Elder Ulisses Soares

Of the Seventy

Faith and obedience—these two gospel principles have been paramount in the life of Elder Ulisses Soares of the First Quorum of the Seventy.

A native of São Paulo, Brazil, Elder Soares and his wife, Rosana Fernanda Morgado Soares, traveled occasionally to the United States for training as director of temporal affairs for the Brazil South Area. Committed to attending church wherever they traveled, the Soareses remember one Sunday a good Samaritan friendshipped them at church. Grateful for this instant friendship, Elder and Sister Soares realized an additional blessing later that night when they needed his help again. An expectant mother, Sister Soares miscarried.

Elder Soares tearfully recalls: “I didn’t know anybody; I didn’t know the medical system. But the Lord protected us.” Their newfound friend proved to be the Lord’s answer to their prayers, helping them to obtain much-needed medical care. “We were protected,” Elder Soares testifies, “because we went to church that day.”

He has served in a variety of capacities, including mission president, stake president, high councilor, and missionary in the Brazil Rio de Janeiro Mission. He has also earned an MBA and two bachelor’s degrees: business and accounting, and economics.

Born to Apparecido and Mercedes Carecho Soares on October 2, 1958, in São Paulo, Brazil, Elder Soares learned from them the importance of obeying the Lord’s commandments. His sweetheart, Rosana, was sealed to him in the São Paulo Brazil Temple on October 30, 1982, and they have been blessed to raise three children. Their family resides in Bountiful, Utah.

Elder Soares is ever grateful for the blessings he has received through obedience and faith in our Heavenly Father and His Son, Jesus Christ. “It’s just a wonder to see how much we can progress through the Atonement. If we apply it with faith,” he adds, “we will have a happy life—forever.”