Sawasdee Ka! AKA Hello!! I hope all of you are doing well! I am so excited to finally share some about what I have been doing here in Thailand. I’m sorry for the late post! Things have been super crazy over here. It takes some getting used to being in a whole new country with people I met just 3 weeks ago. Shocker! No but really I am so excited to share as many details as I can with you all about how things are going.

I want to start by saying how blessed I am to have such an amazing squad and team. Without these people all of this would be so much harder. My team prioritizes honesty and transparency. Being able to open up about how I am feeling and working things out as a group has been so uplifting. We are all constantly calling each other to be more Christ like, praying for each other, and supporting one another. It feels like these people are my family and I haven’t even known them for a full month! I feel so beyond blessed to have such an incredible group of people to spread the name of Jesus with.

As of today we have officially been in Thailand for 2 weeks. We are staying in Chiang Mai which is in Northern Thailand. The weather here stays hot and humid but if you know me you know that this is my kinda weather. It has been in the upper 80s. This week every day is over 90 degrees! It’s absolutely beautiful. Definitely different from the week we spent in Georgia at training camp before we left. It’s also a 13 hour time difference from home which took some adjusting at first but is all good now. 

On the topic of training camp, I’ll give just a brief summary. IT WAS AWESOME. Meeting my squad and getting to know everyone was so surreal. I truly loved these people instantly! Camp was so spirit filled. It was so good to praise the Lord with all these people and be so filled up by the spirit before being sent out on this mission. At camp we are assigned our teams and team roles. Our squad is made up of 10 people and each team has 5 people once divided. We are all assigned a role to serve on our team. I was assigned the role of logistics which is essentially budgeting and making sure everyone gets where they need to be and gets fed within budget! It’s so fun to be a steward of the money the Lord has given us through all of our donors. I am so thankful to be such a big part of it. The Lord immediately challenged me in surrendering that area of my life over to Him. Being in charge of finances was a big step of faith. Before I accepted the role, I prayed over it and realized the Lord is wanting to stretch me and show me that I am more than capable, even in the things I feel the least qualified in. I am now actively living out the role and it is going so well. I have learned to have confidence in my decision making and also realized budgeting is not near as scary as it sounds. I’ve learned so much about myself already in such little time. 

Each team was given our ministry assignment upon arrival. The first few days we didn’t do much except get used to this place and the time change, but now we have been doing ministry for the last week and a half. My team was assigned as helping hands to ActsCo printing and bookhouse. ActsCo prints books, as well as receives Christian books sent in from all over the states and sends them out to places all over the world. Bibles are sent to countries that have little to no access to Christian literature. Their work is amazing and their organization has made such an impact around the world. Our job is to sort through the boxes upon boxes of books that are received by ActsCo. We work at their warehouse, which is a bunch of stuffy storage containers, and move boxes and organize all the books in them. At first, I was frustrated with our ministry assignment. In fact, many of those on my team were bummed. It is not what I had pictured going into this trip and definitely not what I pictured when I think about a mission trip in general. I was saddened at the idea of not having any form of relational ministry. I wanted to reach people in a personal way and directly pour out the love of Jesus on them! I felt like I had been robbed of this opportunity. I now see through much prayer, petitioning, and processing with my team, that we are interceding on behalf of many lives that will be touched by the gospel all over the world. We ourselves may never see the fruit of what we are doing, but in the end it is to greater God’s kingdom. That is what I am truly here to do. I had to humble myself and surrender once again. I am here to serve God in whatever way He has for me. I was putting God in a box! His plan is so much greater than anything I can fathom. He has stretched me in this ministry and allowed me to see His goodness even more. I have learned a new form of reliance. I may not know why He placed me here, but I have so much trust that there is purpose in it. He is so faithful. 

Overall, in the short time I have been on this trip I have learned so much. It has been a whirlwind of new things, but the Lord has guided me through it. As I write this, I am so overwhelmed with gratitude for each and every one of you. Thank you for your support and prayers on this journey. I can’t express enough how thankful I am! I feel so held knowing that I have so many who are lifting me up in prayer as I am here. What a blessing to be on this journey with all of you! I love you and plan to write again soon!

Taylor Yoder

P.S. It won't notify you when I make a post so please check in again next Friday!