world to participate in that plan, to be a part of our own exaltation, to be a part of becoming like our Heavenly Father. I know that we've talked about it before, but some of the examples of where God is behind the scenes moving in such ways that, that the people involved don't really know. We could go back to a discussion of Joseph Smith when he was just a young boy and he had this terrible festering fever sore in his leg that infected the bone. Now, you don't have to read a whole lot of 19th century histories to know that whatever they're about to do to Joseph Smith, to quote, unquote, heal his leg, is far more likely to kill him than it is to help him. I mean, it is a sad statement, but also a true one, that as horrific as amputation is when people were shot in the arm or, you know, compound fracture in their leg, as horrific as amputation sounds to us, it's actually given what else they would do, it's actually one of the most medically reasonable things to do today in a means of trying to save someone's life. Because they don't know what even causes disease. They don't know what causes infection, they don't know what bacteria is, they don't know what viruses are, they don't know Anything about modern medical science that we know today? Nothing. Not even the basic building blocks. I mean, they get it that if you lose too much blood, you die. They understand that also. They believe most disease is caused by you having too much blood. And they will bleed you in order to get that blood out of you.

[Dr. Richard Leduc]

It is a fine line.

[Dr. Garrett Dirkmaat]

Yeah, you gotta just. You're walking, you're walking the sword's edge as you, you're over Niagara Falls with the, with the, with the balance being there, trying to, to not fall. If he has too much blood, he's gonna be sick. If we take too much blood out, he's dead. So it's a. You gotta, you gotta really pick your. Your physician who knows how to bleed you, right? So, I mean, they do have some ability to do topical things. You know, they can splint up an arm and they can, you know, they do, you know, drain, you know, abscesses and things like that, which is what happens to Joseph. But because they don't really know what causes disease, all they know is what the effects of the disease are. It is a pretty standard practice that when someone has any kind of a bone infection, well, they're not going to be prescribing any antibiotics to them because those don't exist. And they won't exist for, at this point, for over another hundred years. And so often if an infection does not clear up on its own, the only recourse that is left to doctors or to patients is amputation of the infected area and then cauterizing of the wound with the hope that that's the end of it. Well, in Joseph's case, he's in agony, suffering with this malady in his leg. This is the point where Lucy Mack, she makes a very tender observation about the bond between Hyrum and Joseph Smith. Because as Joseph, little Joseph is writhing in agony with this horrific pain in his leg, with no painkillers, no actual medical treatment that could in any way alleviate the pain. The only thing that provided even a modicum of pain relief was putting pressure on the infected area. And hour after hour, day after day, after Hyrum sat by his little brother's bed and put pressure on Joseph's leg to in some way try to alleviate in the smallest degree some of the. The horrific pain his brother was in. Now when, when things don't get any better and Lucy consults the, you know, again, quote, unquote, you know, Steve listening is like, don't even call them doctors. You guys are more doctors than they are. But as she Called for the physicians, you know, they. They all essentially, they look, they come to the conclusion, look, the bone's infected. What do we know? We don't know what causes infection, but we know it spreads. And if it spreads, your son's going to die. So we've got to amputate the leg. And Lucy desperately doesn't want that to happen, obviously to her little boy. And after urging the doctors to reconsider, one of the physicians is willing