Elder Soares Encourages Caribbean Latter-day Saints to Focus Lives on the Savior

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By Trent Toone, Church News

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.”

The Savior is the only one who can promise that light and courage to all because He is the source of all light in one’s life, taught Elder Soares.

Elder Soares told the personal experience during a Caribbean Area devotional on Wednesday, November 8, with Latter-day Saints assembled in a meetinghouse in St. John’s, the capital of Antigua and Barbuda. 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. The devotional was broadcast in English and French.

Elder Soares was accompanied by Elder S. Mark Palmer, a member of the Presidency of the Seventy, and his wife, Sister Jacqueline Palmer; and Elder Valeri V. Cordón, a General Authority Seventy who serves as First Counselor in the Church’s Caribbean Area Presidency, and his wife, Sister Glenda Cordón.

Focus on the Savior

Focusing on the Savior brings strength and courage, Elder Soares taught.

The Apostle told about a friend who is experiencing a serious illness, and the prognosis is not positive. But the friend was not troubled by these prospects.

The member told Elder Soares that she feels peace in her heart and that the Lord has been very kind to her and her family. This friend also told Elder Soares that she feels the presence of the Savior in her life. Elder Soares told the congregation that the only desire of his friend was to make sure that she was a brave and courageous disciple of the Savior and valiant in her testimony of Him.

This member’s faith and example demonstrate the result of focusing one’s life on Jesus Christ, Elder Soares said.

“Can you imagine the wonderful world we would live if everybody would decide to focus their life on the Savior and His teachings?” he said. “If each one of us invite others to come unto Christ through our own example, through our own light, we can help the world to become better, at least around us. ...

“I invite all of you, my dear brothers and sisters, to focus your life on the Savior. Become closer to Him. Make Him the focus of everything you say, you do, your actions or decisions. Let us allow Him to inspire us in every way, and I promise you, in His name, that His blessings will be upon us.”

In the New Testament, the apostle Paul described focusing on the Savior this way: “Stand fast in the Lord” (see Philippians 4:1), Elder Soares said.

“Standing fast in the Lord requires that we focus our thoughts, our feelings, our actions on the Savior. It is a challenge in our days to do that, especially in the world we are living,” he said. “But we can do that. If we focus our life on the Savior Jesus Christ, if we strive to be nearer to Him, we can receive the strength that we need to overcome our personal challenges, to go forward in life. We can become spiritually resilient, we can become stronger, even in the middle of the commotion of our world.”