Thank you so much to all of you, our faithful supporters, for again making it possible for us to continue working with the precious people of Haiti this past year. We can't do this without your help, and our family and the people we serve are so grateful for the sacrifices you have made to partner with us in this ministry. Below are the financial figures for 2011 followed by a few comments:
Overall 2011 contributions: 45,502 (2010- 44,844)
-Personal salary 33,421.21 (2010- 36,561) -10%
(taxes, insurance, US home mortgage, vehicle costs, clothes, summer travel,
vacation, home school curriculum, etc...)
-Ministry expenses 12,081 (2010- 8,283) +46%
(plane tickets, travel expenses, housing,other in-Haiti ministry expenses, etc...)
Comments:
1. If you've ever wondered if God really cares about and controls finances, consider this...when we stepped out in faith two years ago to join Mission Haiti and raise our own support as missionaries, we prayed that God would provide an amount somewhere near the level Cory was previously being paid on staff at Good News Reformed Church in Sioux Falls. After looking at our total giving listed above for those two years (2010- 44,844, 2011- 45,502), which by itself indicates incredible consistency, can you guess what Cory's final salary was at church? You guessed it, $45,000. God answers prayer, and He DOES care about and control people's finances!
2. We were very pleased to be able to keep our personal salary lower this year and move more money into the “ministry expenses” side of things. This was necessitated by our spending more time living in Haiti in 2011 and was made possible by some great young women (some of whom have traveled to Haiti frequently) renting our home in Sioux Falls during the 2nd half of the year.
3. We are setting some financial goals for the coming year in keeping with our desire to serve in Haiti long-term. We have never set a target amount to raise each month or year, but we feel strongly that it would be beneficial to continue raising additional support this year for several reasons. First of all, as most of you know we live “by faith” or month-to-month, so to speak, normally carrying over a balance anywhere between $0 to $5,000. We would like to build up a little more of a reserve this year to insure the availability of funds for unexpected costs or emergencies. We don't feel we need an entire year's salary, like some mission organizations require of their missionaries, but somewhere between 3-6 months of expenses would probably suffice.
We also want to work towards being able to afford some kind of very basic health insurance, educational savings for our kids, and retirement contribution. We don't know what these “benefits” would look like exactly, or how much they will cost, but we plan to research these questions and are open to suggestions. As some of you are aware it is very difficult for us to find health insurance for Lynn, so this major hurdle alone will require a great deal of prayer and research. Again, as we look towards our goal of serving as missionaries for a very long time, we feel these considerations will help make that a reality. Most denominations now require their overseas missionaries to raise in the neighborhood of $80-120,000/year, but we hope we won't have to go that high. In the coming year we plan to arrive at a realistic figure to aim for.
We want to say a big “thank you” one more time to all of you for helping us in so many ways. It was a great year, and we eagerly look forward to whatever God has for us in the year to come.
God Bless!
-the Grimms
