Alright, well here we are again. David, it's another day, a great podcast I believe in store for us today. We have made a decision to do some more interviews. Well, I guess that decision was prodded along by our listeners who are enjoying them so much. But here we are, Dave. How are you today? Good. I'm good, Scott. Beautiful day and excited about what we're going to do today and share this time with a new friend. So let's get into it.
When we first started this podcast many, many episodes ago, we got an email from a friend of the podcast who said, hey, I have somebody that you guys absolutely have to interview. This was probably around episode, I don't know, seven or eight. And he's been pretty consistently persistent on recommending that we have this wonderful, wonderful lady that David and I have had the opportunity to get a little bit acquainted with this morning
in preparation for this. So ladies and gentlemen, it's my great pleasure, Daph. I'm going to go ahead and let you introduce yourself. But this is our friend, Daphne, who we're going to have on the podcast today. Say hi, Daphne. Hello, everybody. Daphne, where are you, Daphne? I am in sunny Florida. Yeah, we're up in. It's 24 degrees here in Utah right now, by the way. And we are at 77. Okay. This calls over. Wow. We talked last week about
what I got to do for the winter. I know. I need to go to Florida. Just go to Florida. I'm sure that you've got plenty of recommended. Hey, are there golf courses there? Daphne? There's just a few of them. Just a few. Every other block. Yeah, just a few. Like churches here in Utah probably, right? Yeah. Yeah. Well, there you go, David. I need to come out there, Daphne, spend some time this winter. You will absolutely have a place to stay if
you want to come out and visit. Yeah. Okay, there you go. Thank you. There you go. So, hey, as we've been going through this podcast over the last 30 some odd weeks now, we've been really focusing on one thing, and that is the atonement, the power of Jesus Christ that comes through his atonement. We're grateful for that. And we've been able to, according
to many emails that we're still receiving. We got several emails just this week, but the emails that we're receiving and so on, we know that there are a lot of us that are really getting a deeper look and a better relationship with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ as we do this. And Daphne is definitely an example of that in her life. She has had
some challenges. We're going to get into some of those, and she has embraced the atonement of Jesus Christ and the power that comes through that, the power of change, the changing power that is so important in our mortal sojourn here. And so, let's just kind of take it away, David. Do you want to start this off? Yeah, absolutely. Daphne, you grew up a little
branch in Michigan. Your parents were converts to the church trying to recall your story, and you jump in here and correct me, and then I'm going to have you kind of go into more detail. But you grew up in Michigan in a small branch, and at the age of 18, you decided to maybe become independent of the church. And, you know, as many adolescents do, they have to find out for themselves. And you kind of struggled, and you were married when you
were how old? My first marriage was when I was 27. 27. So, no, no, no, I met him when, sorry, I met him when I was 27. I was 29 when we got married. Okay, so from 18 to 27, you were kind of living a life of what? Working and going to school and living with my boyfriend at the time. I had a live-in boyfriend. We were together for quite some time, and investigating
a lot of other lifestyles. Okay. And that included checking out different religious types of beliefs such as Wicca and things like that, but just a lot of different lifestyle choices at that point. Okay. And you received your education. You were later principal of a charter school, so what, where did you go to school and tell us a little bit about the role of education in your life? Education was always huge in our family. That was probably the most
important thing that was ever pushed. And I loved school. I loved education. I loved it. I have an associate in marketing, a bachelor's in environmental biology, and after, I know, total disconnect there, and then after I got my life back together, I actually went back and I now have my MBA in non-profit administration as well. Okay. Well, but I never really left. I'll be honest. I never really left college, even through all of that. I kept taking classes
here and there and a lot of different subjects. Oh, that's awesome. And then you were married at the age of 29 and you end up in Arizona and some things go, some things go bad. You find yourself in an abusive relationship with a husband who's very controlling and manipulative and some things go wrong and pretty soon you're running from the law, right? Yeah. There were a lot of steps in between there, but that sums it up. Yes. Well, Daph, if there are some
of those steps that might be important for us to know, feel free to share those. Yeah. So, yeah. Moved back, you know, moved out to Arizona for jobs and it was also, so away from the family and away from any support network I had, but there was, you know, we were working and when the arrest came down, it really felt like alone. I was alone at that. And so was in jail for 10 months before being released out on bail. And my parents
worked so hard to do that for me. It was out on release of weight, you know, doing different trials, different hearings and things for quite a number of years. And then things went, got really bad again and ended up running from the law in Mexico. And technically I had the permission to travel, so that wasn't actually, I didn't actually commit any crime by traveling. It was a failure to appear. And anybody who knows the legal system will
understand, you know, the failure to appear. That's the only thing they had was that I failed to appear for one of my hearings. I did not. And so, but I was, you know, in Mexico for two years before I was picked back for, we were picked back up and brought back to Arizona to finish out the hearings and trials and then eventually go to prison. So when there's a failure to appear, they typically issue a bench warrant. Is that what,
and then they came to Mexico in search of you. Is that right? To extradite you back for your hearing? Correct. Yes. So, yes. All right. So, so we know that we're not talking about, we don't have to get into details, but we know we're not talking about shoplifting a Snickers at Walmart. No, they don't, they don't extradite you from Mexico for something like that and spend all the tax dollars, monies and everything like that that's involved.