to over. Is willing to do something different than amputation. That doctor is Nathan Smith. No relation. It's going to come as a surprise to you. There's a lot of people named Smith in early America, but he happens to be a doctor who has pioneered a procedure in which you cut directly into the bone itself and then remove the infected portions of the bone. I mean, I don't have a good way of describing this. And literally every dentist and literally every doctor listening is throwing their phone across the room in disgusted anger, probably filling out papers to go to a Pennsylvania mission. Just at this point, I might as well go. There's nothing for me here. But, you know, when you go to the dentist and you have decay, you have a cavity, you know, they can see that on an X ray. And the dentist doesn't take out your whole tooth unless there's, you know, there's no saving it. He drills away the. In the infected portion or the decayed portion and then fills it back up. That's probably the worst description ever made of this medical procedure. But I'm trying to find something relatable. The idea being if we cut out the actual part of the bone that's infected, then tissue may regrow in its place, and then the infection won't spread. But Nathan Smith is someone who actually pioneered this practice himself more than a decade earlier. He's the one who starts giving this idea that this might be a way to remove infection. Again, they don't have any idea what constitutes infection. And he just so happens to be living only a few miles away from where the Smith family live at that time in Vermont. In fact, Nathan Smith is the founder of what will become Dartmouth Medical College. And so there's actually things honoring Nathan Smith for his saving of Joseph Smith at Dartmouth Medical College because he's their founder and also has this connection to another famous person in America. And he undertakes this risky operation. We're totally removed nine pieces of infected bone. And after the surgery, because you're essentially breaking bone, there are 14 other fragments that work their way out during the healing process. It sounds horrific. And as you all know, without any type of anesthesia, they try to get Joseph to take whiskey or wine or something, and he won't. And instead, Joseph Sr. Holds him during this horrible surgery. The cries of Joseph during the surgery are so much that Lucy will multiple times break into the room, even though they keep telling her to stay out and Joseph keeps telling her to stay out. But it is such a powerful thing to think about the fact that the Smiths moved around a lot as they had various economic reverses and failures. And at the same time, God, on the other hand, was working. Dr. Nathan Smith along the way, thinking about this kind of operation, this. This risky operation. In fact, many doctors would have rejected his treatment. That's far too risky. You've got to just, you know, lop the leg off and be done with it. And instead he pioneers this in opposition to others who would have been naysayers. And then he just so happens to be living next to the Smiths and just so happens to be the physician who's consulted at the time that they're trying to make this decision. Someone can say that that's a coincidence, but for people of faith, it's not really a coincidence, because God knew long before Joseph had his leg become infected, God knew that Joseph was going to need this operation. And I don't know what level of inspiration he gave to Dr. Nathan Smith or how he moved the pieces on the chessboard of life to the point where they were within proximity of one another, but he did it. And Joseph's recovery really is nothing short of a miracle, given the medical age that he was in. How might the restoration have been different had the leg been amputated? Well, first of all, amputation is no guarantee either. Often the amputations themselves become infected and people die from that. But we do know that God, though Joseph went through this horrible, agonizing pain, had prepared a way for Joseph to still keep his leg and maintain his health.

