Area Authority in Brazil

Elder Eduardo Gavarret, Area Authority Seventy in the Brazil Area, has lived in five countries and says that in each location he and his family have found “comfort, friendship, and counsel.” Born on 11 May 1956 in Minas, a town of about 30,000 in Lavalleja, Uruguay, he has also lived in Paraguay, Bolivia, Peru, and now Brazil.

Elder Gavarret’s mother and two older sisters joined the Church in 1962. There were few other members in the Lavalleja area, and though his mother faced strong opposition from relatives and friends, she was committed to the gospel and served in a wide variety of Church callings. Two years later, at age eight, Elder Gavarret was baptized in the swimming pool of a rented house. “It was a cold, rainy day,” he says, “but I still remember that special moment with great joy.”

Elder Gavarret’s father, although not a member of the Church, has always been supportive of his family’s Church membership. After Elder Gavarret served in the Uruguay-Paraguay Mission, he started working under his father’s tutelage as a watchmaker.”

I recall one occasion when I received my first payment for repairing a watch. I asked my father, ‘What shall I do with this?’ and he said, ‘Well, pay your tithing.’”

It is Elder Gavarret’s work for a pharmaceutical company that has taken him, his wife, Norma, and their three children to various locations of the world. His family has learned many valuable lessons from their experiences in these countries—among them, the importance of relying on the Lord. “The Lord blesses us and makes us prosper as we exercise our faith in Him and as we obey Him,” he says. “I have seen His hand in our lives and in the lives of other people, helping us to improve ourselves. My testimony has been strengthened by obeying His commandments, and my life has been guided by Him.”

Sister and Elder Gavarret