So that was, there must have been a lot of anxiety and looking over your shoulder and angst and sleepless insomniac nights and, and those types of things. Kind of talk about that. There was, and I'm really glad you brought that up because there was a lot of anxiety. And I happened to stumble across a book. The first residence I had in Mexico, I could see the temple spire from my window. Mexico City Temple. The Mexico City Temple. And I could
see the spire and Angel Maroni from my window. And I would sit in a chair and literally all night just stare at that and wondering how I would get to that point. Yeah. What, what was going through your mind while you were sitting there staring at Angel Maroni? How did I get here? How did I get out of this? What needs to happen? And a lot, a lot of prayer at this point, I had, I started when I was back when we were first arrested. I
really had had a lot of longing feelings for going back to church. I had been going back to church kind of before that. We had been going back for a bit, but not very, it wasn't a very active spiritually. Sure. It was going through the motion. Yeah. So definitely, time out for just to say, you say you had this desire to go back to church. Was the desire to be in church or was the desire to fill what you felt when you were in church? That
and that is absolutely correct. It's that is absolutely the right point there is that it really was that peace and sitting in the chapel and then and having that peace and then not having that peace when I would get home from church. Yeah. You know, you say you were you were raised in the church a little bit or whatever, right? Did you did so you went to church growing up, right? Yes. And so that that longing that we sometimes feel
is reminiscent of just some of the other earthly experiences that we have. I know. So David is my uncle. When I would go in he's about seven years older than me, but when I would go to his house, that's my grandma's house. My grandma was the safest person on the planet
for me. I have a picture of my grandma holding me as a little baby right there to help me remember that I'm okay, you know, because when I feel like I'm a little bit messed up, I just look at that picture and remember I'm safe, you know, and and when I would go to my grandma and grandpa's house when I was struggling, I just longed to sit there and bask in the feeling that I had there. That's kind of what you're explaining about going
back to church, right? And they you know, in the scriptures, they talk about that in circling you in the love of Christ and the arms of the arms of Christ, arms of mercy. And and it really is that feeling that hug feeling, you know, we all as humans love to be hugged. And I think that's part of it is that that spirit just felt like a giant warm hug that it was, you know, that that this could be, you know, that that piece that
you would get for that moment. And you're right, it is my father was always my my safe spot, my my does my grounding point. Yeah, and you were looking for that similar feeling when you were going back to church, but when you were sitting in that chair looking out that window at the temple of Mexico City and the Angel Maroney Maroney, how often did you think, man, I've really messed up and
that'll never be part of my future again? Oh, a lot. Yeah. At that point, I was I was yeah, I was still I did not know if that was ever going to be a part of my life again. Yeah. And so we we sometimes in those situations look to that and long for what we in our minds in our mortal fallen minds start to believe I really blew it and that'll never happen for me. And then we really begin to beat ourselves up and we become a victim of our own abuse.
So now we're double victimized, right? Absolutely. Because you feel like, well, this is never going to happen. So why should I even bother trying? Yeah. And things with the abuse of X, it was I'm never going to get out of this. I'm going to be stuck with in this situation with him as well, which means that I will never get to where I feel I need to be. Did you ever feel like you deserved that? Sometimes. Yeah. And it was interesting because sometimes
not it's like I'm better than this. I can and then it was other times. Well, you brought yourself to this situation. So you know, you got to you brought yourself here. You got to suck it up and deal with it. Yeah, suck it up and deal with it. That's right. So you mentioned you mentioned that some senior missionary couple in Mexico City working at the temple had some sort of a positive influence on you. Daphne, do you want to describe that relationship?
