Family History
A Conversation about Precious Stories
Elder Soares: In many Latin American families, memories are made around the dinner table—and that’s how it was with my family. Any opportunity was taken to get together, cook, and eat incredible food. Birthdays, holidays, and even Sundays were spent together as a family. It was a tradition that passed down; and even when we started our own family with our three children, we visited my family every Sunday—we cooked together, shared a meal together, and spent hours and hours together in love and support for one another.
Sister Soares: These family stories and traditions are part of who we are. Some of the stories and traditions are passed down and some of them are discovered. As we engage in family history and discover more about those who came before us, we can find power in that discovery—power that can lead us to a better understanding of who we are and where we belong.
Elder Soares: What family stories do you draw strength from? What traditions do you keep alive?
Stories of Childhood
Elder Soares: I had a brother two years older than me who had a hearing problem. He had a lot of difficulty communicating, and I can remember how I essentially became his companion, helping him to do things and communicate with people. I had to learn to communicate with sign language at church. For example, he once received an assignment to give a talk in church. However, he wasn’t able to speak. But I sat with him, and I, speaking to him with signs, helped him to write a talk. In sacrament meeting, he stood beside me at the pulpit as I read the talk that he prepared.
Stories of Creating a Family
Elder Soares: I met Sister Soares at a church dance six months after I had returned from my mission. She had also just recently returned from a mission.
Sister Soares: I could see you look at me, and something began to stir within me too. And as soon as the music stopped, you came over and asked me to dance.
Elder Soares: We continued as friends, but it was that night when our eyes were opened. We each saw a faithful young Latter-day Saint and the potential for a relationship. And two weeks later we began to date. That was 41 years ago.
Children of God and the Temple
Elder Soares: Remembering our culture, heritage, and traditions is important. Together with the experiences that make up our life story, they contribute to our understanding of who we are. But you cannot fully understand the breadth of who you are without understanding whose you are!
Sister Soares: Going to the temple can help each of us reconnect with our spiritual roots. It is there where you can learn and relearn God’s plan for us. It is there where we have the opportunity to assist in the greatest cause of the gathering for those in our family who never had the chance to receive sacred ordinances in their lifetime.
I know that there are many who are waiting on the Lord for the opportunity to be united as a couple or be sealed to their parents or children for time and eternity.
Understanding who we are, from where and whom we came, can bring to our lives the greatest feeling of peace, perspective, and purpose.
Elder Soares: It is in the temple where you can discover not only who you are and whose you are but also who you are meant to become.
Sister Soares: The discoveries of which we speak can have a powerful, lasting effect not only on our individual lives but also on the lives of those with whom we share our heritage.
The Most Important Story
Elder Soares: Just as important, if not more important than passing down culture and heritage, is passing down our testimonies of the gospel of Jesus Christ and our testimonies of Him and His Atonement. That legacy of faith passed down from generation to generation is the ultimate heritage we can pass on to future generations.
High upon Corcovado Mountain stands the Cristo Redentor. This majestic statue depicting the Savior with His arms outstretched has become one of the most recognizable images of Brazil.
There are days when you can clearly see this monument towering over the city, but there are times when the clouds roll in, keeping the statue from view. In those moments, to see requires rising above. To see requires an uphill climb. How true this is with our Savior, Jesus Christ. To discover Him, to know who He is, requires each of us to rise above and take that uphill climb.
You can discover, as you come to know Him, that power and place in the family of God are available to you. He will take you the way you are, and as you come unto Him and learn of Him, you can and will become ever more like Him.
Part of that becoming includes joining the cause of the gathering on both sides of the veil. as you assist the Lord in bringing “to pass the immortality and eternal life of man” (Moses 1:39), the scriptures teach that we literally become saviors on Mount Zion (see Obadiah 1:21). But what does that mean? Just as the Savior sacrificed His life for all humanity, we in small measure become as saviors to those who have no way of receiving the ordinances of salvation and exaltation without help from those of us here on earth. In essence, engaging in this work helps us in our quest to become more like Jesus Christ.
I promise that as you join Him in accomplishing the work of our Father, helping those who never had the chance to receive Him to make steps along the covenant path, you will begin to see Him as He is. You will be like Him, and you will discover who you are and just how extraordinary you can be!