The West Indies Mission: WIM Welcomes President and Sister Mehr

Wednesday, July 4, 2012

WIM Welcomes President and Sister Mehr

Incoming WIM President Daniel Stanley Mehr II and Sister Rebecca Olpin Mehr are no strangers to service in the Caribbean. Before their call to serve 3 years as the WIM's "first couple," President Mehr and his wife served as Caribbean Area Public Affairs missionaries.

"We are excited to serve the Lord again in the Caribbean. We love the people and are anxious to get started," states the President.

His history of service in the Church includes callings in several bishoprics, the stake high council, and as bishop of the Highland 23rd Ward in Salt Lake City.

The California native, and 3rd of four children in his family, served a mission in Argentina (1973-75), then studied business at BYU where he also played basketball as a freshman. He married Deborah Lucille Petersen and together they reared six children (four sons and two daughters) while he created several companies in his business career. She passed away in 2007 after a nearly 3-year battle with leukemia.

Rebecca Olpin, daughter of WIM missionaries Elder Jay and Sister Linda Olpin (Barbados), met and married Daniel Mehr the same year.

Sister Mehr was raised in New York and Maryland, served a mission in Bordeaux, France and graduated in computer science from BYU with a minor in music. From there, she worked as a marketing executive in the computer industry for such companies as Hewlett Packard, Novell and 3Com. She also served on the international Boards of Directors for the Bluetooth and USB industry standards. After 20 years, she left her high-tech career behind to work as Director of Audience Needs for Church History and for 8 years she also sang soprano in the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.

In a side note and in anticipation of the arrival of the new mission president on July 1, the mission office in Trinidad got a face lift including a fresh coat of paint, new carpeting and some new framed pictures. The general consensus among office missionaries is “Wow, what a change! It doesn't even look like the same place.”

1 comment:

*little miss giggles* said...: I need some help...I'm looking for my friend Elder Brent Rulon Bracken, he didn't leave his address, he did say he's in the West Indies Mission. I can't find any address anywhere from him. Is he in this mission? Is the address on the sidebar where I send it? If this isn't where he's serving sorry for asking. Thanks :); September 16, 2012 at 9:08 PM

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A Message to WIM Missionary Families

Sending and receiving mail – especially packages - is difficult, time-consuming and costly here in the Caribbean . . . and can take many weeks to reach the recipient!!!

Parents and others, with the best of intentions and love in their hearts, spend significant time and money to purchase, prepare and mail these packages. In some of our mission’s 12 countries, the package is then opened at the post office – after an hour or more of waiting in line. When the contents have been identified, taxes and/or duty fees are assessed which the missionaries are asked to pay out of their small amount of support funds.

After all this effort, these “care” packages are usually found to contain only a few small items and a whole lot of candy, all which can be purchased almost anywhere in the West Indies Mission.

We know you love your missionary and packages from home are a way to express that love, but most missionaries are just as excited about receiving small amounts of extra spending money on a personal Mastercard or Visa - provided and funded from time-to-time by loving parents as a way to purchase what the elder or sister may need in-country.

Of course, the most important gifts you can send your missionary are frequent handwritten letters – including photos - expressing your love and support of their efforts to “bring souls unto Christ!”

Thanks for your understanding in this matter, Parents. We love your missionary!!!