In this special live studio recording of the Standard of Truth Podcast, Dr. Gerrit Dirkmaat and Dr. Richard LeDuc are joined by an in-person audience for a lively mailbag episode. The hosts tackle a question submitted mid-labor, fielding a request for obscure Angel Moroni stories guaranteed to keep the asker out of church leadership. 

Gerrit shares an account from Edward Stevenson describing a roadside encounter with Moroni during the translation period, as well as a powerful testimony from Wilford Woodruff about three angelic messengers dressed in temple clothing who rescued him and George A. Smith from evil spirits in London.

The episode also dives into the speculative attempts to pin down the exact date of the First Vision, complete with an impromptu weather analysis presentation from Richard. 

The hosts then answer a question about Hyrum Smith's prophetic role, reading from his 1842 sermon definitively interpreting the Word of Wisdom's "hot drinks" as tea and coffee, paired with a complementary Brigham Young sermon warning that dismissing prophetic counsel leads gradually to apostasy. 

The episode closes as Gerrit shares the story of Emmeline Anderson, an unsung hero of early church history whose faith remained unshaken even after losing her husband and teenage son in the 1846 Battle of Nauvoo.

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