There were two couples that really took me under their wing. And the one I am pretty sure knew what was going on. The other didn't. But they didn't the spirit, you know, the spirit can talk to you and and tell and not just me, but tell them they knew what I needed. And that I'm a very educated, as I said, I'm a very educationally based person. And so I have a tendency to be literal minded sometimes. And I want facts. I want details. I want to
learn. I need to know those types of things. That's what helps me get through and helps me figure things out. And so sitting there listening to them talk about the scriptures and talk about the Savior and how much they loved it. And I didn't have my own parents there. And my parents loved the Savior. And I didn't and I couldn't even communicate with them. If I communicated with my family, they would have been arrested. And and so having
these other people there that could kind of fill that role. Angels, angels. They really were they really were angels and and helping fill that role of guidance and and how to connect with the spirit, how to connect with the Savior and how to connect with the and and these feelings I was having. And in many instances, I don't think they realized that's what they were doing. It was a it was a very much and and the interesting part is that
it was another senior couple that was there. That was the reason that I was picked back up and taken back to Arizona. They figured out who I was and turned me in to the authorities. How did you feel about that? You know, I there's a bit that's angry, you know, the in the past. How did you let's do it this way? How did you feel about it then and how do you feel about it now? Right at the immediate reaction is anger. Yeah. And
how could you do that? You don't know me. How can you put me in that? You don't know my situation. You don't know what's going on. And and then it didn't take and I'll be honest, it didn't take too long for me to figure out that that was the blessing that I needed that because there's no way I could have completed my spiritual journey without finishing this
legal journey. So you're legal. Go ahead. I wasn't say that legal journey had to be dealt with and over with before I could continue on my spiritual path that I knew I needed to be on. Okay. Thank you. So Daphne, you're extradited. You go back to Arizona. You spend some six and a half years in in in jail, Arizona, a little bit of time in Michigan even, right? Yeah, a couple. Yeah, six months in Michigan, six years in Arizona. Okay. And then you end up with your sister
in Florida. And you're looking for a way to get out of an abusive relationship. Tell us what happens there. Well, tell us if anything about the prison experience six and a half years. Did you feel the savior in prison? All of the time. It was these are my favorite stories when so we had yeah, so we had Scott Harmon on who episode I don't remember that spent several years in prison. We have another one that'll be coming out as well that spent
I think 12 years in prison. And now we have you and these are my favorite stories is hearing about the tender mercies of a loving savior who will go where we are. He descended below all things. We read about that in Alma, right? He descended below all things so that he could know how to sucker us in the flesh. Here he is suckering you in the flesh because he descended below that. Tell us about that. And and elder Oaks president Oaks gave a talk years ago,
Daphne. I don't know if you remember it, but he he reads a letter this in general conference and he reads a letter from an inmate in a prison talking about the savior walking in the halls of the prison and elder Oaks bearing testimony of the love of the savior in our life. Did you feel that experience? Every day. Absolutely. There was there's quite a few. There's the first one that that my memory has is I was also because of the nature of
my offense. I was in I was also in solitary confinement. I was in protective custody. And so I wasn't at first and that actually was a huge problem because of the threats against me and things to that nature, but I was protected every step of the way. And then I was put into protective custody. And this was a blessing because I actually had access to the TV by myself. And I could choose what I watched and I had it on BYU channel
just about every minute I could. And there was a talk and you know how they'll do the talks at least they used to I'm not sure if they still do, but they would regularly put talks BYU devotionals. Yep devotionals different conference talks. Yeah, right. Like that. And there was one from Elder Holland when he was the president of BYU. And I think it
was 1986. It was submitting to the will of the father and all things. And it I I broke down and I still when I read that when I when I go through and I read it, I still break down. I just I it was submitting my will to his was so important because that is part of in my opinion, part of the repentance process is understanding that we need to change. And one of the things about that particular talk is I could feel Elder Holland's love. Yeah,
for me, for me as a person, setting in prison, sitting in prison. This is a decade or more. This is a couple of decades later. And through time and space, and I could feel his love for me. And that this message was for me right now. And the spirit was just he wasn't whispering, he was hollering at me. This is what you need to take to heart right now. This is the end. And I knew it was going to be a process, but that was the what you need to know right now.
