LISBON, Portugal — In March 2000, Church leaders announced that 41-year-old Ulisses Soares and his wife would serve as the incoming mission leaders of the Portugal Porto Mission. He and his wife, Rosana Soares, had three young children and anticipated the new role would come with its share of challenges for the entire family.

There were new schools, new wards, new friends, new homes, new foods, and new customs to adopt.

The home where Elder Ulisses Soares and Sister Rosana Soares resided during their time as mission leaders in Porto, Portugal.

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Returning to Portugal two decades later, in September 2022, gave Elder Soares, now a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, the chance to reflect on how much has changed since that calling for his family.

“Returning here after so many years, it has been a blessing and a tender mercy of the Lord for my wife and I,” Elder Soares said.

Elder Ulisses Soares of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles smiles during an interview in Lisbon, Portugal, on Sept. 11, 2022.

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Prior to his call to serve in Portugal as a mission leader, Elder Soares said many general authorities made “marvelous promises” to the members in the country.

“These promises included that Portugal would become a lighthouse of Europe,” he said. 

Marvel of becoming a lighthouse

The symbolism of the lighthouse also became an important part of Elder Soares’ teachings to the missionaries he served with. 

“‘Become a lighthouse’ is becoming a place where people can see the gospel, being strong and being an example to the world, and inviting people to come unto Christ,” he said. 

A lighthouse on the coast of Portugal near the city of Porto where Elder Ulisses Soares and his wife, Sister Rosana Soares, served as mission leaders from 2000 to 2003.

A Igreja de Jesus Cristo dos Santos dos Últimos Dias

When missionaries in his mission first arrived in Portugal, Elder Soares took them to a lighthouse near the mission home and explained its purpose in protecting incoming ships from crashing against the rocks.  

He said he encouraged missionaries to ignite their own protecting flames in their personal lighthouses and then share that flame with others so they could also become lighthouses to those along the shore where they would preach the gospel during their missions. For those who were at the end of their mission, Elder Soares would remind them to “continue being a light to the world.”

“This was a very important part of my ministry,” he said. 

Sister Rosana Soares smiles during an interview on the Lisbon Portugal Temple grounds on Sept. 9, 2022.

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Marvel of overcoming challenges

Sister Soares marveled at four things as she pondered in her return to Portugal. 

The first related to her anticipation of the difficulties her children might experience by moving to Portugal. 

“In the beginning, I thought that it would be a challenge because I had young children — a daughter who was 5, another who was 9, and a son who was 13,” she said. “But I found it to be marvelous because my children gave of themselves, as well. They loved being here and loved the people, the other children at school, the children at church.”

Elder Soares said his children left school, friends and family when they moved to Portugal. And after time, he said, “they found friendship … they found love, they found family here. It was beautiful to see the transition.”

Marvel of returning to an ancestral home

Second, Sister Soares said she felt the call to serve in the Portugal Porto Mission was a return to the homeland of both Elder Soares’ and her families. 

“It was marvelous to be able to return because I also have Portuguese blood in my veins,” Sister Soares said. “The food they eat in Brazil, for example, is very similar to what they eat here because our parents, our grandparents and our great-grandparents had the same habits.”

The streets of Coimbra, Portugal, where Elder Ulisses Soares’ grandfather was raised.

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Elder Soares expressed his gratitude to his grandparents for their decision to leave Portugal because of the blessings that would come to him and that would become available to them by their moving to Brazil. 

“What a privilege, what an honor, what a blessing — especially in this land, in this special land, where our grandparents were born,” he said about being back in Portugal.

He said his family saw many miracles during their three years and four months of serving in Portugal. 

“One of those great miracles that happened was to find many names of our ancestry that were not available in the records of Brazil,” he said. 

Individuals outside of Elder Soares’ family helped with family history work as well, he said. 

Elder Soares shared the example of one person who asked about then-President Soares’ grandfather’s name. A few months later, that man shared the family history of hundreds of names that Elder Soares could not have accessed in Brazil. 

Having the names shared with his family was one blessing, but Elder Soares said members of the Church then took the next step of taking those names to the Madrid Spain Temple to do temple ordinances on behalf of those family members — most of whom lived 300-400 years ago. 

Marvel of knowing the gospel of Jesus Christ

Third, going to Portugal allowed the Soareses to take something back to that country that their ancestors didn’t have access to when they lived there — the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. 

“It was marvelous to be born in Brazil and be able to come to know the gospel in the same way as my husband,” Sister Soares said. “And after that, both of us had the opportunity to serve here in the land of our ancestors. That was perfect — as the Lord organized it.”

Elder Soares said his family learned about and joined the Church in Brazil in 1965, when he was only a child. If he had grown up in Portugal, the Church wouldn’t have been available to him until nearly a decade later, in 1974, when the preaching of the gospel was officially authorized there. 

In one of the meetings held during Elder Soares’ four-day ministry to some of Portugal’s 45,000 members of the Church, he shared his testimony of the Savior as an antidote to today’s troubles. 

“With all the worries, with all the challenges, with all the attacks of the adversary, how is it possible that we can survive all of this, overcome our challenges and be happy?” he asked. “Brothers and sisters, the Savior’s invitation to us is to turn our hearts to Him.”

Marvel of the temple

Fourth, both Elder and Sister Soares served missions in Brazil as young adults. They experienced the blessings — including their own sealing — of living near a temple and worshipping and making covenants there. Sister Soares said that was something the two of them would speak of frequently to their missionaries and the members. 

The Lisbon Portugal Temple, pictured on Sept. 9, 2022.

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“Seeing the temple is a miracle. Seeing the growth of the Church is a miracle,” Elder Soares said. 

Being on the temple grounds a week away from the third anniversary of the dedication of the Lisbon Portugal Temple filled Sister Soares with great emotion. 

Those who visit the temple grounds feel “the power of this marvelous gospel,” she said. “I hope all the people really will be able to come and feel the power of the Lord.”

Elder Soares said his feelings toward Portugal are stronger and deeper in his heart today. 

“I am so grateful for the privilege to be here,” he said. “Portugal is a sacred ground for me and for my wife.”