Elder Rubén V. Alliaud
General Authority Seventy
Rubén Alliaud was 14 when he left his home in Argentina to spend a year with his uncle in the United States. His father, Rubén Reynaldo Alliaud, had died earlier, and Rubén was developing “a rebellious spirit.”
His concerned mother, María, sent him to Houston, Texas, to live with her brother, Manuel Bustos, and his family. She asked one condition of her brother’s family: “Do not share your Latter-day Saint beliefs with my son.”
The spirit of the gospel, however, spoke to the struggling teenager. He observed how the Church united the Bustos family through prayer and service, and he couldn’t help but notice the numerous copies of the Book of Mormon on the shelves of his room.
Curious, he pulled down a copy and discovered Moroni’s promise that he could know through prayer that the Book of Mormon is true.
“That promise touched me,” says the newly called General Authority Seventy. “I wanted to read the book.”
He took Moroni’s promise to heart, received an affirmative answer, and told his surprised uncle that he wanted to be baptized. Uncle Manuel immediately sent Rubén back to Argentina to ask his mother’s permission. He was soon baptized. Since then, the restored gospel has anchored Elder Alliaud’s life.
Rubén Vicente Alliaud was born on January 8, 1966, in Buenos Aires. He married Fabiana Bennett Lamas in the Buenos Aires Argentina Temple on December 17, 1992. They have six children.
Elder Alliaud earned a law degree from the University of Belgrano, in Buenos Aires, and has enjoyed a wide-ranging legal career, specializing in criminal law. Since 1998 he has worked as a managing partner for Alliaud & Asociados.
He has served as an Area Seventy, president of the Argentina Córdoba Mission, stake president, high councilor, bishop, elders quorum president, and missionary in the Uruguay Montevideo Mission. At the time of his call, he was serving as an institute teacher, first counselor in the presidency of the Argentina Missionary Training Center, and public affairs director.