And I immediately called my sister and said, Can you get me this talk on paper? Can you find this for me on the internet? And she did and she sent me a copy. And before every single hearing, I would sit down and read through that talk every before every hearing. And to remind myself because while while yes, we have these wonderful spiritual experiences, they don't last forever. And we need to keep bringing them back. And to remind me that
the will of the father was going to be done. And that some of this was all through his will. And I would, it would help me have that peace and that calm, the spirit would then, you know, bring that peace and that calm back to me. So I could get through the hearing. Because of what happened to me in jail as well, there were some jail was the first time
I knew the first 10 months were very difficult and led to some PTSD. And I already had anxiety issues and this led to some full blown PTSD afterwards because of some things that happened to me. And it was and so that calming effect became even more important and more necessary for me having that the spirit just whisper and just keep pushing me that it's okay,
we got this. That was an incredible testimony, creating and testimony building for me. And there were many and she my sister then got into the habit of sending me regular talks of stuff she would find. What was the role of daily scripture study and prayer while you were incarcerated? That I absolutely I mean it wasn't in most of us we know if we're lucky to get a half hour in daily scripture study and prayer, you know, that's kind of a lucky thing. And my mom used to call it my mission time. I
was this was my mission time. Yeah, I never served one. So this is what I'm doing now. And so I was able to and it was it was so wonderful to be able to have that time to really study and not just read but to study and ponder as they say. Yeah. And to learn and daily prayer. Daily prayer. Yeah, it was not just daily. I think it was hourly or sometimes
more constant. There was a lot of constant prayer there. There were and and it's one of those things for me the I don't always feel like there are a few big ah ha crying moments, you know, crying out type of moments. There are a couple of but for me it was more of a slow build up. And it was a constant build up. It was a when we talk about line
upon line precept upon precept. That's really how I felt my journey through this repentance and finding the Savior and and really feeling his love for me was this very slow gradual thing. It's a process, not an event. Absolutely. There were a couple of times when there were events that spoke to me louder than others. But I really felt like as I looked back that it was this this wonderful build up for me. How about those events that maybe spoke loudly
but some more loudly than others? Do you have one in mind that maybe you could share with us? I it's a little different, but it's it's one that helps me stay grounded to you know what what the Savior there was an incident in the prison and they were doing a huge shake down. Every everything was getting tossed. And there were some of the girls that were having to go through more than others. And I could see it happening out my window. And
I don't know I had this overwhelming sadness and fear come over me. And it wasn't fear for me or sadness for me. It was the women that were going through what they were going through at that time. It was it was just horrifying for them. And I could feel it and it hurt physically and emotionally. And I've always had the sympathy and the empathy. But this was one of those that just and I was set and I remember collapsing on the floor in myself
crying. These poor women and I had gotten to know so many of them and their stories and what they had been through. And I'm like and I remember crying Lord, why am I feeling this? Why do I have to go through what they're going through? Because I could feel it. And the and it was such a clear answer that it was so that you understand just a little bit
of what I went through for you. Wow. What does that make you emotional? Because he went through so much for me and I just and that and I remember the word that little bit I went through for you. Those words were important because it reminds me of how much that it was so much more than we can comprehend ever comprehend of what he's done for us.
So Daphne, we talk in this podcast about rock bottoms sometimes and that sounds like that may have been one of your rock bottoms, you know, is on that floor of the jail cell there and in prison rather and having that experience. But we've also talked about and you just you just articulated this. I think I'll just expand it a little bit. But you just said that while you were there, you felt a calm and a peace. Is that right? And because because you knew
what he had been through. And the only reason you knew what he had been through is because in that moment, it sounds like you were visiting him at his rock bottom at the cross. That is an accurate assessment of it. I really it was such an I and a very personal. It's
not something I'll be honest. I don't think I've ever shared that story with anybody because it was so personal, but it was very real that this that to have that glimpse, little glimpse into the Gethsemane and you know, we all go through our Gethsemane moment, but his was so much more. Yeah. And and you know, and to know that how much he loved me. You individually.
So you're saying Daphne, you believe that he loves you individually. He visited you individually in that horrific situation with all the chaos and hellishness that's going on around you. He visited you because of his deep love for you. Exactly. He knows my name. He knows me. He loves me. Our savior, you know, and when I'm teaching gospel doctrine, which is what I do now is my calling at the moment when I'm teaching gospel doctrine.
