The next branch overseer, Lorence A. Shepp, was still in Nicaragua. How did he get to Costa Rica?

Lorence had been in the full-time service since 1958 and had served in the circuit work in Canada and Alaska. When circuit overseers were invited to Brooklyn headquarters for a special Kingdom Ministry School, Brother Knorr asked if any were willing to accept an assignment as a missionary in a foreign country without attending Gilead School. Brother Shepp accepted the invitation. He was assigned to Nicaragua in 1961, where he married Juana Olimpia Guinart, a Cuban and a graduate of the 22nd class of Gilead. This was her third assignment, since she had already served as a missionary in Honduras and Mexico.

After Brother Shepp later attended a ten-month Gilead School, he and Olimpia packed their bags for their new assignment, El Salvador. First they decided to take a vacation in Costa Rica and immediately fell in love with that place. Little did they know that a letter changing their assignment to Costa Rica was already in the mail.

The Shepps arrived in September 1966, and at the international assembly in December of that year, Brother Knorr announced that Brother Shepp was appointed as branch overseer. At present he is the Branch Committee coordinator.

[Picture on page 233]

Lorence Shepp, who has served as Branch Committee coordinator since 1966, with his wife, Olimpia