Elder Carlos A. Godoy

In the late 1980s, Elder Carlos A. Godoy had just been released as bishop. He had also graduated from college, was working for a successful company, and thought life couldn’t get better—until an old friend came to visit.

That friend congratulated him but then asked a question that left him unsettled: “If you continue to live as you are living, will the blessings promised in your patriarchal blessing be fulfilled?”

Elder Godoy realized that he needed to make changes if he wanted to receive all his promised blessings. Despite his contentment, he decided to pursue a master’s degree. He quit his job, sold everything he owned, and, with his family, left the familiarity of Brazil to attend school in the United States.

Elder Godoy, named to the Presidency of the Seventy on March 31, 2018, said this experience taught him a lot about trusting in the Lord’s plan and being willing to leave his comfort zone.

“I know that the Lord has a plan for us in this life,” he testified in the October 2014 general conference. “He knows us. He knows what is best for us. Just because things are going well does not mean that we should not from time to time consider whether there might be something better.”

Elder Godoy was sustained as a General Authority Seventy on April 5, 2008. He is serving as President of the South America Northwest Area and will take his place in the Presidency of the Seventy on August 1, 2018.

Prior to his call to the Seventy, Elder Godoy worked as a human resources manager for two major corporations before starting his own consulting company. He received a bachelor’s degree in economics and political science from São Paulo Pontifical Catholic University in 1987 and a master’s degree in organizational behavior from Brigham Young University in 1994.

Elder Godoy has served as a full-time missionary in the Brazil São Paulo South Mission, bishop, high councilor, regional welfare agent, Area Seventy, and president of the Brazil Belém Mission.

He was born in Porto Alegre, Brazil, on February 4, 1961. He married Mônica Soares Brandao in March 1984, and they have four children.