“ The special pioneer thing is just a stipend much like CO but less. A local congregation is supposed to pay for your housing and most other costs, the stipend was about $100/month back in the day for special pioneer, $300 for retired COs and maybe $500-1000 for COs ”
In my days as a SP in the Netherlands in the late eighties, we had about $ 600 a month. We had to pay our own rent, lights, water and food. So I had to work on top of the 140 hours requirement. The allowance for the CO was the same as for Bethelites. When we went in missionary-service I felt really poor. We needed a car but we had no money and nobody to help, so we had to use third world public transportation, …four on the back in an old Corolla. Allowance was next to nothing.