April 28, 2025, 12:21pm MDT
Rexburg, Idaho – Just a week after Easter Sunday, Elder Urilesz Soares was the quorum of the 12 apostles of the Latter-day Saints’ Church of Jesus Christ, and tried to share his feelings about Jesus Christ and his sacrifice of his ad sin.
“I testify to Jesus as Christ, Savior of the World and the Great Healer of our souls. He knows that he is alive and that His love is eternal and real.
Thousands of students, faculty and other students in the campus community filled the auditorium at the BYU-I Centre for late afternoon prayer, which also includes comments from sister Rosana Soares.
In his speech, Elder Soares spoke of the deep blessings that emerged from his experience of the Savior’s love, and invited listeners to accept Christ’s invitation to “come to him” (Matthew 11:28).
“In a humble heart and as I will call you the Apostle of Jesus Christ on earth, I pray that you will drive away everything that will prevent you from feeling the love of our heavenly Father and his beloved son,” Elder Soares said.
Feel the love of the Savior
The sacrifice of Jesus Christ for aton sin was the ultimate expression of love for all God’s children, Elder Soares taught. “He suffered from these things, and took over the sins of the world to himself, thereby becoming our ultimate spiritual caregiver.”
Through this extraordinary act of love, Christ fulfilled the will of the Father, overcame both physical and spiritual death, offering eternal salvation possibilities to all God’s children.
But beyond the unparalleled gift of salvation, the Savior spreads his healing grace in moments of sorrow, trial, and weakness, Elder Soares continued.
Christ knows the adversity that an individual experiences, including physical, mental and emotional pain. “The Savior’s gut is full of mercy and he is always ready to take over us. In the quiet struggles of life, we not only provide redness, but also rest for our tired mind, the strength of our charming souls, and the comfort of our broken spirit,” Elder Soares said.
He felt that everything was overwhelmed by the challenges that life brings, or at some point, he pointed out. “We may be tired of our journey. We struggled to find joy in our times, lost hope and enthusiasm for living the gospel, experienced many kinds of disappointments and sorrows, or simply fulfilled the demands of life, and felt alone.”
But he and his wife walked the trial where the love of the Savior becomes their strength.
Come to him
During his deadly ministry the Savior said, “Come to me, and ye will give you rest, and I will bring my yoke to you, and I will learn about me.
In order to truly come to Christ, the individual must learn more about his life and the healing powers he offers, Elder Soares said.
Sister Soares shared the account that the resurrected Jesus was walking with his disciples walking along the road to Emmaus.
“Yeah, I hope to be on the same road to Emmaus and walk and worship with Jesus. I’m going to be so excited and ask a lot of questions,” Sister Soares said.
In a very realistic way, she said, individuals can be with Jesus as they hear what the Prophet is teaching him, read his words in the Bible, and invite him to become a part of their daily lives.
His arms are stretched out
In Elder Soares’s homeland in Brazil, he stands on the iconic statue of Christ and the Savior on the top of Mount Corcovado.
With his weapon stretched out, the portrayal of the Savior overlooks the city of Rio de Janeiro. On sunny days, you can see statues towering around town. However, you will need to go uphill to view the statue on a cloudy day.
“Oh, my friends, how true is this to our Savior, Jesus Christ,” Elder Soares said. “To come to him, discover his love, and truly know who he is is to demand that each of us rise and climb that mountain. The path to understanding his love, and the Savior and his is an individual with its own ups and downs, but this journey ultimately leads us to the purity, peace, perspective and purpose of our lives.”
He declared: “Remember, my friends, that the sacred space between the arms of the Savior is the size and shape of our broken hearts, our abused lives, our wounded souls, our weary hearts.
