our financial situation

When we left Vancouver in August, the Canadian dollar was nearly on par with the USD, gas prices were touching $1.50 a litre, and the Olympics seemed to be cheaper. When we return to Vancouver in April, Tim will be looking for a job during a time of economic uncertainty so please also pray that God will provide in a time of economic crisis.

We also would like to share with you our financial situation. When we were budgeting for our eight-month volunteer/missions trip to Africa, we estimated our costs as the following:

Travel expenses (airfare)	$5400
Preparation expenses	$2985
Daily expenses
SIM	$3800
CIM	$2700
Approx. TOTAL Requirements	$14,885

We did in fact raise just over $9000, for which we were grateful. However, our expected expenditure of the trip has escalated to over $19,000 due to the following reasons:

· Cost of flights was higher than expected

· Most of our costs are in US dollars, so the rising US dollar has increased our Cdn costs.

· Our estimate of CIM daily expenses didn’t include health insurance, groceries or other miscellaneous items like internet and visa renewal

Travel expenses (airfare)	$7706
Preparation expenses	$4059
Daily expenses
SIM	$3476
CIM	$4265
Approx. TOTAL Requirements	$19,507

*Note that these costs exclude the recreational travel which we did in between teaching assignments

We are hoping to raise an additional $5000 to cover this increase, and are asking you for your support. We chose to stay longer in Africa to provide a lasting impact to the young people here, but also because the fixed costs are so high. We made our effectiveness the top priority, and then tried to find the most cost-effective way to do it. For those who have been reading with us since the beginning, we hope that our experiences have opened up a part of the world that would otherwise be unfamiliar to you, and would be grateful for any additional support. For those who have just started to read, you may not have had the chance to contribute before, so we give you that opportunity now.

There are two ways you can contribute financially, and both will grant you a tax receipt. For the online-savvy, you may use your credit card to contribute at the SIM website: http://www.sim.ca/givingc20.php . You can also provide your credit card information over the phone if you prefer. Make sure you specify our names in the “Missionary Name” section of the online form.

Alternatively, you may also mail a cheque to CIM. Make the cheque out to “Chinese International Missions”. Make sure you write our names on the Memo field of the cheque.

Their mailing address is:

PO Box 97190

Richmond Main Post Office

Richmond, BC, Canada

V6X 8H3

Either way, let us know so that we can confirm with the organization that they’ve received your contribution (we do prefer you donate through SIM as we are more in need with that account). You can find out more about each organization in our blog entry here: http://td-in-africa.blogspot.com/2008/06/intro.html

Thanks again for your support, we look forward to seeing all of you again when we return.

Tim and Dora