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By Rachel Sterzer Gibson, Church News
Elder Carlos A. Godoy, a member of the Presidency of the Seventy, knows something about the challenges of getting an education.
Not only does the Brazilian-born General Authority know what it’s like to try to study in a language other than his native one — he completed an MBA from Brigham Young University — but he is also a first-generation Church member, the first in his family to earn a college degree and he pursued his education as a young man while also trying to juggle a growing family.
Speaking during an Ensign College devotional on Tuesday, November 30, Elder Godoy recalled that for much of his youth a university education seemed like something impossible.
His father had just four years of primary school; his mother only two years. Their dream for Elder Godoy and his brother and sister? “To finish high school because that was not possible for them,” Elder Godoy said.
Through his parents’ encouragement and many sacrifices, Elder Godoy and his siblings all graduated from high school. But some things changed in his young life that caused him to consider the seemingly impossible dream of pursuing higher education.
First was his baptism into The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints at age 16, he said. “I learned that I am a child of God, that there was more to expect in this life, that there is a plan of salvation and that we are not just here to work, eat and get old. There is a big plan.”
Next, he received his patriarchal blessing, which Elder Godoy said was “an eye opener” for him. He learned that not only was there a plan for everyone but also for him individually.
Another key point in his life that helped him think about furthering his education was serving a mission. His mission, he recalled to students, helped him glimpse his potential. “I learned as a young missionary that I had talents, that I could do [things], that I could be a leader, that I could progress.”
His missionary service also exposed him to American missionaries who talked about a university education as a normal step in their progression. Young Elder Godoy began to think, “OK, maybe I could do that.”
Another key point in his educational journey was marrying his wife, Sister Mônica Soares Brandão, who prayed and counseled with him and supported him as he tried to finish school even as they were growing their family.
Eventually, he earned a bachelor’s degree in economics and political science from Pontifícia Universidade Católica in Brazil, then a master’s in organizational behavior from BYU — all while raising a family that would eventually include four children, holding Church callings and learning English.
In sharing his educational journey, Elder Godoy offered encouragement to students and shared three lessons he learned along the way.
1. The Lord Has a Plan
First, “the Lord has a plan for us in this life.”
Elder Godoy shared Moses 1:4–6 where the Lord reveals Himself to Moses. The Lord says to Moses, “Behold, I am the Lord God Almighty, and Endless is my name.” In the next verse, He says “And behold, thou art my son.” Then, in verse 6, the Lord tells Moses “And I have a work for thee, Moses, my son.”
That is true for each individual in this life, Elder Godoy said. Before this life, faithful men and women were each given assignments and tasks to perform. “We agreed to do or to achieve, to become or to do something,” Elder Godoy taught.
So how does an individual know if they are fulfilling his or her purpose in this life? The answer is to continue on the covenant path. “Then the opportunities will appear in our path in a natural way. Just keep pushing forward, doing the small right things, follow the prophet and you will get there,” Elder Godoy said.
2. The Right Purpose Will Bring the Right Blessings
The second lesson he learned along his educational journey was that the right purpose will bring the right blessings. “Why are you doing what you are doing?” Elder Godoy asked listeners, and shared the counsel found in Jacob 2:18–19.
“But before ye seek for riches, seek ye for the kingdom of God. And after ye have obtained a hope in Christ ye shall obtain riches, if ye seek them; and ye will seek them for the intent to do good — to clothe the naked, and to feed the hungry, and to liberate the captive, and administer relief to the sick and the afflicted.”
If individuals can ask Heavenly Father for success, to be a better instrument in His hands and to develop talents all for the purpose of sharing with and blessing others, then that is a higher purpose, Elder Godoy said. “And if you have a higher purpose, then you have higher blessings.”
3. Anything Is Possible with the Lord’s Help
The third thing he has learned is that with the Lord’s help, anything is possible. Quoting Elder David A. Bednar of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, Elder Godoy explained that the purpose of the gospel of Jesus Christ is to make bad men good and good men better.
There is a power available through the Atonement of Jesus Christ that can enable individuals to do and become more than they could on their own. Individuals can have goals and work really hard but to successfully complete their mortal journey, they must come to rely on the merits and mercy and grace of the Savior, Elder Godoy taught.
“That is, I think, the story of my life.”
Elder Godoy said he wouldn’t have been able to accomplish all that he needed in his life, including his education, without the power available through the Savior’s Atonement. “I know this power is real because I am weak. I know I cannot do it by myself. There is a power that can help us to be clean from our sins, but even more, to achieve things that we [wouldn’t] be able to do without the Lord Jesus Christ.”
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