Elder Ulisses Soares of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and his wife, Sister Rosana Soares, will be the featured keynote speakers at RootsTech 2022 Family Discovery Day on March 5, the Church announced on Sunday, Jan. 23.
Family Discovery Day is a one-day event during the three-day family history conference designed to help Latter-day Saints discovery and celebrate their family heritage. RootsTech is being held entirely online for the second consecutive year and is free to the public.
Part of the Soareses’ message will originate from their homeland of Brazil. Both Elder and Sister Soares were born in São Paulo, Brazil’s largest city, and will share their family experiences.
“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 or history 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.”
On Facebook, Instagram and Twitter on Sunday, Elder and Sister Soares shared a video from Brazil inviting his social media followers to join them for Family Discovery Day, which will be broadcast on ChurchofJesusChrist.org.
“We hope you enjoy it and learn more about the importance of your family heritage and who you are: sons and daughters of our beloved Heavenly Father,” Elder Soares said in the video.
During RootsTech Family Discovery Day in 2021, Elder Jeffrey R. Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and his wife, Sister Patricia Holland, took viewers on a virtual visit to their hometown of St. George, Utah. As they encouraged viewers to stay connected to family and the scenes that “provided the backdrop” for their lives, they also emphasized connection to God as the most important connection of all.
RootsTech 2022 will follow the same virtual model as the 2021 event, with 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.
Three keynote speakers have been announced so far: Argentine singer and actor Diego Torres, actor Matthew Modine and French baker Apollonia Poilâne.
Register for RootsTech 2022 at rootstech.org.
