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Show A Missionary Life: A Dream Realized Church News Staff Writer BY DAVID CROFT Ever since my release as a mission president. I've said: If I could just spend the rest of my life in missionary service, that would be my dream come true. That dream has now come true for Elder Carlos K. Asay, newly called member of the First Quorum of the Seventy. Before his call. Elder Asay said, Ive always felt, well, that cant occur; I just dont see how that can possibly happen. Then one day, while he was in his office on the 18th floor of the Church Office Building, where he is administrative assistant to the Presiding Bishopric, Elder Asay received a telephone call from D. Arthur Haycock, personal secretary' to President Spencer V. Kimball. I was called up to the office to talk with President Kimball and Elder (Thomas S.) Munson alxiut some missionary work, he said. That was on a Thursday afternoon, as I recall, and I chatted with them for a while. Now, wasnt to dont misunderstand me; it back and play for the New York Yankees or anything, but it was an offer to become affiliated with a farm team. There might have been some prosKH t in that. But anyway," he said, late in the summer, before 1 was to go back to school, my mission call caine. So I had a decision to make do I go and run the risk of not doing anything more in athletics, or do I just say goodbye to the mission call and do what people wanted me to do." He said, "I had a very strong feeling, and there really wasn't a debate in my own mind; I just knew I had to go on a mission. I wanted to go." go Elder Asay went on his mission and, although I did come back and compete al the university for three years after my return, and I did letter four years at the university in basketball, that really w asnt important to me like it had been liefore. It was important, but where before it might have been number one, it was number two afterwards. They asked me several questions about missionary work and excused me, and I came back to my office and wondered, well, what was that all about? The next day, Elder Asay was asked to return to President Kimballs office. I went up and he issued the call, he I just have a feeling, and Ive always had that feeling, that if the call comes, you take it. If the Lord asks you to serve a mission, you do it, regardless of the circumstances." When Elder Asay arrived in the Palestine-SyriaMission, there were some interesting circumstances. Accepting the call, Elder Asay was invited to go and talk it over with his wife, Colleen, and return the following Tuesday, which he did. I just didnt expect this sort of thing," he said. I just felt its impossible and my wife was much the same way, very surprised and humbled by years or so," he said. You see, this was just after the war, and they decided to reopen the mission. said. it." lie said, It looks like missionary work is going to be my life. Its humbling; its awesome, but Im just so thrilled. Im looking forward to any kind of contribution I can make. Experiences in his life have prepared Elder Asay to give a significant contribution. He graduated from high school while World War II was in progress. So at 18 I was a draftee, he said. Two years later I got out of the service, so I enrolled at the University of Utah. At that particular time there were so many veterans coming back that they allowed freshmen to participate; that is, they didnt have a freshman team and a varsity team; you could play four years." As a freshman he made the basket-lial- l squad. Now, that was the year they won the national invitational and they had great men like Wat Misaka, Amie Perrin, Vem Gardner and so on. As a freshman I was their sixth man; I did a lot of playing. And so when that year was over, my athletic career just seemed to be opening up. It just seemed to be great, and I had also received an offer for a professional baseball contract, he said. n The mission had been closed for The mission ' - UMBI n MiMniriintra Elder Carlos Asay and his wife Colleen are pleased and humbled by his call to the First Quorum of the Seventy. imimir m Pho, bv Davld Con,ey 10 president was Piranian. He was an Armenian living in Switzerland. My companion and I were the first elders called and we went over there alone, he said. In fact, when we set foot on the soil over there, we didnt know where our mission president was, except that he was likely in Lebanon. We disembarked at Haifa, Palestine, and it took us three days to find him. We were one day in Haifa, a day in Beirut, and we didnt find him until that Bad-wago- n following day. The entire mission force was the mission president and his wife and two elders, for the first part It was several months later that additional missionaries began arriving, he noted. Our first task was to find the members and reorganize things, and to that was a very interesting thing fish around and relocate the folks and organize the branches and get them on their feet. That was a very, very unique and exciting experience. We did get a branch on its feet in Beirut and one in Aleppo, Syria. Once we got them located and going, there were about 100 members in each branch. After returning to the university and completing his degree, Elder Asay at Olympus became a teache.-coac- h High School in Salt Lake City. Three years later he went to California to do graduate work, and three years after that he returned to Salt Lake as a supervisor in the Granite School District. After several years there he became assistant superintendent for Jordan School District in Salt Lake. While there, Brigham Young University invited him to be chairman of its secondary education department. He was there only a year when he was called to be president of the Texas North Mission. I three years in Texas, came back to the BYU for another year, and then they asked me to go over to the Hawaii campus," he said. After a year at the Campus, the Presiding Bishopric asked him to join their staff as administrative assistant. s BYU-Hawa- As ii they expressed it, it was a professional opportunity," Elder Asay recalled. His acceptance of the job indicates his willingness to do w hatever is asked of him. The Presiding Bishopric called Elder Asay in for an interview during conference. This was about a year ago. They indicated to me that they were interviewing several people, that they were looking for this executive assistant and that I had been one of the candidates. They wanted to meet me and get acquainted. He said, They wanted me to think about it in the event that I might be selected. Now, I didnt give it much thought because I wasnt interested in leaving Hawaii at all and I was very pleased with what I was doing. So, about two, or three days later. they called me in again and, in that interview, they invited me to take the job. When Bishop Brown extended it to me, ho said, This is not a call; this is a professional opportunity for you, but we have fasted and prayed about it and youre our man. As far as I was concerned, said when the Presiding Elder Asay, Bishop of the Church said, Weve prayed about it and youre oui man, that was the end of the matter as far as I was concerned. As Elder Asay recovered from the surprise at being called as a member of the First Quorum of the Seventy, he and his wife decided to talk to their children about Church organization. There are five boys and two girls in the Asay family, including a married daughter. Selecting a family home evening. Elder Asay said, We got our chalk board out and we sketched on it and tried to explain to them what it meant in the hierarchy of the Church, and what my responsibilities might be and how I fitted in with all of the rest. One of my boys said, Well, Dad, how are we supposed to act. And it just thrilled me and pleased me to be able to say, You just act as you are. You dont have to change a bit. And I meant that honestly, Elder Asay said. Oh, I dont think theyre going to be translated or anything like that, but they have just been supportive and just good kids. And thats largely a tribute to their mother." , V. . WEEK ENDING APRIL 17, 1976 CHURCH 5 |