In December 2012, an official copy of the LDS Church’s “Mission President’s Handbook,” a publication not meant for the general public, was leaked on a blog site operated by a private individual. This official “how-to” manual explains the detailed rules for a mission president, whose job it is to work with local bishops while administering missionary efforts with stake presidents. In Appendix B under the title “Family Finances,” the manual discusses the “monthly reimbursement of living expenses” for the mission president’s family, including children under 26 who are not married and not employed full-time. It says that “living expenses include food, clothing, household supplies, family activities, dry cleaning, personal long-distance calls to family, and modest gifts (for example, Christmas, birthdays, or anniversary).”
Health and life insurance for the mission president and his family are fully covered, as are expenses not covered by personal health insurance, support for children serving full-time missions, one round-trip flight for each child to visit the parents on the field, school expenses for the children along with extracurricular activities, and “undergraduate tuition at an accredited college or university.”
The manual provides specific instruction for banking, as a “personal bank account at Church headquarters is established for you and your wife.” However, the mission president is told he “should not open a local bank account for personal funds received from the Church unless absolutely necessary, especially if the account would produce interest (and thus raise income-tax questions).” As far as housing, transportation, and insurance, items such as “rent, utilities, telephones, and Internet connection” are included. If the family needs a gardener, this may be provided, as well as “one part-time housekeeper-cook (no more than a total of 20 hours per week).” Unlike many Christian pastors’ families whose wives must work in order to make ends meet, the mission president’s wife is told that her “primary responsibility” is “caring for (her) family.” The manual adds, “She should not feel an obligation to participate in mission activities at the expense of family needs. If a babysitter is needed occasionally so that she can participate in an activity, the cost of the babysitter may be reimbursed.” It seems like an ideal situation. The wife stays home, raises the children, and even has a gardener and maid to help her in her home-making duties!
The mission president receives the use of one car and the expenses to run it; while his wife is not provided a car of her own, another mission vehicle is available for her and “dependent children who are mature and careful drivers.” I have a friend who served a California mission in the 1990s under mission president and now-Apostle Jeffrey R. Holland. When Holland’s child used the missionary car to travel to a Sacramento King’s basketball game and got into an accident, my friend said that he and his companion had to continue their mission without the car. Instead, they had to ride bicycles, traveling at times a great distance.