The Joys of Being a Treasurer

We are currently in Albania and in the next phase of ministry- which is a month of ATL (Ask The Lord). ATL means that as small teams, we are going to different places in Albania and being guided by the Holy Spirit as ministry takes place. We will have no ministry hosts for this month but could build new connections along the way if God opens that door. Please be lifting this up in prayer. Today, I wanted to post about life on the field as a treasurer.

Ahh… being a treasurer. It’s fun- isn’t it? Perhaps a few of the World Racers and alumni can attest to that. And to those who are reading this- here is a simple yet to the point job description of getting to handle money on the trip. A lot of it comes from experiences from just the first month. Enjoy!

Each team of 4-5 people has their own treasurer to help manage their finances while in each country. Treasurers were trained at Launch by using fake currency (Beka Bucks and Chris Cash)- named after Adventures In Missions extraordinares Beka Hardy and Chris Scott. I do not know where else this currency works, but I was able to buy some food with it. That’s nice! Maybe there is some exchange place to change it into US Dollars? I am still trying to find that one…

Upon arriving in a country (or after being released from quarantine like me)- we get to visit the magical money machine in the wall (aka the ATM). Just stick the treasury card in there and out comes colorful bills. Wallah! That is until that machine refuses the card after trying a bunch of times- or completely eating it altogether and never giving it back (I have heard horror stories about this). We have not figured out how to plant money trees yet but this is the next best thing. It’s sometimes a skill to maintain composure and sanity when the ATM in a foreign country messes up (especially if there are no others around).

From there, we give out the money to our team mates for meals and other things. Because of this, I have a new nickname- “Sugar Daddy”. As the team’s Sugar Daddy, I get to give money regularly like it’s Christmas over and over again. What fun! But in order to do that, I have to walk back from the ATM with a purse full of cash. Thankfully I have fellow squad mates who serve as bodyguards and protect the precious cargo from really really bad stuff (like, you know..). I also get the treat of paying ministry hosts for lodging / other stuff and taking out large amounts of cash at the ATM to do that. We think that that causes some of the money machines to run out eventually. It’s all good- and I am confident that the money fairy (aka the bank) will take care of those ATMs eventually.

How much money do I give? This involves taking a life skills crash course called budgeting. Basically it’s just giving each person the allocated amount each day and we are good correct? Not so fast. There is this awesome group chat that blows up with random transactions from All Squad Month that each of us takes money out of the budget to account for. Some of these we do not find out until we have already given out the budgeted money. But ultimately, it all works out in the end. Some of these transactions are from grocery runs that produce receipts that are so long that they make good scarfs (after wrapping the receipt around my neck- perhaps it’s a new fashion item?).

My budgets are kept on a spreadsheet on my phone, and I use my phone for all of the treasury duties. I used to have an iPad, but it was left behind in France. After filling out a missing item form, the French authorities were able to locate the device and ship it back to my parent’s house in the US. It came with a hefty fee of 207 Euro. Ouch. I do believe that God used that to reduce the presence of screens on my Race, which I am thankful for. 

One of the special occasions is getting to figure out why certain things (like the food ordering app Glovo) refuse the treasury card. This results in a phone call with Bank of America (which charges a fee to make that call) to explain what does and does not work with the card. Getting the card unsuspended is also a good time. It involved listening to a robot telling me declined ATM withdrawals that I attempted with each exact amount- that they flagged due to “suspicious activity”. I could not help but laugh. Perhaps I need to be a little less suspicious? Will being in Albania help?

Finally, we get to submit reports monthly on the app known as Gorilla Expense. When the app works, it is great. When it does not work- not so much. It turned out that it did not download correctly in the US, and I had to uninstall it and reload it in Romania. It worked a lot better after that. As treasurers, we get to use a special T-Mobile device that I called “Da Box” that boosts extra wifi to upload Gorilla expense reports. To do the gorilla reports, we write our expenses in yellow receipt books and try to match all of the transactions that happened over the month involving the treasury money. Picture me sitting with piles of receipts and a notebook next to me while looking at a ripped stub of white paper that used to be a Glovo receipt- trying to figure where in the world it all came from. A lot of us treasurers remember those hair-pulling late night experiences fondly. Especially when it comes to tabulating 5 and 6 way split receipts. We also got to do a lot of math- especially when dividing expenses for certain people. However, math is fun.

Does being a treasurer sound like a crazy ridiculous job? That’s because it is on the World Race. And I am sure that many fun moments will happen over the next few months. But in all honesty, it has been terrific to serve the Lord and my team in this way. It has taught a lot about financial management, and I look forward to seeing how God will continue to use this role in the future. It has also illustrated that one can serve God in multiple ways- and that crunching money, Dollars, Euro, Lei, Lek, and who knows what is also doing ministry. And it keeps things orderly regarding the Squad finances as well.

/////

Stay tuned for more updates from life on the field. To be continued!