brandonandkatie.com

Modern mission work is a lot easier than it used to be in many ways. Traveling around the world only takes a day or so and communication is not just easy but can be free too. Gone are the days a missionary has to feel completely alone and isolated on their field. Though these modern conveniences can hinder the work when used improperly, they are, overall, welcome conveniences to the mission worker.

However, with the passing of time, some things have gotten more complicated. Case and point: Taxes. Yesterday Katie and I spent over three hours working on budget things for our work in Kharkov and trying to wrap our minds around our financial needs and responsibilities. I assume most people think you just need to raise the amount of money it costs the average person to live on in the country you’re going to, but it’s not that simple. Not by far.

As an American, we’ll be paying out-of-country insurance and life insurance. (Oh, and in-country insurance so we can register to live there.) We’ll need to save for furloughs home. We’ll need to save for our visa renewal trips out of the country every year. And what counts as work fund, and what doesn’t? And how do we easily keep track of all this in a nation that isn’t fond of using receipts? (Oh, and how does a fluctuating exchange rate fit it when converting our expenses back into dollars?) And since we’ll not have to pay income tax because of living overseas, we won’t be able to contribute to our Roth IRA anymore, meaning we’ll need to figure something else out in the area of saving for retirement.

So, no, being a missionary is not a cushy job where people just send you money every month and you go spend it without a care in the world.