Elder Aroldo B. Cavalcante

General Authority Seventy

At the invitation of a cousin, 18-year-old Aroldo B. Cavalcante attended a regional conference in 1988 featuring President Gordon B. Hinckley (1910–2008), then serving as First Counselor in the First Presidency.

“I felt something very strong,” he recounted. “I could see a light in President Hinckley.”

Though he attended church for the next three years, he wasn’t baptized. One day missionaries knocked on his door. Holding their area book, they read what past missionaries had written about him. What struck him was the last sentence: “He doesn’t want to commit to Jesus Christ.”

Elder Cavalcante recounted, “I thought I was very committed to Jesus Christ, and that line was too strong for me.”

Wondering whether that was what the Savior also thought of him, he asked, “What can I do to change this, Elders?’”

The missionaries started teaching him, and the 21-year-old was baptized just 10 days later. Elder Cavalcante has been committed to the Savior’s gospel ever since.

“This work is not about us. It’s about the Savior. And I try to do my very best for Him, not for me,” said Elder Cavalcante.

Aroldo Barreto Cavalcante Filho was born on November 22, 1970, in Fortaleza, Ceará, Brazil. He was sealed to Christiana Ramalho Bezerra Leite in the Recife Brazil Temple on January 21, 2004. They are the parents of four children.

Elder Cavalcante received a postgraduate degree in administrative law from the Federal University of Ceará in 1997. He has worked as an attorney for Procuradoria Geral do Município from 1997 to 2005 and as managing partner of Barreto Cavalcante Advogados since 1999.

Before his call as a General Authority Seventy, Elder Cavalcante had been serving as a mission president in Brazil. He has also served as an Area Seventy, stake president, bishop, and bishopric counselor.