[Dr. Richard Leduc]

Garret There were so many experiences from the wonderful people from Rio Gallegos that shared that had similar coincidences, quote, unquote. And it was quite miraculous. There was one particular family, Vanessa and Augustina. So the timing also here is interesting. So, you know, how far do we want to go back to begin to look at the hand of the Lord moving things in a direction? So President Ruggiero asked for me to give. So we kind of had a. We had a couple of different fireside testimony meetings. We had two different groups because. Because the group was so large that we had to Kind of cycle them through. So they'd have a place to stay at the hotel near the Buenos Aires temple that the church. The church runs there. So we had a couple of these different things. And so in the last one, on the Thursday evening, President Ruger asked for me to speak, and he told me that I have five minutes. He's familiar with my work and knows that he needed to put a time limit on that. So he gave me five minutes. I said, president, I don't think I can say everything I want to say in five minutes. Can I have six or seven minutes? And he said, yes, you can have seven minutes. And then I took 25 minutes. But now, in fairness, Garrett, everything I said had to be translated. So really I only took, you know, 12 and a half minutes.

[Dr. Garrett Dirkmaat]

I thought you were gonna say an.

[Dr. Richard Leduc]

Hour, but okay, yeah, yeah. My people that know me, like, wow, that's the shortest you've ever given anything. So. So. But one particular family, I'll give you an example. So how, like I said, do we want to go back 51 years ago to when Carlos was born? Do we want to go back 41 years ago when Carlos and his family moved from Peru to New Jersey and they run into missionaries and are baptized? Like, how far back do we want to go to the 10 years ago where President Holland gave that talk that caused the spirit to touch Carlos in a way that created this action? Well, we could at least go back to this year and say that, you know, where a group of folks go to Peru and do this, put together this temple trip, and then the experience is so incredible that. That a bunch of people get together and say, we need to set up an organization that helps to facilitate this, that creates the logistical support and connection to returned missionaries from places to be able to support people being able to get to the temple. In response to President Nelson's April conference address. Well, it is roughly two weeks after the decision to begin this organization that missionaries run into, Vanessa and Augustina. So two weeks prior to missionaries running into these two people, a mother and a daughter, a decision is made to create this organization. And a week before. Roughly a week before the missionaries run into them, actually. Excuse me. A week after the missionaries run into them, Karen reaches out to President Ruggiero to say, hey, we have $10,000. We'd like to help you get people. This is after they, by the way, as branches, have decided to consecrate $0.10 per week for two years to help a couple people eventually get to the temple. Right. So Vanessa and Augustina the plan is in place to send people to the temple that wouldn't have the ability to go otherwise. Now, the temple patron fund the church has is for ceilings and is for own endowments, but it's managed differently in every area. And it doesn't allow for baptisms. Right. That's not something that it connects to. And so Vanessa and Augustina are taught the gospel and they join the church. I believe that they joined the church in either late August or early September. Well, two weeks after they joined the church, their father and grandfather passes away. And he is a lion of a man that is loved by the entire family. He doesn't join the church, but the family is devastated by his passing. And I can't remember, I believe it was. Vanessa has a dream. And in the dream, she sees things that she's not familiar with. And a week later, the missionaries come over and they show her a video about the apostles in the Rome temple. And we get to the baptistery. She asked them to pause the video and asks, what's that? And they explain to her that this is a baptistery or a baptismal font in the temple. And this is where we perform baptisms for the dead for those that have not had an opportunity to have the gospel in this life. And she said, that's similar to the thing that I saw in my dream. And then roughly a week after that experience with the missionaries, President Ruggiero or their branch president, reaches out to them and says, hey, we have received additional funds and we want you to come to the temple in Buenos Aires so that they could do work for their grandfather that just died a couple of weeks prior. You have a circumstance where the Lord loves these two women so much that he put into motion things because he knew that their father and grandfather was going to pass away, and he knew that they would be devastated by it. He knew that they didn't know anything about baptism for the dead, and they certainly didn't know what a baptismal font in a temple looks like. But they had these series of experiences, and much like the Dr. Smith at Dartmouth, the Lord put into motion things that can only be described as a miracle when we just take a second and step back and say, before the missionaries even spoke to them, the Lord began to put in place a plan to help them to do the work for their recently departed family members and an additional family, whatever. Now, I thought the rule was a year. I don't know. They did the name, so who am I to judge?

[Dr. Garrett Dirkmaat]

Hey, I'm not another podcast.

[Dr. Richard Leduc]

Look, that's not my. That's not my problem. I'm not in charge. I have no ecclesiastical authority whatsoever. But it was. It was an incredible experience. And as they shared that. And if I could, Garrett, then share one other thing. Well, I've got actually several things here to share. So as that story is shared in one of the testimony meetings. So we didn't have a room, we didn't have a place where we could go to share testimonies. And so we did it kind of in the cafeteria area. And while that and other miraculous experiences, because many of the people that came had very similar and incredible experiences, it was. I mean, I haven't been to fsy, right. But I imagine I've been on a mission. And like I said, it felt like the best day of your mission. Every day. It was the greatest thing ever. And there was a gentleman that was there on Thursday. He was in the cafeteria. And he was also. He had come up to go to the temple. Now, President Ruggiero shared this experience with me later because he came up to President Ruggero after and shared his feelings. He wasn't part of our group. He was with some other group and just had come to the temple that day. And he had come to the temple because he was experiencing a faith crisis, and he wanted to go to the temple and try and seek answers from God. And he went through the temple and did some temple work and then came in and was eating and was there during the testimony meetings that were being. During the testimony and talks that were given. And as he heard of the miraculous experience of this and many of the other people that were there, he said that he felt the way that he did when he had joined the church. He felt that same spirit testifying. It's the Moroni. Have the day of miracles ceased? They have not. They have not. And he said that. What a. He said, you have no idea how incredible the timing of this is. This is the exact thing that I needed to hear. And again, what are the odds? Garrett, to your point, it reminds me.

