three days in Chiang Rai: A life of faith, mercy, and ministry

For the last six or more months I have been intrigued by the story of Wendy Wong, a Chinese woman born and raised in Hong Kong, and her Thai husband Anawin Rungrotpanthawee. Together, they plant churches and care for abandoned children, primarily from the mountainous Akha Hilltribe community near Chiang Rai, Thailand. Some of these children, as young as eight, had been forgotten and left to survive on their own. Wendy and Anawin chose to welcome them into their home.

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As a leader in the Agape Asia Network, I have read proposals and listened to many ministry leaders seeking help with strategic planning, vision casting, capacity building, and fundraising. Yet this request felt different. The more I learned, the more intrigued and inspired I became. It felt like a Macedonian call—this time from Thailand. I became convinced that God was calling me to meet Wendy and Anawin in person, if only to confirm that they and their remarkable ministry were real. Because I was already planning to attend our biannual workshop and conference for Agape Asia ministries in Chiang Mai, I arranged a site visit for me and Kris Bowen, the Agape Asia Director of SE Asia & Social Work, to see their work firsthand. What follows is a glimpse of what we saw and heard. 

Seventeen years ago, Wendy and Anawin, newly married and fresh out of Bible College, began church planting amongst the Akha Hilltribe people in the mountains of Chiang Rai, Thailand.   Ten years ago, they began taking in children who were homeless or abandoned. It started with one or two, then a few more. As some of the older teenagers prepared to live on their own, Wendy and Anawin continued welcoming new children whenever they had space, even expanding their home and living facilities to make room for more. Today, as many as 30 children live with them in what they now call their Eternal Life Student Centre.
 
As I heard more about Wendy’s ministry, I realized that the true story wasn't simply about what might be called an orphanage. It was about searching for children the rest of the world had overlooked—children who had been abandoned, neglected, or left to face life on their own—and offering them far more than shelter. At the Eternal Life Student Centre, every child is welcomed with the hope of discovering a new family, a new future, and the transforming love of Jesus Christ.
 
Rather than trying to retell Wendy's remarkable ministry in my words, I'd like you to hear it from the person who has devoted her life to these children. Through her own reflections, you'll discover not only the heartbreaking realities that bring children to the Care Center, but also the extraordinary ways God is redeeming lives, restoring hope, and raising up a new generation of young men and women whose futures are no longer defined by their past. As Wendy shares her story, I believe you'll begin to hear the same call that first drew me to the mountains of Chiang Rai, Thailand. 
 
Over three days, we visited the school and children’s center, spoke with leaders and students, and shared coffee, meals, and meaningful conversations with Wendy Wong. I captured those discussions on paper, through digital transcription, and in memory. Because Anawin did not speak English, my conversations were primarily with Wendy. Here are a few excerpts.

THE MINISTRY
SS – Give us a brief overview of your ministry and how it got started.
 
WW - "Our ministry is located near Chiang Rai, a city of approximately 70,000, while the surrounding Chiang Rai Province has a total population of about 1.1 million. The downtown area is relatively small, and many of the older buildings are now occupied by small businesses on the ground floor only.
 
Much of our work takes place outside the city in small villages such as Blossom Village, where many residents belong to the Akha Hilltribe. Many visitors have never heard of the Akha people until they come here and see their communities firsthand.
 
Like many countries, government employment in Thailand is highly valued because it provides stable income, healthcare, retirement benefits, and security for entire families. Many young people dream of working for the government because it offers opportunities they cannot easily find elsewhere.
 
My husband, Anawin and I started our ministry in 2009. We have been serving in Chaing Rai for seventeen years now. Our focus is to do church planting and taking care of some abandoned children.
 
We take care of the children in the AKHA Hilltribe through two ways.  One is the After School Care.  We provide this to about 110 students. It's a school program in Blossom Village that helps students with the languages, reading, mathematics, and Bible education. These children are sent to us by their parents in hopes that we can further develop them for future success.
 
And the other is our children’s refuge center, we call it the Eternal Life Student Centre. Now we have 30 kids with us, and the youngest one is eight years old, the oldest one is almost eighteen years old."
 
THE AFTER-SCHOOL CARE PROGRAM
SS – Tell me about the after-school care program you have in the Blossom Village and how it helped start your children’s refuge center?
 
WW – "Our children’s ministry began shortly after we planted our first church. Two years later we realized that many of the children in the village had no opportunity to continue their education. The village had only two elementary schools, and once students finished primary school, there was nowhere for them to continue their studies.
 
We believed education could change the course of their lives. We wanted these children to have opportunities that their village could not provide, so we began bringing them into the city where they could attend middle school and beyond.
 
The government required us to establish and register another church in the city before we could legally care for the children. After nearly three years of work, we completed the registration and were finally able to move the students into our care.
 
We provided everything they needed—housing, meals, school tuition, books, clothing, and daily Bible study. Ten years ago, we welcomed our first group of 17 students."
 
SS – What kind of services do students that attend the after-school care receive?
 
WW - "During the school year, students attend their regular government schools during the day and come to our center from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m., Monday through Friday. On Saturdays we offer a full-day program from 9:00 a.m. until 3:00 p.m.
 
