excess funds for returned missionary

Hi
we have a Senior couple who just completed their mission. I advised them a couple of times that they had paid for the remaining months of their mission but someone in the mission said differently and they believed this person and sent more $. End result is they have over $2,000 in their account and have returned from their mission. So.. what are their options? I know they can contribute to another missionary, but can they apply it to tithing or fast offering, or scouting, YW camp, etc.?

thanks
Gary Olsen
Peachtreee Corners Ward Clerk
Norcross, GA

olsengl wrote:but can they apply it to tithing or fast offering, or scouting, YW camp, etc.?

You can't transfer or refund. But you can re-classify a donation.

The funds can be placed in the general ward missionary subcategory, or applied to another missionary. They can also be reclassified as tithing for the person who made the donation, in place of that person's normal tithing payments. Ward missionary fund cannot be refunded.

I had this happen to the last two missionary couples we sent out. All I did was reclassify it to their tithing. You do this on the donation form where donated the missionary funds.

...and, just be sure that the donor knows exactly what happened. If the donation is reclassified then we wouldn't want the donor to misunderstand and end up overpaying tithing or some other category of donation.

mrrad wrote:...and, just be sure that the donor knows exactly what happened. If the donation is reclassified then we wouldn't want the donor to misunderstand and end up overpaying tithing or some other category of donation.

I always talk to the missionary couple and let them decide how to handle the excess funds. Sometimes they have me reclassify it to tithing and other times they just leave it in the ward missionary fund.

"end up overpaying tithing" Can you ever really "overpay" the Lord?

Seeing as how tithing is supposed to be ten percent then, yes, you can overpay. If you want to donate more then make it another category but I see no need to pay more than ten percent tithing. I think one of the responsibilities of the people who handle donations in MLS is to recognize when a donor makes an abnormal donation (...like the time a father didn't donate any tithing one month but his son's donor statement for that month showed the exact amount that the father usually donated). We're here to help these donors when they make a mistake (...or when the clerk makes a mistake and enters the father's donation under the son's name). A clerk should be a little curious about this information and not just figure that, once it's entered on Sunday, you never review it again until an audit.

waynecooke wrote:"end up overpaying tithing" Can you ever really "overpay" the Lord?

Of course not. I think a better phrase might have been "paying tithing in advance".

In any event, the key is to speak with the member. The missionary funds cannot be returned, but the member ought to be able to redirect the donation, and it is often helpful to give them some ideas, because they probably have never faced this situation before.

Just a short story. On my mission many years ago, we taught a older lady (she was 81) who lived on a fixed government pension (not in the US). She was really "Golden" and when we taught her the principle of Tithing, from that point on, she paid 20% "tithing" as she said she was "making up of all the years I didn't pay it".