[Dr. Garrett Dirkmaat]

Of Alma, chapter five, you know, where when he asked him the question, Right. If you have experienced a change of heart and you have felt to sing the song of redeeming love, I would ask, can you feel so now. Right. We all have that powerful spiritual experience. Maybe several, but at least one where we have felt close to God, where the Spirit has spoken directly to our soul. And in that moment, we don't have any doubts. In that moment, we know exactly who we are. We know exactly that this is the kingdom of God on earth. And so when he asked that question of the people in Zarahemla, do you feel the same way that you once did? And that reminded me of the story of this gentleman.

[Dr. Richard Leduc]

Well, so what was interesting to me about that is I was reminded of. So we're getting to the end of the Book of Mormon and come follow me. And I'm, I was reminded of what Moroni says in Mormon chapter eight. Right. Behold, I, Moroni, do finish the record of my father Mormon. Behold, I have but few things to write. Which things? I have been commanded by my father. And verse four, therefore I will write and hide up the records in the earth. And whither I go, it mattereth not the Lord. So look, the battle at Camorra is what, like 385 AD and Moroni starts riding up again around, you know, 400 ish. And so Moroni is in the wilderness from somewhere between, you know, 21 to 36 years.

[Dr. Garrett Dirkmaat]

Yeah, he's, he's over three decades. Just, just a wandering.

[Dr. Richard Leduc]

Right. And the Lord leads him. And whether I go, it mattereth not. Well, it mattered a whole lot. Now maybe Moroni there means, you know, what happens to me after I bury the plates, it doesn't matter. Or maybe it means, you know, wherever I'm walking around, you know, whatever. But the Lord leads him to the hill Cumorah. And when Joseph is born, you know, 1390 five years after the. Well, more than that, after the fact. But 1390 five years later, after Moroni buries the plates, the Smith crops fail.

[Dr. Garrett Dirkmaat]

Again and, and their ginseng money is stolen.

[Dr. Richard Leduc]

Ginseng money is stolen and the Erie Canal is being built and go, go seek your fortune in wheat. And they, and, and, and Father Smith goes to Palmyra. So where they're in, in Tunbridge is about 180 miles from the hill Cumorah. And Joseph Smith senior moves his family about three miles away from the hill Cumorah.

[Dr. Garrett Dirkmaat]

Yeah, and there's, there's a lot of other places that grow wheat in New York, it's my understanding.

[Dr. Richard Leduc]

So the thing that I found beautiful about that is sometimes we're the Moroni and sometimes we're the Joseph Smith. Sometimes we're being led to a thing so that we can be the Moroni to put things in place to help the Joseph Smith. And sometimes somebody else is led a direction and we're the recipient as the Joseph Smith.

[Dr. Garrett Dirkmaat]

Sometimes we're led and we don't even know why we're being led. When Mormon appends Nephi's small plates to the record he's already made. He just says, I'm doing this for a wise purpose in the Lord that I don't know. I mean, God doesn't tell Mormon. Hey, you better put these plates in here because let me tell you about a guy named Martin Harris.

[Dr. Richard Leduc]

Now, wait, let me talk about Lucy.

[Dr. Garrett Dirkmaat]

Yeah, yeah, we'll start with. We'll start with Martin. I'll move to Lucy. He just inspires Mormon to do it, and he does it. And of course, Mormon will, you know, in his spirit world, he will see the eventual ends of those actions, but he actually doesn't know the reason why. He doesn't. And I'm sure it was painstaking, and I'm sure it took a long time for him to do, and it was directly striking at the heart of all of the labor he'd already done because he'd already covered that entire portion in his own book that he'd already written. And he feels inspired to do it. And he does it. And he doesn't even get an explanation for why. And I want to be that kind of a person who is close enough to the Spirit that God can lead me to do things even if I don't know why I'm doing them. And. And that they end up having positive influences on other people, bringing some kind of peace to somebody, some kind of strength in their testimony, some. Some kind of. Of joy to somebody.