And that is something that I think that I try to get through to everybody is he loves you no matter what he loves you. He knows you. You are a child of God. You are our savior's brother or sister and how much he loves you and wants you near him. That's powerful. He wants our his you know, we want our families nearby us and we want to have this wonderful relationship with each other. He feels the same way and he went through Gethsemane for
you as an individual and for me as Daphne. Yeah. And and it's a there's a difference Daphne between us going through our Gethsemane and getting a glimpse of the real Gethsemane
that he went through. I mean, I mean, it's I to really we've talked about on this podcast that to really meet the conditions of repentance, Daphne, which we have described, which the Book of Mormon, I believe describes is a broken heart and contrite spirit that what really leads up to that broken heart and contrite spirit is to buy the power of the spirit,
be able to get a glimpse of Christ in Gethsemane and his suffering for us. That Gethsemane, his Gethsemane and getting a glimpse of that is so much more powerful than to suffer for suffer ourselves and to kind of have our own little Gethsemane moments, right? Absolutely. You know, we go through our own and but it's very individual. It's well, I'm suffering because I did something. I'm suffering because of me. When you realize that somebody else
suffered because of you. Yeah. Or not because of you, but for you. And there's a there's a very distinct difference between the two. He suffered for us. Amen. And and and that's a very different thing because we're all willing to put ourselves at risk. Yeah. But are we willing to put somebody else at risk? Yeah, loves us that way. Well, that's amazing that you got a glimpse of that as you suffered for women watching them suffer. I think that's
just a powerful story. So after spending six and a half years incarcerated in and out. Arizona a little time in Michigan, you end up in Florida with your sister and described to us about some of the events that happened in Florida and how you kind of get back into the into the church and you continue in this process through repentance. Well, in prison, I was very active. We did have an LDS set of missionary prison missionaries that would
come in weekly for us. Very active with that and active within in trying to stay up on my readings and things to that nature. I was also writing back and forth with my ex. We were allowed because we were married. We were allowed to actually write to each other. And as release started getting closer, I was scared. Not so much scared of getting out. I mean, there's always the fears of homelessness and taking care of yourself and finding a job
and things like that upon release. I was more scared that I was going to be going back into a situation that would not allow me to go through the repentance process properly, to do what I needed, that I knew I needed to do. And in our letters back and forth, there were threats if I had contacted the bishop and told him what was going on. But I also knew it was what I needed to do. That's what the Savior is the head of our church and the
church has asked us to do to go through this process and that's what I needed to do. And when I got out and immediately went into my bishop, the first day there made the appointment with my bishop that I need to talk. We need to talk and sat down and told him what had happened. And he looked at me and said, you know, you could have gone through your whole life, you know, insisting that you were innocent as you had been doing and never said a word
and nobody would have questioned you. Nobody would have said anything. You could have gone through the whole time and nobody would have said anything. And in fact, my ex never did go through any type of membership council or any type of, he never did admit to what he had done. But I was like, yeah, but that's not the way it's supposed to happen. I will not, I cannot finish my repentance process until I have done what I know is asked of
us. And he, so we had called it disciplinary councils at the time. And I was ex, you know, my I was excommunicated, my name was taken off the rolls. And he did say, you know, all right, let, you know, we'll get you back, you know, we'll get you back in a year, you know, and, and I, I was okay with it. It was interesting. And he told me at the time, because, you know, you didn't have, you weren't in doubt, you hadn't been to the temple yet.
So we had the choice of whether we were going to do a disfellowship or an excommunication because but I feel like that you don't forgive yourself easily and that you're going to need this rebaptism process for you personally. And at the time, well, you know, I was thinking, well, yeah, I do I am hard on myself. I didn't realize just how hard on myself I could be. And how important going through that rebaptism process was going to be and feeling that that
washed clean feeling and and losing the Holy Ghost for a while and getting it back. During my time in prison, as I said, I had this incredible I developed an incredible relationship with my savior, but I still didn't feel forgiven. I, you know, I just felt like there wasn't
a whole what could I do? And it is, it is an ongoing process of that, the repentance of feeling that that feeling that yes, you really are and it took a bit and I'm really glad that I was removed from the church roles for a while because that enabled me to spend more time thinking about it. I think if I had been left there, I just would have gone on with life as it was. Okay, life's just continuing.
Now as you look back on it and you've been you've been a member now you were rebaptized how long ago? I was rebaptized in 2016. Okay, so you've been a member again for six years. As you look back on all of those years that you weren't a member, even before you were rebaptized, do you feel like the Lord had forgiven you and you just weren't receiving his forgiveness?
