Elder Ulisses Soares, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, and his wife, Sister Rosana Soares, will be among the featured keynote speakers at this year’s free online RootsTech 2022, the world’s largest online family history conference, taking place March 3-5.
Elder and Sister Soares will be the main speakers at Family Discovery Day on March 5, a one-day event designed for members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to discover and celebrate their family heritage, FamilySearch announced Sunday in a news release.
Elder Soares, the first South American Latter-day Saint apostle, and his wife were both born in São Paulo. Part of their RootsTech message will originate from their homeland of Brazil, where they will both share family experiences on location.
“Family history isn’t all about the distant past,” Elder Soares said in the news release. “You can look to your own recent experiences and stories as it unfolds right here in the present. You can establish your own traditions. It is a combination of the past and the present that makes you uniquely you.”
Culture, heritage, traditions and life experiences help a person understand who they are, but it is only part of their identity, the apostle said.
“You cannot fully understand the breadth of who you are without understanding whose you are,” Elder Soares said. “Do you understand that you are literally a child of God? Have you discovered what that divine heritage means for you?”
Elder Soares invited followers to join him at Family Discovery Day in a social media post Sunday.
Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, also of the Quorum of the Twelve, and his wife, Sister Patricia Holland, were the keynote speakers at RootsTech Family Discovery Day in 2021. The Hollands took viewers on a virtual family history tour of St. George, Utah, their hometown.
RootsTech 2022 will follow the same online model as it did in 2021. The event will feature internationally diverse keynote speakers and a mix of on-demand, livestream and interactive sessions where participants can connect with each other, ask questions and learn from experts.
Other keynote speakers announced for RootsTech 2022 include actor Matthew Modine, French baker Apollonia Poilâne and Argentine singer and actor Diego Torres.
Register for RootsTech 2022 at rootstech.org.