The turning point in Dallas N. Archibald's spiritual life came just before he left his teens. Helping him make that turn was his bishop, who later became one of his predecessors in the Second Quorum of the Seventy.

"When I was 19, my parents moved from one end of Ogden [UtahT to another end," reflected Elder Archibald, 53, whose calling to the Second Quorum of the Seventy was announced in the June 6 issue of the Church News. "I found it difficult as a young man to attend my new ward. I attended meetings around town with friends, but was not really participating in the activities of my home ward, in which I was classified as inactive."On the first day of January 1958, as I was busy reviewing the past year and looking ahead to the new year, I listed as one of my resolutions to attend the new ward in which I was living. As I went to priesthood meeting the next Sunday morning, I was met by Bishop Keith W. Wilcox [who served in the Second Quorum of the Seventy from 1984-89T. He was a bishop who was in the right place at the right time, doing what he was supposed to do - teaching the priests. After the meeting, he asked if he could talk with me a few minutes. I was 191/2. At that time, mission calls were issued when young men were 20. After we had talked a little, he said, `Let's prepare you for a mission when you turn 20.' When I left his office, I was not quite sure what had happened. But the Spirit began to touch me."

The next Sunday, he asked his bishop to help prepare him to go on a mission. Within six months, Elder Archibald received his mission call to Uruguay.

"That experience marked the complete change in my life, and gave me the foundation, the knowledge and the testimony that I needed to grow and develop as the Lord wanted," Elder Archibald reflected. "I had the advantage of being born of goodly parents who live the gospel. They brought me up in correct ways and taught me proper values. From my father [Ezra Wilson ArchibaldT, I learned the real value of work. For more than 25 years, Dad's alarm clock was set at 3:30 a.m. He was a delivery man, working on a bread truck until late at night, six days a week.

"When I was contemplating going on a mission, I asked my mother [Marguerite Neilsen ArchibaldT if she and Dad would support me. Her reply was immediate: `Son, you know your Dad and I will do anything to support you on a mission.' "

After completing his mission, Elder Archibald served in the U.S. Coast Guard from 1961-1965. He was an LDS servicemen's group leader and directed the Coast Guard recruit band at Alameda, Calif.

During his second year in the Coast Guard, on June 14, 1962, he married Linda Ritchie in the Salt Lake Temple.

When he completed his Coast Guard tour of duty, he returned to Utah, intending to get a degree in music and teach in that field. He had played the trombone through high school and college.

Diverted from music, Elder Archibald pursued a degree in Spanish instead. After he received a bachelor's degree from Weber State College in 1966, he earned another degree from the American Institute of Foreign Trade, in Glendale, Ariz., in 1967, and a master's degree in 1970 from Thunderbird Graduate School of International Management in Phoenix, Ariz.

After working three years for Hallmark Cards, he began working in 1971 with NHC Corp., an international industrial chemical company. He is a group vice president with the company and has responsibility for nine companies in Brazil and two in Chile.

His business career has taken Elder and Sister Archibald, parents of one daughter, Teri, to live in the Philippines, Japan, South Africa, Canada, Puerto Rico, Mexico, Venezuela and, at present, Brazil. In the United States, they have lived in Utah, California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas. They lived in Spain when he served as president of the Spain Seville Mission from 1979-82.

Sister Archibald, a 1976 graduate of the University of Texas and a self-employed speech therapist since 1984, said living in so many different countries has given her family a more realistic perspective on different cultures and the way people perceive the world around them.

"The Church has become our family wherever we've lived," she noted. "I've often wondered what others do who don't have the gospel."

Her family's international experiences, she said, have taught her patience. "I've found out if you can just hang in there long enough things will always work out," she reflected. She shared a few tips for living away from one's home country: "Don't compare. Don't say something doesn't taste as good as it does back home, or that you do things differently at home. Always look for the good things. Just take everything as a new experience in a different place."

In all the places they have resided, Elder and Sister Archibald have shared testimonies, skills and talents to help build and enrich the Church. She is gospel doctrine teacher in the International Branch, Tabaoa Brazil Stake. She was stake Relief Society president in the Sao Paulo Brazil Santo Amaro Stake, and has served in the Relief Society, Young Women, and in various Church positions in each place she and her husband have resided.

At the time he was called to the Seventy, Elder Archibald held multiple callings in the Church. (Please see box on this page.)

In addition to his native English, he is fluent in Spanish and Portuguese. Sister Archibald is fluent in Portuguese, and once was fluent in Spanish.

Just after he was set apart as a new member of the Second Quorum of the Seventy on June 19, Elder Archibald became tearful as he recalled a scripture that impressed him as a young missionary. "In the 29th chapter of Alma, the counsel is very clear that it's not necessary to strive for or `desire more than to perform the work to which I have been called.' (Alma 29:6.)

"The Lord knows our needs, and will give to us in accordance to what we desire, but our desire should be to do that to which we have been called today. That scripture has been a source of strength to me as I have accepted Church callings over the years, and has helped me to realize that when I am called to serve, it doesn't matter where, but how."

He added, "Early one morning a few weeks ago, I came upon Mosiah 18:12, when Alma was ready to baptize Helam. I spent over an hour meditating upon the words: `O Lord, pour out thy Spirit upon thy servant, that he may do this work with holiness of heart.'

"I had such a strong feeling that whatever work I was called to do, I needed to be sure it was done with holiness of heart."

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(Additional information)

Elder Dallas N. Archibald

- Family: Born in Logan, Utah, July 24, 1938, to Ezra Wilson and Marguerite Neilsen Archibald, the second of three sons; married married Linda Ritchie in the Salt Lake Temple on June 14, 1962; one daughter, Terri, 13.

- Education: Bachelor's degrees from Weber State College and American Institute of Foreign Trade, and master's degree from Thunderbird Graduate School of International Management.

- Employment: Group vice president with NHC Corp, an international industrial chemical company.

- Church service: At time called to the Seventy, he was serving on Sao Paulo Brazil Taboao Stake high council, and as Young Men president in the International Branch, branch mission leader, Sunday School teacher, and activities committee chairman. Also, he was working with the Young Men and Young Women programs with the Brazil Area presidency, and was Church representative to the Boy Scout Council of Brazil.

Previously served as regional representative in Brazil, 1983-91; president of the Spain Seville Mission, 1979-82; and bishop of the Lomas Ward, Tacubaya Mexico Stake.