Or do you feel like it wasn't until you were rebaptized that you were forgiven? As you look back on it, where do you think what I know it is line up online precept, oh, precept, I really love what you said about that and I believe that too. But at what point do you think that you were forgiven? So in all seriousness, and I'm glad you brought that up. Again, there was a time there were
many moments in prison and in jail where I did feel forgiven. And there was those those whisperings and sometimes I call them the bricks over the head because sometimes I don't listen to whispers very well. I sometimes need a brick over the head. Instead of the still small voice, you need the loud, large voice. Yes, yes, I do. That's fair. Yeah, there were absolutely times where I felt that and even heard that in my head,
it's okay. You are, you know, the Savior took this on for you. You are forgiven. And but we beat ourselves up. And comes in, Saint comes in, shames us, shames us, tell us we'll never be good enough. Yes, I totally agree. And that's really it's Satan whispering those doubts to you that how could he forgive you for that really? And you know, that was so horrible what you allowed to happen and what you did. And he wants you to identify with your sins instead of identifying with your Savior.
One of the things I learned to do, I music, besides education, music has always been a huge part of our family. And I grew up in a very musical family. You talked about some of the others where music was such a part of their life, it was my, you know, the, that peace part and power and peace of music. Music is an incredible, powerful tool that we have. And I would, I really enjoy, I love the hymn. Don't get me wrong. I love the hymn, but I also really enjoy contemporary Christian music. Mm hmm.
So do I. Mercy me, casting crown, Matthew West, all of, so we were allowed a little, we were allowed a CD player with a rate that had a radio on it while in prison. And when I would have those moments, and so there were a couple of different types, I would either those moments of doubts and getting beating myself up. And sometimes also those PTSD moments where I would start to, my brain would start to spiral out of control.
If I could get my earbuds on and just flip that switch and get the earbuds on, immediate call me. Casting crowns east to west is one of them that really, and there is big daddy weave does. If you could see what is, I'm trying to remember the title of it, but big daddy weave does one that is basically if you could see yourself the way the way God sees you, the way it sees you. Yep. I can't remember the title, but those two, but yet east to west by casting crowns was a huge one for me.
How far it is from the east to the west. How about Gilles, give me Jesus. Yeah. Oh yes, that one. Yes. Do you remember, do you know that one? I do. That's one of my go to. And my current one is with Danny Goki. And you just haven't seen it yet. What is it? One more time you broke up right there. I'm sorry. Danny Goki is the artist and American Idol. Oh, I didn't know he was American Idol. I think so. You just haven't seen it yet. And there's a phrase in there.
He had the solution before you had the problem. Wow, sweet. And that just hits home so much. So sweet. With knowing that you're forgiven, he knew that we were human. We were going to have these struggles. Yeah. And that saved you for us. And the Savior went along and agreed and sacrificed himself for us. Yes. And so music was also a very big part of that in helping me to stay on that mindset and not letting Satan crawl in my brain.
So you did feel forgiven off and on, which I believe is really the case. If people would really be able to identify it. We've taught many times in this podcast that the Holy Ghost, the Spirit of the Lord is the messenger and the administrator of the Atonement of Christ in our life. And that whenever we feel the Spirit, Daphne, that we should immediately,
our thoughts should go to the Atonement of Jesus Christ. And we should know that the Atonement of Jesus Christ is working in our life and that we're being forgiven every time we feel the Spirit. And your experience is confirming all that. But let's go back to Florida for just a minute. By the way, I love your bishop that you had in Florida. He's a good friend of mine. We
share the same grandchildren. I love him and his family very much. And so grateful that your paths crossed that he was an angel in your life, helping you to come back. And so you go through a disciplinary counsel, you're excommunicated, but you stay active in the church, you divorce your husband, you get out of an abusive relationship, you're rebaptized and go from there. Talk a little bit about your rebaptism and coming back into full activity in the church and how the Savior was with you then.
