“Seven Presiding Bishopric Area Supervisors Named,” Ensign, June 1977, 92
Seven Presiding Bishopric Area Supervisors Named
Seven new Presiding Bishopric area supervisors have been called to serve in South America, Europe, Britain, Australia, and New Zealand.
The first such assignments were made in December 1976, when W. Gordon Christensen was called to serve in Mexico and Central America and Merrill R. Petty was called to serve the Great Britain and South Africa areas. (See Ensign, April 1977, p. 95.)
Brother Petty is now on special assignment from the Presiding Bishopric to the South Pacific for a few months. John H. Cox, former president of the London England Stake, succeeds him as Presiding Bishopric area supervisor. Brother Cox will reside in Birmingham and serve the British Isles and South Africa. He is also serving as a Regional Representative of the Twelve. Brother Cox previously worked for British Airways as an aeronautical engineer.
Serving as Presiding Bishopric area supervisor for Continental Europe is Peter Mourik, currently patriarch of the Kaiserslautern Germany Servicemen Stake. Brother Mourik, who speaks five European languages, was formerly employed as the European representative of the Church Real Estate Department. He will reside in Frankfurt, Germany, and be responsible for the area that stretches from Scandinavia in the north to the Mediterranean in the south.
Allen E. Litster, formerly manager of Church Translation Services in Salt Lake City, now resides in Quito, Ecuador, as Presiding Bishopric area supervisor for the Andes or South America West Area, which includes Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela. Brother Litster has served as president of the Andes Mission and as a Regional Representative. He is presently serving as a Regional Representative for the Ecuador and Cali Colombia regions.
Osiris G. Cabral of São Paulo, Brazil, a 1958 convert to the Church who has spent the last three years as South American Area Manager for Church Distribution and Translation Services, is now serving as Presiding Bishopric area supervisor for Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay. He also serves as a Regional Representative of the Twelve in Brazil and Uruguay. Brother Cabral is a native of Brazil.
Ronald L. Loveland, a native of Boise, Idaho, now serves as Presiding Bishopric area supervisor in Chile and Argentina. In previous Church assignments, Brother Loveland served as president of the Texas San Antonio Mission from 1973 to 1976 and served in a stake presidency and three bishoprics. He has also been recently called as a Regional Representative of the Twelve. Brother Loveland, a plumbing contractor, was released as bishop of the Boise Twenty-second Ward to accept this assignment.
On the opposite side of the world, Peter C. Jillings of Auckland, New Zealand, who joined the Church in 1963, has been assigned as Presiding Bishopric area supervisor for New Zealand and Australia. Brother Jillings, born in Vancouver, British Columbia, also serves as the Regional Representative of the Twelve for New Zealand. He was formerly employed by the Church Real Estate Department and, prior to that, by the Ministry of Works Department of the New Zealand government.
The seventh new Presiding Bishopric area supervisor is Arthur K. Nishimoto of Tokyo, Japan. Also recently called as a Regional Representative of the Twelve, Brother Nishimoto will serve in the Japan, Korea, and Southeast Asia area. He formerly served as president of the Japan Fukuoka Mission, from 1973 to 1976, and worked as Asian Area Maintenance Supervisor of the Operations and Maintenance Division. Brother Nishimoto is a retired colonel in the U.S. Army.
All these area supervisors will be responsible for administering matters pertaining to real estate, building construction, operations and maintenance, finances, clerk services, translation and distribution, and purchasing.