[Dr. Richard Leduc]

So, Gary, I'll give you a. I'll give you another example of this. So two years prior to President Holland's talk about, are we not all beggars that kicked off all of this stuff? Right? Because again, when's the genesis of it? Is it when President Holland was born? Like, how far back do we want to go to show the hand of the Lord in moving the pieces?

[Dr. Garrett Dirkmaat]

When King Benjamin gave the speech.

[Dr. Richard Leduc]

Yeah, right, right. So two years before President Holland speaks. So 12 years ago, the Mirinda family in. In Rio. Gallegos. Gallegos, they decided as a family, they have a couple of children, and they want to come to the temple to be endowed and to be sealed. And so they start setting money away for the next 11 years to save enough money to come to the temple. In the 11th year, their house burns down, and they have to make a decision on what to do. And they have to use the money that they had set aside to take their family to the temple to build their house that had burnt down and begin again at setting money aside to save to be able to go to the temple. And then President Ruggiero receives an email saying, hey, we'd like to have you bring these folks to the temple. And we had the opportunity to be in the sealing room when the entire family was sealed. It was incredible.

[Dr. Garrett Dirkmaat]

Richard, maybe you could recount again just briefly, the faith that was exercised by these Argentinian saints before they knew there was any way. This story reminded me of the fact that President Ruggiero had already exercised faith in trying to follow the teachings of our living prophet, President Nelson, before he knew there was any other way.

[Dr. Richard Leduc]

Yeah, it's actually, it's the, it's the best. It's the best part. He has. He has a dream when he's called, where he sees him with all the youth. The Buenos Aires temple. This is in November of 2023. And he doesn't say anything about it.

[Dr. Garrett Dirkmaat]

It's.

[Dr. Richard Leduc]

It's, it's not possible. It's not possible. Right.

[Dr. Garrett Dirkmaat]

And it would have been as, as fanciful as you finishing your dissertation. But now.

[Dr. Richard Leduc]

I would say more so after President Nelson's talk in April, in the April General Conference and all of the other talks about temples, In April of 2024, he meets with his district presidents and says, brethren, this is, I believe, May 17th. Brethren, we have got to. We have got to make the temple a focus. What can we do to help make the temple a focus and get people to the temple?

[Dr. Garrett Dirkmaat]

And he's saying that, he's saying that to a group of people who know that the temple is essentially a financial impossibility for everyone who's in their various branches. Right. It's 72 hours by bus away. It's five to seven months of salary per person.

[Dr. Richard Leduc]

Yeah. And in the case of the Marinda family, 11 years of savings.

[Dr. Garrett Dirkmaat]

Yeah. There's a temple there, and their ability to get to it is. There's no possible way to see how that would happen.

[Dr. Richard Leduc]

I have about as good a chance as going back in time to see Solomon's temple as they do going to this one.

[Dr. Garrett Dirkmaat]

And so when he's saying this to his branch presidents, he's saying, essentially, I don't know any possible way that this is going to work, but this is what the prophet told us to do, so we're going to do it.

[Dr. Richard Leduc]

What are we going to do? Making family history a larger part of what they're doing. So if I can't go to the temple, maybe I can do more family history and prepare names. So begin preparing names. So this is, I believe, the 17th of May. Now, one other thing that I don't think I'VE mentioned here. So the Harrop family, Elder Harrop is serving down in this area. He's actually serving in the same branch as President Ruggiero is. Well, he has some very bad health issues and has to come home for a period of time to get those to be fixed. So now, I don't know how close, Garrett, you are with your son's mission president. Our son's mission presidents have been lovely, but I don't really have a relationship with them. Right.

[Dr. Garrett Dirkmaat]

Well, frankly, I dread getting a call from him because it means something terrible has happened.

