1954-08-11 — American librarian Fred Schechter arrived in South Africa by way of Djibouti, Nairobi and Addis Ababa. During his time in South Africa he assisted in the preparations for the election of the Regional Spiritual Assembly which was held at the Sears farm.
In 1958 he and Bill Sears Jr travelled to Uruguay, arriving in 1959. they participated in a campaign to raise up the second Local Spiritual Assembly in the country with Julia Bulling, a pioneer fro Chile. In 1960 Fred and Julia were married.
They were sent to the Dominican Republic in preparation for the election of the first National Spiritual Assembly but were diverted to Ecuador prior to the first elections in that country because Covenant issues had arisen. Their first son was born there.
A few months later the Hands of the Cause requested that they move to Uruguay where they both served on the National Spiritual Assembly. Their second son was born in Uruguay.
In 1965 they had to move back to the USA because of economic conditions. Their daughter was born in the United States.
Fred served on the Auxiliary Board and the the Continental Board of Counsellors from 1993 to 1998 and was a Counsellor at the International Teaching Centre. [KoB50-57]