Ulisses Soares

Elder Ulisses Soares Courtesy IRI

Ulisses Soares is a retired accountant and auditor and currently serves as a General Authority of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He was sustained as a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles on March 31, 2018, during a Solemn Assembly.

Soares was born on October 2, 1958, in São Paulo, Brazil. His parents, Apparecido and Mercedes Carecho Soares, joined the Church of Jesus Christ when he was about five years old. He earned his bachelor’s degree in accounting and economics from the School of Economic Science-PUC (Pontificia Catholic University) and later his MBA from INPG (National Institute of Postgraduate Study).

He was called to the Quorum of the Seventy on April 2, 2005. At the time of his call, he was working for the Church departments of Physical Facilities and Welfare Services in Salt Lake City. He had also been director of temporal affairs in the Church area office in São Paulo, Brazil. Prior to that, he had been an accountant and auditor for a multinational corporation in Brazil.

In January 6, 2013, he was named a member of the Presidency of the Seventy. He was president of the Portugal Porto Mission from 2000 to 2003. He has also served as a counselor in the Africa Southeast Area and has served as a counselor and president of the Brazil South Area.

He and his wife, Rosana Fernandes, are the parents of three children.

Apostleship

In his first solo travel assignment as an Apostle, Elder Soares ministered in Central America on November 2–11, 2018, visiting Latter-day Saints in Guatemala, Costa Rica, and Panama. Although no other member of the Quorum of the Twelve accompanied him, General Authority Sevenites were with him, including Elder Carlos A. Godoy of the Presidency of the Seventy, and members of the Church’s Central America Area Presidency: Elder Juan A. Uceda, Elder Jorge F. Zeballos and Elder Valeri V. Cordón.[1]

Elder Soares spoke at the G20 Interfaith Forum in Brasília, Brazil, on Wednesday, August 21, 2024. G20 is an annual forum that brings together representatives of the world’s major economies. Various meetings and associated events, including the interfaith forum, were held in Brazil during 2024.[2]

On November 8, 2023, Elder Ulisses Soares became the first member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to visit the twin-island nation of Antigua and Barbuda. Antigua and Barbuda, made up of the islands of Antigua, Barbuda, and Redonda, are part of the Lesser Antilles archipelago and located near the islands of St. Kitts and Nevis, as well as Guadeloupe. The sovereign island country is part of the Church’s Caribbean Area.

Elder Soares was accompanied by Elder S. Mark Palmer, of the Presidency of the Seventy, and his wife, Sister Jacqueline Palmer, as well as Elder Valeri V. Cordón, a General Authority Seventy, and his wife, Sister Glenda Cordón.

During the visit, Elder Soares presided over a devotional for the Church’s Caribbean Area at a meetinghouse in St. John’s, the capital of Antigua and Barbuda, where he met members, local leaders and community members. The devotional was also broadcast to the rest of the Lesser Antilles North District, as well as districts in the Barbados Bridgetown Mission, Guyana Georgetown Mission and Jamaica Kingston Mission. [3]

In his remarks at the devotional, he shared an experience he had with then-Elder Russell M. Nelson many years previous.

Many years ago, then-Elder Russell M. Nelson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, in one of his visits in Brazil, spoke at a devotional for all members in the city of Rio de Janeiro.

When the translator failed to arrive, Ulisses Soares, who was in attendance to support the logistics of that visit, was unexpectedly invited to translate for Elder Nelson. There was only one problem — brother Soares didn’t have any experience translating side by side from English to Portuguese. “How could I do that?” Elder Soares said.

Elder Ulisses Soares, now a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, said he was promised the Lord would help him, so he stood by the pulpit and did his best as a translator for the first time.

Elder Soares remembered being nervous and making mistakes during the translation, but “President Nelson was patient and kind with me,” he said.

“When the devotional was over, President Nelson embraced me saying: ‘I am very proud of you.’ I felt like the Savior was embracing me. He expressed his love, the love of the Savior, even knowing that I didn’t do perfectly,” Elder Soares said. “I didn’t feel fear when I was standing by President Nelson, and that is what we feel when we have the Savior as our focus in our life.”[4]

Also in November 2023, Elder Soares was invited by a Brazilian YouTuber to participate in the Plano Piloto, a podcast with 544,000 subscribers, in an episode entitled “1st Brazilian Apostle? What the LDS Church of Jesus Christ (‘Mormons’) is like.” The podcast host David Godoy gathered questions from several listeners, with Elder Soares talking about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, its origins, its worldwide presence, and his calling as a member of the Church’s Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.[5]

A few months after he was the first Apostle to visit the twin-island nation of Antigua and Barbuda, Elder Soares became the first Apostle of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to visit the small Caribbean island of Bonaire on January 28, 2024. The visit fulfilled a promise Elder Soares made in 2019 when he was at the neighboring island of Curaçao and said he would someday visit all three islands of the Church’s ABC District in the Caribbean — Aruba, Bonaire, and Curaçao. As part of his trip to Bonaire, Elder Soares traveled to the island of Aruba, where he presided at a devotional for Latter-day Saints living on the three islands. Members on Bonaire and Curaçao participated in the devotional through a digital broadcast. Joining Elder Soares were his wife, Rosana Soares, as well as Elder Moisés Villanueva, a General Authority Seventy who serves as second counselor in the Church’s Caribbean Area Presidency, and his wife, Sister Leticia Villanueva.

In May 2022, Elder Ulisses Soares and his wife, Sister Rosana Soares, completed a 10-day ministry in the Pacific Area, which included devotionals held with Latter-day Saints of all ages and broadcasts spanning New Zealand and Australia. Elder Brent H. Nielson of the Presidency of the Seventy and his wife, Sister Marcia Nielson accompanied them. The visit included a youth devotional and special multi-stake conference in Auckland, a tour of the Matthew Cowley Pacific Church History Center and visit to the newly renovated Hamilton New Zealand Temple, a young adult devotional in Brisbane, and the Church’s first country-wide devotional broadcast in Australia.[6]

In March 2023, Elder Soares ministered in Australia, New Zealand, Tonga, and Fiji. Elder Patrick Kearon, then serving in the Presidency of the Seventy, accompanied him. Their respective wives, Rosanna Soares and Jennifer Kearon traveled with them, as did the Pacific Area presidency and their wives. Elder Soares conducted leadership instruction and devotionals for both youth and young single adults, sacrament meetings, and met with missionaries as well as the Tongan Prime Minister Hu’akavemeiliku Siaosi Sovaleni. Elder Soares was able to meet with every stake president in the Pacific Area.[7]

Temples dedicated by Elder Soares

Fortaleza Brazil Temple · Arequipa Peru Temple · Feather River California Temple

Books by Elder Soares

Compassion (2023)

Quotes from Elder Soares

"It is possible to change. It is possible to leave weaknesses behind."

October 2013 General Conference, "Be Meek and Lowly of Heart"

"Have the moral courage to stand firm in obeying God's will, even if you have to stand alone."

April 2015 General Conference,"Yes, We Can and Will Win!"

“If there is one thing we could possess — and one thing we could pass on to our children and grandchildren that would help each in the tests and trials ahead — it would be confidence in the covenants made through Jesus Christ.”

April 2024 General Conference, "Covenant Confidence through Jesus Christ"

“God sent you to the earth during one of the most turbulent times in history. I firmly believe that you are here to change the direction of the destiny of the entire human family.”

Broadcast for Portuguese-speaking youth, November 17, 2023