The Cost of Serving a Mission

When thinking about the cost of serving a mission, people usually just consider the costs while in the mission field and these vary quite a bit. US missions are generally around $2000, while foreign missions can range from only $750 per month to close to $3,000. Johannesburg is estimates to be about $2500 per month, which doesn’t seem too bad since it covers everything including housing, utilities, food, personal items and transportation. There is also an additional cost for insurance, but it is only $180 a month—much less than other policies. 

Even before you start paying the real mission expenses, though, there is a good amount of expense in the preparation. We have spent approximately $2500 so far on such things as mailing  the FBI clearance requests, clothes, suggested medicines, and especially immunizations. We both needed a number of different shots and some were expensive so we’ve spent well over a thousand dollars on those. We’re happy to spend it though and feel blessed that we have the means to prepare and to serve.