So the rebaptism, there are so many, and it's one of the things as people are going through this process, as they're going through life in general as well, but especially when you're going through these types of things, look for the little miracles. Look for every small miracle, every small blessing, because all of those small ones add up to a giant blessing. And there are going to be people and things that happen along the way that only our Savior
and the Lord could put there for you. And going up to my rebaptism, we had had to move out of ward boundaries. And I ended up finding somebody, amazing man, and getting remarried. And he was also inactive and was coming back to activity, also was on probation. And he was, so he was not able to partake of the sacrament and things like that until all of the probation and things to that nature were done. But his, he never had a disciplinary
counsel, did not go through any of that. And we worked together there, and it was wonderful doing that together as a couple of making sure our lives were in tune with what the Lord would want us to do. They have what's called early termination for probation here in Florida. And as long as you've done what you're supposed to do, et cetera, at the halfway point, you're able to request early termination. And he was on state mandated
treatment. And in order to get your early term, you have to be graduated from the state mandated treatment. And finally, something happened, and I was like, that's it. We're putting in your paperwork for early term now, whether you're done or not. And he, we had just moved into the new house, and we were looking at getting, we were trying to get all of the paperwork in order for my rebaptism, went up in front of the judge. And even though
he hadn't been graduated, the judge looks and says, you're good, you're done. You're off probation. A miracle. Absolute miracle. There's no way it should have happened. I mean, they don't grant that, but they did for him. And three months later, my husband was able to rebaptize me. Oh, what a gift. He took authority back to him. And then two months later, he received the Melchizedek praise priest said that two months after
I was baptized. So he was able to back. He wasn't able to confirm me, but he was able to baptize me. And are you now, are you now in doubt? Have you been sealed? One year later, one year after we were, I was baptized. We went out to California and were in doubt and sealed. His family is all active and his. So we were minds only partially active. But my brother and my mom flew out there to be with me and all of his family was out there.
All of his siblings and his mom, his dad had just passed away a couple of months before our ceiling. Well, he was there. Yeah. Oh yeah. And my dad had passed away a few years before that. And he was there. They were there. And my mom always said, and that's where she feels dad the most is at the temple. But we know, we know that the dads were there. And so it was a very special, very tender moment for us to have the whole family together.
I'll be honest, going through the temple, I think was the moment when I finally said, okay, I've made it. Yeah. Well, when I was able to go through those questions for my temple recommend, and that's when it really hit. Yeah. As I'm answering those temple recommend questions and I'm like, I did it, you know, I'm where I'm, you know, and I felt
I finally felt that reprieve. It's still there are still days when I'm like, yeah, correct me if I'm wrong, but I'll bet when you're saying I did it, what you really mean is, I'm so glad he did it. Yes. Yes. I'm glad you made that. Oh, I'm so glad you're there to help me with this because really it is through the savior and his there are days when I seriously felt like he was carrying me, you know, holding on to me as I'm walking
literally, I didn't feel like I could walk through some days. And those days when it's like, do I really have to get up? So people want to know, Daphne, we've got just a few minutes left in the podcast. So I'm going to ask this question, and then we're going to talk about what it's like to have the savior and what's your relationship with the savior today and how is it different than it was in the past. But you know, when we have those
experiences, oftentimes, the adversary will still gain access to our brain. It will still gain access to even our souls, you know, and we learn in the temple that we have, he has power to bruise our heels, right? But we have power to crush his head. But you know, that is that bruising of the heels sometimes that can kind of create more turbulence, if you will, in our in our lives that can that can create more questioning, a separation of source,
maybe not complete. How do you maintain that today? How does that work today where all of those things are in the forefront of your mind? You know, you went to the temple, which is, you know, the temple is the ultimate symbolism of Jesus Christ on planet earth, right? That is it. That's that the temple itself and everything that happens in there is in similitude or speaks deeply to in great symbolism and even directly to the power of the Atonement of
Jesus Christ in your life. So how has that made your life different? Will you express your gratitude towards that? Will you express how maybe some examples of how that's working? Maybe some examples or experiences of where you have helped felt him the strongest today? You know, a lot of the come follow me program for starters is a huge thing. I love this program. And I don't know, I was always reading my scriptures daily, Mike and I, it took us
a while to get into a bind of time and to do that. But it was something that we knew reading our scriptures daily and having that couples prayer time and reading time together has been instrumental with that for us in in keeping that. But and it's a constant prayer in the heart surrounding in one of the things is the home is also supposed to be a temple for us. You know, and having those things around us, we're human. We get caught up in
our daily lives. We get caught up in the day to day stuff. And so having those things around us tokens of the temple and of Christ around you all the time everywhere. And so having those whatever you need as a person for me, I have music, a good quality music going on. I have pictures of the temples and things like that around me to help me. But it's a and it's a daily strengthening. And you know, because as soon as we feel like we're good,
we don't need to have those things around us anymore. As soon as we start thinking that way, then we're going to start going downhill. And as soon as we start thinking we've got it on our own, we have to have the Savior in our life, we have to have the Lord in our life. There is no other way it's going to happen. And so making sure we're doing those things and the having all of those things around us that help build us. And it's going
to be different for each person. And I have a whiteboard at the front of the house and I change out either different scriptures or quotes and every week or something, I'll change it out. And that's one way I help keep myself focused on something that is uplifting and that is reminding me of the Savior and how to stay close to the Savior. And so, you know,
that it's that constant, Oh, I haven't changed that in a week. I need to find something new to focus on and be, and I'll admit it, I'm ADD, you know, I have to have something new all the time. So that helps. And those are some of the things. But for me, it's this daily keeping it and being that person that other people want to be around. Living your life. And I heard this quote, and I don't know who originally did it. I would love to
know who did it so I could give them credit. Living your life in such a way that those who don't know Christ want to know Christ because they know you. Yeah, how sweet. Daphne, you, I mean, can you believe really where you've been and how and how far you've come? And that it just, I mean, a lot of people can make lots of progress in their life. They can be in the lowest low and get to the highest high of whatever they consider to be a high.