[Dr. Richard Leduc]

Well, so what kind of occurs is that. What kind of occurs here is that because of the nature of the health issue that Elder Harrop has and him having to go home for several months, which was an incredible trial and challenge to the Harrops, as you could imagine. Right. The Harrop family develops an incredible relationship with the mission president to where they are. They actually have a very close relationship. Because of the closeness of that relationship, they reach out to him in trying to find out if he knows of a district or an area that could benefit from any of these temple funds. Well, the mission president has just been made aware, because Elder Harrop is now serving in this area, that of the commitment that they've had that they're going to try and set aside 10 cents a week for the next several years for a handful of people to maybe go in a couple of years because of the relationship Elder Harrop has, because of the relationship they have with the mission president. And the Harrop family does they're made aware of this and send an email to President Ruggiero that rather than sending a couple of people in a couple of years, we can send everybody. Now, President Ruggiero, it's a test of his faith. And this is actually, I think it's a beautiful analogy here as it relates to our willingness to sacrifice and then the Lord being there to bless us, sometimes monetarily, sometimes spiritually, many times not monetarily, by the way. Right. Like, this was an incredible miracle on many levels, but it doesn't always work like this. But in this case, it did, and it was incredible. And it reminds me a little bit actually of Abraham and Isaac. Right. God never intended for Abraham to kill Isaac, but he wanted to test his willingness to sacrifice one thing just so, President, there were a lot of people that were in the temple, and Argentina is a funny place especially to drive around in. I got a rental car. They're more suggestions than laws as it relates to Anything on the road, certainly.

[Dr. Garrett Dirkmaat]

Just like Utah.

[Dr. Richard Leduc]

Yeah, for sure. But. But apparently one thing that they really care about is the fire codes in. In the temple not having more than a certain number of people. So there's lots of people from the. From the district that are there for the sealing of the Miranda family or Miranda family. And all of the people that came from the states and that were affiliated with the podcast that came. We were invited to go, but there were too many people. So we said, okay, well, look, we're not going to take a spot of someone from the district, so we'll go set up for dinner and whatever. And so we weren't going to go to the ceiling because a person, a worker at the temple, said, I'm sorry, you can't. Right. So we're putting our shoes back on to head over to start setting up for dinner. And President Ruggiero is walking with his wife to. By the way, at. Just so happened, by the way, that a couple of days earlier while we were there, the missionary that baptized Sister Ruggiero happened to be at the buenos Aires temple 20 years ago.

[Dr. Garrett Dirkmaat]

Wow.

[Dr. Richard Leduc]

And it was speaking about Alma the Younger and the Sons of Mosiah meeting again.

[Dr. Garrett Dirkmaat]

Right.

[Dr. Richard Leduc]

It was. It was beautiful. So they're. They're walking to the ceiling room, and President Rosario stops, and he tells his wife, he says, becky needs to be here, which is my wife. Becky needs to be here. And Sister Rogero says, oh, I agree, but. But there's no room. And President Ruggiero says that Becky, she needs to have my spot. And Sister Ruggiero says, what are you talking about? You're the district president. You have to be there. And he says, no, Becky has to have my spot. When we were having the discussion back in May about doing this, we quickly found out that $10,000 was but a drop in the bucket of what it would cost to send everybody to go, given the cost for how far away they were and to fly and everything. And so actually, as a mild aside, I know we're well out of time, but as a mild aside.

[Dr. Garrett Dirkmaat]

A couple.

[Dr. Richard Leduc]

Of weeks before, I had had dinner with my wife and a couple of other people and. And I talked about, hey, setting up this organization that does this. And for about two hours, I was scolded that we can't pay for this. We have to set up a proper process and whatever. We don't have enough money. We can't do this.

[Dr. Garrett Dirkmaat]

And the podcast isn't really pulling through. Yeah, right.

[Dr. Richard Leduc]

The filthy lucre that wants to glut.

[Dr. Garrett Dirkmaat]

Our it's hard to glut yourselves.

