Ask a Missionary - Catch The Fire

Q:
How do I handle my debts and still
go into missions?
A:
Follow a loan repayment plan or include
loan payments in your mission budget.
Debt in my opinion is one of the biggest hindrances for college
graduates and for families wanting to serve in missions. The choices
we make in this area can affect whether we get to the field. I recently
read that the average college student graduates over thirty-thousand
dollars in debt. Two approaches to handling debt are to pay off the
debt before leaving for the field or to include loan payments in your
mission budget and go now.
If the first plan is best for you (it was for me), a loan amortization
computer program can calculate a specific schedule for paying
off the loans. This plan can include how much to pay and for how
long. Stick to that plan as if your life depends on it. The people I
knew from college who had no loan repayment plan never made
it overseas. Without a plan, they lost focus when the debt wasn’t
easily paid off.
So make a budget that first deducts your tithe, housing, and
food, and then pay more than your plan calls for each month. Pray
for supernatural bonuses and raises, and when they come, apply the
extra to paying off debt. Finally, stay involved in short-term missions
so that you don’t forget what God has led you to do.
If the second plan is best for you, start packing your bags and
get moving toward raising support. Don’t be ashamed to add a
certain amount of money into your budget to repay student loans,
and don’t hide behind a rock when people ask about it.
For most students coming out of college, I recommend this
second plan. Here’s why. In my experience, many mission-minded
people are not able to land jobs that pay enough to kill debt fast
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