Missionary Fund withdrawl and time of service

Hi All,
I have looked through this forum and did not find anything related to the questiong posed to me by a missionary family today. Their missionary was to return in early September (5th) but for some reason the timing is such that she will not return until late September (23rd). Is the family/missionary expected to be charged another month of expenses? The same situation occurs when missionaries come home early.
I have been told that for a full-time elder they need to make 24 $400 payments (18 for a Sister). Can someone either confirm or correct my statement?

Thanks!

Jeff Papke
Meridian Idaho North Stake Clerk.

jpapke wrote:Hi All,
I have looked through this forum and did not find anything related to the questiong posed to me by a missionary family today. Their missionary was to return in early September (5th) but for some reason the timing is such that she will not return until late September (23rd). Is the family/missionary expected to be charged another month of expenses? The same situation occurs when missionaries come home early.
I have been told that for a full-time elder they need to make 24 $400 payments (18 for a Sister). Can someone either confirm or correct my statement?

Thanks!

Jeff Papke
Meridian Idaho North Stake Clerk.

This thread on Missionary Finance Tips may be helpful:

http://tech.lds.org/forum/showthread.php?t=3082

It describes a helpful schedule to put the family on so that payments line up with the actual service. It may have been more helpful at the beginning of missionary service, but perhaps there is a clue to your answer in that thread.

(In other words, I don't know the answer )

jpapke wrote:Hi All,
I have looked through this forum and did not find anything related to the questiong posed to me by a missionary family today. Their missionary was to return in early September (5th) but for some reason the timing is such that she will not return until late September (23rd). Is the family/missionary expected to be charged another month of expenses? The same situation occurs when missionaries come home early.
I have been told that for a full-time elder they need to make 24 $400 payments (18 for a Sister). Can someone either confirm or correct my statement?

Thanks!

Jeff Papke
Meridian Idaho North Stake Clerk.

Although I can't address myself directly to giving you an answer to your question, I would like to offer the following from our own experience.

Our son served on a full-time mission from 2003-2005. Prior to his mission I will admit that we were concerned regarding the cost of his mission and whether or not we would be able to meet the demands. I guess my faith was being tried a bit.

However, after 24 months had ended and we looked back on the blessings we had received, I would have been willing to keep him out another 24 months if he wanted to stay. We never missed the funds a bit and in fact, I will state for the record that I missed the blessings that we received more than the $$$ every month.

What council has the bishop of his ward given?

The math doesn't come out evenly for sister missionaries with the 6 week transfer schedule. If they stay out exactly 18 months, then they return 1/2 way through the last transfer. My daughter was instructed to discuss her plans to leave the transfer prior to or following her 18th month with her mission president.

We recently sent a sister missionary to the MTC on the 30th of a month. Because she was there for part of that month (one day), we were charged $400. In talking with HQ, I also found out that she would be returning (in 18 months or so) in the first week of a month and we would therefore be charged for that month as well.

From that, it would appear that your ward will be charged $400 for each month the missionary is out, even if it's only for one day of that month.

crislapi wrote:From that, it would appear that your ward will be charged $400 for each month the missionary is out, even if it's only for one day of that month.

The wards our sister missionaries serve from have been charged for 18 months, beginning with the month of the first day of service, whether they come home during the transfer just before or just after their term of service.

The wards our elders serve from have been charged for 24 months, beginning with the month of the first day of service.

lajackson wrote:The wards our sister missionaries serve from have been charged for 18 months, beginning with the month of the first day of service, whether they come home during the transfer just before or just after their term of service.

The wards our elders serve from have been charged for 24 months, beginning with the month of the first day of service.

Ah, the joys of clerk support. You never know what's really going to happen until it has happened! I'd take lajackson's actual experience over what I was told over the phone but have not yet fully experienced!

crislapi wrote:I'd take lajackson's actual experience over what I was told over the phone but have not yet fully experienced!

Well, thank you for the vote of confidence, but just because I said it doesn't mean it is so. It was my experience, but I also recall that the monthly ward financial report used to carry the payment number for a missionary (Elder Jones 17, Sister Smith 13).

Now, only the month of the payment is shown (Elder Jones, May Payment, Sister Smith, May Payment).

So what you were told over the phone may have some validity, although I really think it applies for extensions past the first "regular" transfer at the end of a mission.

And, if there has been a change in policy, the stake presidents and bishops have not yet been told about it. [grin]

The final month of the missionary's mission depends on their anniversary date (the date they entered the MTC). If they come home (regardless if they are elders or sisters) more than 15 days after their anniversary date, they will be charged for a 19th or 25th month.

I for example went into the MTC on May 2nd and was released on May 29th = 25 months of payments.

CzechRM wrote:The final month of the missionary's mission depends on their anniversary date (the date they entered the MTC). If they come home (regardless if they are elders or sisters) more than 15 days after their anniversary date, they will be charged for a 19th or 25th month.

I for example went into the MTC on May 2nd and was released on May 29th = 25 months of payments.

Does this mean that for a missionary who returns home more than 15 days before the anniversary date the ward will be charged one less month?

For an English-speaking (or any native speaking) missionary who spends three weeks in the MTC, the release date is either going to be 21 days after the anniversary, or 21 days before the anniversary, depending on which of the six-weeks transfer dates the mission president uses for the release.

That means an elder would either go for 23 or 25 payments, or a sister would go for 17 or 19 payments?

lajackson wrote:Does this mean that for a missionary who returns home more than 15 days before the anniversary date the ward will be charged one less month?

For an English-speaking (or any native speaking) missionary who spends three weeks in the MTC, the release date is either going to be 21 days after the anniversary, or 21 days before the anniversary, depending on which of the six-weeks transfer dates the mission president uses for the release.

That means an elder would either go for 23 or 25 payments, or a sister would go for 17 or 19 payments?

I'm not following your math. A 24-month mission is about 104 weeks (plus 2-3 days). 17 full transfers make 102 weeks, plus 3 weeks in the MTC makes 105 weeks. That is 24 months plus 4-5 days. If they spend 8-9 weeks in the MTC plus 16 full transfers, that's about the same. It's within a fraction of a week of exactly 24 months. There are a few languages for which the missionaries can spend 12 weeks in the MTC; that's rare, but would pose a challenge of being a month late or two weeks early.

For the sisters it doesn't work out quite as well, but of course that's far less common. An 18-month mission is about 78 weeks. 12 full transfers make 72 weeks, plus 3 or 8 weeks makes 75 or 80 weeks. So if they stay an whole number of transfers, they will leave earlier or later than 18 months. A 12-week MTC stay makes it work out perfectly. But in my experience, mission presidents are quite flexible with the sisters, and they may well leave in the middle of a transfer.

Alan_Brown wrote:I'm not following your math.

Your math is much better than mine. [grin] And I would never expect 23 or 17 to be the answer under normal circumstances.

I guess I am thinking of cases where a missionary is asked by the mission president if he or she would like to return one transfer earlier to get back into school. But, that would be a special case.

My son left for the MTC on July 12th. He will be returning home from his mission on August 10th. The end of June would have been his 24 months however, he extended a full transfer. I am aware that I am responsible for making the 25th payment for July. My question is this, do I also make a payment in August???? Everyone I seem to ask has no idea if I do not.

I'm not sure how the timing works out on this. In this situation, I would wait until he gets home and then have your ward clerk check to see whether an additional month of support funds is needed.

c1120107 wrote:My son left for the MTC on July 12th. He will be returning home from his mission on August 10th.

This should be 25 months. As scgallafent said, I would stop there and have your ward clerk let you know if another month is needed.