Our teachers provide instruction in English, Chinese, mathematics, and Christian education. The children also participate in games, worship, Bible lessons, and activities that help them grow academically, socially, and spiritually."
 
THE CHILDRENS REFUGE CENTER
SS – Tell me about your Eternal Life Student Centre
 
WW - "Today we care for 30 new students. Ten come from Blossom Village, where our ministry first began. The remaining twenty come from other communities. Some have lost both parents. Others live with grandparents or relatives who cannot provide for them. Some are children of undocumented immigrants. Others have been orphaned because of conflict and war."
 
SS – How do you find or select the children that you take into your Eternal Life Student Centre?
 
WW – "Many of the ministers, churches and church members throughout the region know about our ministry. They regularly recommend children who need help.
 
When we can, we also make home visits to evaluate each family’s situation personally. When we see genuine need, we welcome the child into our home. Currently, our oldest student is 18 years old and beginning college, while our youngest is only eight years old."
 
SS - What kind of differences do you see from a child from the time they arrive at the Eternal Life Student Centre, and when they eventually leave?
 
WW - "Well, most of the children, when they first came to see us, they were very nervous. They didn't know how to handle the relationship with other strangers, and most of them, they just didn't know how to take care of themselves, because they just didn't know how to live with a schedule, a timetable.
 
After several months of adjustment, most of them are more cheerful, they love our center, they like their home, and they start to know that having a schedule is very good in their lives. And then they enjoy playing together, eating together. Now they just love to be living in a group that has become their family."
 
OBSTACLES AND SETBACKS
SS – What has been the biggest obstacle to being able to do more for the children of the AKHA communities?
 
WW - "In 2024, severe flooding destroyed our facilities. We could no longer safely care for the children, so we placed them in other children’s homes where they could receive proper shelter and care. About a year and a half later, after our buildings had been repaired, we invited them to return. By then, however, most had established new lives and could not come back."
 
WW – "Our ministry has been filled with both great joy and difficult challenges. One of the most emotional experiences in our family involved our firstborn, a daughter.
 
Our daughter arrived prematurely at just seven months and spent about 45 days in the children’s hospital. During those weeks, I was constantly traveling back and forth to the hospital, staying with her whenever I could. It was an exhausting season, but God was faithful. Today she is healthy and thriving. We named her Mercy because we believed she especially needed God’s mercy in order to live and grow… Of course, don’t we all?"
 
THE FUTURE
SS – What do you hope will be in the future for these children and your ministry?
 
WW - "Our greatest hope is that the seeds of faith we plant in children’s hearts will remain with them throughout their lives. Even if they drift away from God for a season, we pray they will one day remember what they learned and return to the Lord and to His church.
 
Some of the young people who have grown up with us are still faithfully involved in church. Others have stepped away because of the pressures of society and the difficult work environments they now face. In Thailand, many aspects of culture conflict with biblical teaching, so discipleship requires continual encouragement, teaching, and honest conversations about how to live faithfully in today’s world."
 
PERSONAL JOURNEY
SS – Tell me about your personal spiritual journey?
 
WW – "My own journey with Christ began in 1990, when I responded to an invitation to become a Christian at a Gospel meeting that a friend invited me to attend with her. Afterwards I began attending a church near my home in Hong Kong.  I soon heard God’s call to become a missionary.  And, although I loved my church, it placed little emphasis on missions. When God began calling me to become a missionary, my own congregation discouraged me. They even told me they would not recommend or support me if I pursued Bible study and training because they wanted me to remain and serve only within the local congregation.
 
It was a painful decision. Yet God’s calling was unmistakable.
 
I continued praying, and God opened another door. I joined a mission organization serving in China, where my calling became even stronger. Eventually I did take college level classes in Hong Kong without the support of my home church.
 
While studying there, I became acquainted with the man who would later become my husband. We had known each other for years, but during college we began praying seriously about our future together. We agreed that if God continued to lead us, we would marry after graduation.
 
When I shared this decision with my family, they were surprised. Although they were not Christians, they eventually accepted my calling. They later visited us in Thailand and saw the ministry firsthand. They watched the children we were raising and recognized that God was using our lives to make a real difference.
 
Today they fully support what we do.
 
Financially, we have very little. We have never accumulated much wealth or many possessions. I cannot give my parents expensive gifts or provide them with financial security.
 
But I can tell them that I am doing exactly what God has called me to do.
 
They now understand that while we may appear poor by the world’s standards, we are rich in purpose, rich in faith, and rich in the joy of serving Christ."
 
Finally
As our three days in Chiang Rai came to an end, I realized that the Macedonian call I thought I heard was not simply an invitation to visit Thailand—it was an invitation to witness what God is doing through ordinary people who have answered His extraordinary call. Wendy Wong and Anawin Rungrotpanthawee are not seeking recognition; they are simply opening their home, sharing the love of Christ, and trusting God to transform one life at a time. The children they welcome today will become tomorrow's parents, church leaders, teachers, and servants of Christ. Their stories are still being written.
 
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