05.24.10
Volatility
There something that I’ve never been quite able to explain to people when we go back home: the effects of the exchange rate. I think most people don’t really get it because it is just completely unfamiliar. How can a dollar not be worth a dollar? I ask people to try and imagine that over the course of two years, your paycheck decreases by 20%. And the cost of living increases during those same two years. And somehow you have to find a way to pay the bills and support the ministry.
This chart shows us the dollar/euro exchange rate from today all the way back to the day we’ve moved here in April, 2005. Recently, the exchange rate has dropped down to about where it was back then. But those two big humps in the middle are what make life pretty interesting.
It’s a helpless feeling. I honestly don’t even understand how the exchange rate gets decided. I know the banks are involved, and there’s something about investor confidence, and possibly a dice role and the phase of the moon. But it means that sometimes my rent payment is $1,232 and sometimes it’s $960. Sometimes the grocery budget is $158 a week and sometimes it’s $123. Sometimes a tank of gas costs $113 and sometimes it costs $88.
We also hate it because we see our supporter’s money, the people who make such big sacrifices to see a church planted in Ancona, worth less and less and no one can do anything about it.
Except for God. Sometimes he has people send a little extra support one month. Sometimes someone in Italy surprises us with a gift. Sometimes we find something we need on sale at just the right time. And sometimes … he has the banker whose hand is on the dial marked “dollar/euro exchange rate” shift things in our favor so that we can pay the light bill.
David Knapp said,
05.25.10 at 6:49 am
I don’t think I quite understood the exchange rate until our internship. I am loving that it is dropping so low at the current moment. I keep praying that it will be 1.50 Euro to 1 dollar but maybe my prayers should be put on something more realistic.
Also I am glad that God fills in the gaps. Amanda and I haven’t really hit any hard times in our official 3 weeks living in Germany but we did in America. God hasn’t let us down. His people keep showing us love and keep providing for our needs.
Katy Smelser said,
05.26.10 at 1:04 pm
It has amazed us over and over again how God has provided exactly what we need when we need it.
On one reporting trip Randy used play money to show people how the exchange rate works. He gave three people in the congregation the same amount of dollars. Usually one was the church treasurer. Then at three different points in the presentation he showed the exchange rate for a certain year. (I think it was 1989, 90 and 91.) He traded Marks for the dollars and the people had to pay their bills: rent, food, car, etc. The first person had no problem, but by the third the exchange rate had dropped enough that person couldn’t pay everything. Randy scolded him or her for not using the money wisely or for not planning better. I think it got the point across very well.
We had supporters who understood the exchange rate and instead of giving $100 a month, they decided to give €100 and suffer along with us. They looked up the exchange rate every month before writing their check. What an encouragement that was.