But Daphne, you know, you have, through the Atonement of Jesus Christ, not just gone from low low to a high high, but you can tell in your listening to you and your experiences that you have been redeemed, that you have experienced redemption, that you're justified, that you're sanctified, that you have this faith in Christ and that you have his peace, that through him, as President Nelson encouraged us to do, that you, through him, are overcoming
the world and that you have entered into his rest. Being able to find that peace through the Savior and through the Holy Ghost, the Spirit was, you know, helping you with that. Here an amazing example of that, Daphne, to all of us. And as we conclude here now, we just have another minute or two. Would you like to share kind of by way of testimony
or any concluding thoughts or feelings that you have before we end this episode? And thank you so much for being with us and for the incredible story that you've shared with us and the incredible example that you are for us. Well, I and I appreciate you guys so much for what you're doing to bring this out there and to highlight it. The atonement and the Savior's redemption for us. And my message to anybody who's listening would be to never give up. A friend of mine once said, everything
will be okay in the end. If it's not okay, it's not the end. And she wrote that in a letter to me when I was sitting in jail. And I clung to that. And I still cling to that because days are not always perfect. But in the end, it will be okay. And that's because
of our Savior, because what he's done for us. And just for those who are struggling to find the help they need and to remember that the Savior loves them as an individual, if I can tell them nothing else, it's to remember that he is there for them. Thank you so much, Daphne. We're grateful for you, for your life and for our new friendship. So if I come out to Florida, I'll be calling on you. All right. I'd love to meet you. Thank you guys.
And if you come to Utah, you have lots of friends here. Your Bishop lives here now. So you'll have... I know, but he's leaving on a mission soon. So... Yeah, that's right. Leaving on a mission. Happens to the best of them. Such a sweet story that you shared about... because your father passed away and you said that your father was your safe place and sweet Bishop Saucer walking you down the aisle. I think that's such a sweet picture in my mind. And grateful that you shared that with me
before we began the podcast. Anyway... Thanks for being with us, Daphne. Thank you so much, guys. Thank you so much for the work you're doing. I appreciate it. You have been a great inspiration, I know, to many, many, many people today. Those of us who talk about the Savior and kind of make this our daily work, there's a certain credibility, even though I've been in some pretty rotten places and redemption has taken me from the
depths of insanity and hell to where it is today. It's refreshing and it's awesome to hear somebody who's gone through what you've gone through to have such a deep... and we feel it... deep love for your Savior Jesus Christ and what He's done for you. And the number of people that you're touching today, I know for certain that your Gospel doctrine classes are different because of your experiences. Yeah, I'd like to be in that class.
I know they are. I know that you know the Savior in ways that maybe some people that aren't compelled to know Him because of the hard things that you've gone through. And we didn't talk about that whether you were compelled or not, but that's irrelevant. The point is, you went through things that could be compelling. I have too. And I tell you that those experiences
really enhance. You have about in Ether 12, 27, where you've taken these weaknesses and you've made them become strong through the blood, through the redemptive blood of Jesus Christ and Him crucified. It's good to have you with us today, Daphne. I hope you feel our love as well as our Savior's love. And we look forward to maybe meeting you again. And certainly, folks, if you have questions or comments that you'd like us to pass on
to Daphne, please use our email address to do that. He redeemsusatgmail.com. All right, everybody, thanks for being with us. And remember, you have been redeemed through His blood. We look forward to being with you again next week and in weeks to follow. Everybody, take care now.