[Dr. Richard Leduc]

Yeah, right. So, you know, I mean, I have a great job, but I'm not. I'm not, you know, rich by any sense. So, you know, I've been scolded for two hours. You can't over promise. You can't pay for stuff. You can't do that. I'm like, all right, all right, all right, all right. So in that meeting, when we find out the $10,000 is only going to get about 20 or 25 people there, and he. He tells us about the dream that he had, and everybody's just weeping on the call. My wife, who was on mute the entire time, comes off mute and says, president Ruggiero, we're going to get everybody there. And then I went on mute and I turned to her and said, what the heck are you talking about? That's too much money. There's no way.

[Dr. Garrett Dirkmaat]

Yourself for the podcast.

[Dr. Richard Leduc]

There's no way we're going to be able to come up with that much money. There's no way. She's like, we'll get a second mortgage if we have to. I said, no, we will not. We will not do that. I don't know what you're talking about. It's not going to happen. You're nuts. You've completely over promised anyway, so President Ruggiero didn't know that part, by the way, the conversation that I had. But what he did here is Becky say, president, we're going to get everybody to there. And prior to her saying that he had doubt in his mind as well is I don't know how we're going to make this work. And he said that when Becky said that, that he was overcome with the love of our Heavenly Father and with a sure knowledge that it was going to happen. And so the reason that he was turning around so that Becky could have his spot was that it was her faith that got everybody there. And it was an interesting and incredible sacrifice. So he makes the decision and he turns around and he starts walking back. He doesn't take more than three steps before he sees all of us coming his way. Because a member of the Temple presidency said they all need to go. He didn't know that a member of the Temple presidency said that. He just was willing to sacrifice. And then, like, Abraham didn't have to. And we were all able to witness what was the absolute highlight of the entire trip as a family was. Was sealed together.

[Dr. Garrett Dirkmaat]

I want to. I want to thank all of the listeners to the podcast who made all of that possible those. Those members in a place that you might not ever go to. You probably didn't serve your mission in Argentina and that you'll never meet. Had their lives changed because people were willing to contribute and not just one person. Dozens and dozens of people were able to give whatever they felt like they could. And we were able to get families and youth and people together in a large group to experience going to the temple. And it's very humbling to me. I didn't go on the trip, but it's very humbling to me that there are such good people that are so desperate to bring to pass the unfolding of the kingdom of God as promised by the Lord and as reiterated by our prophet, President Nelson, that they were willing to make whatever their sacrifice was to help get these families, these youth. I think you told me there was one youth that was baptized how many times?

[Dr. Richard Leduc]

Yeah, well. So, yeah, they did over 3,000 names in a week. And Titi was his nickname. Who wasn't preparing to go on a mission and is now preparing to go on a mission. And he did, I think somewhere around 500 himself. Baptism.

[Dr. Garrett Dirkmaat]

He did 500 baptisms.

[Dr. Richard Leduc]

He was just straight Duncan fools. It was incredible.

[Dr. Garrett Dirkmaat]

Oh, I. We could obviously talk more about this, but we've kind of run out of time. I know that not everyone is in the same place spiritually and we might just as well ask the question of why did God not intervene to help me in this crisis that I have? Then when we see where God's hand has intervened, I want you to trust and know that your heavenly Father loves you just like he loved those people in Argentina and prepared a way for them as they demonstrated their faith. I know that we don't always get the blessings that we ask for, but your Heavenly Father loves you. He knows you and he knows about you. And he will make all things right in the end. I'm grateful for everyone's faith who contributed, grateful for the faith of these incredible saints who are better than I'll ever be. I'm grateful for Richard and for he and others that sacrificed for this. And I'm grateful to my heavenly Father and to the Lord Jesus Christ for this gospel. Thank you so much for joining us and we will talk to you again next week.

[Narrator]

Thank you for listening to the Standard of Truth podcast, hosted by historian Dr. Garrett Dirkmaat. If you know anybody that could benefit from the material in this episode, please share share it with them. And for more resources, visit standardoftruth.com until next time.