Yes, I have money. Sometimes lots of it too! Sometimes I feel like a walking ATM.
It’s not really mine, but I still spend it – on behalf of my teammates, that is.
Since training camp, I have been asked to be the treasurer for the teams I’ve been on. I’ve really loved it, actually! I like numbers, and handing out money has been mostly enjoyable (although it has a tendency to make me feel like a mom handing out allowances).
What does a treasurer do?
Well, like I mentioned, I hand out money: on travel days so my teammates can buy expensive airport/gas station food, or on regular ministry days so we can all buy/prepare our own meals. Sometimes our host for the month wants us to cook for ourselves, so I enjoy the challenge of shopping for the most edible, cost-efficient way to put victuals on the table.
And sometimes we push the cart full of food right up the street and straight into the kitchen!
I also get to work with the host in paying for our lodging, sometimes transportation, translators, and a cook (if they cook for us).
Most times this job doesn’t give me too much of a headache. The sitting down and crunching numbers sometimes does lead to a bit of stressful times but not awful.
Probably the one thing that gives me the most grief is the report I have to file before the end of the month accounting for every piece of money I spent. I write out receipts, take a photo of it, make transactions on the app, and send the report back to the office and hope they don’t find too many mistakes.
There are a few fun parts to doing this job too – always look for the good parts! I sometimes get to go shopping at the same store a few times a week – often every day. Perhaps I’ll get to have a coffee by myself to work on the reports. I get a chance to know our host better because I need to make sure they get paid.
More importantly, I’ve learned that this is a great way for me to love and serve my teammates.
And sometimes we get to have ice cream with extra food budget money!
I’ve recently been wondering what exactly I’ll do when I get back from the Race. I’ll have cash in my wallet and wonder if it’s for sure all mine to spend, I’ll think it’s time to give teammates their weekly food budget again, I’ll find some cash in a pocket and have no idea whether it’s personal or team money, or it’ll be the 28th and I’ll get this overwhelming feeling I should be doing something with a report real fast!
I’ll miss this part of my job here, but I think I’ll also be glad to have my wallet to myself again after 11 months.
