About Us
Tonya comes from a family of missionaries. Her grandparents and great-grandparents served as missionaries in Africa, South America, and South-East Asia. Tonya grew up hearing stories about far away jungles and the wild frontiers of frontline mission work. Tonya and Jared met in Micronesia while serving as student missionaries at the mission school on the island of Yap in 2002 and 2003. After returning to the US and marrying, Tonya and Jared were sponsored by their church in Lincoln, Nebraska, Allon Chapel, to travel to Rwanda in the summer of 2005 for evangelistic outreach. In 2006, after they both graduated from Union College, they made the decision to join Adventist Frontier Missions, having a deep desire in their hearts to go and reach the unreached.
Late in 2007, Jared and Tonya joined the Gorkha Project in Darjeeling, India. They worked alongside Jonathan and Karen Lovitt until 2012, helping to establish a church and English language school. After that, they served briefly among the Nepali people of Nepal in 2012 and 2013, helping to encourage and strengthen the believers in that region.
In 2014, Jared and Tonya moved to Thailand where they served with AFM in partnership with the Thai Adventist Mission as administrators and teachers at the mission school in Ubon Ratchathani for two years. In 2016, they transitioned to a new target community about 20 kilometers outside of the city of Ubon to start a children’s and youth ministry in the village of Baan Krasop. In September of 2018, they completed construction of the Little Explorers Creative Learning Center, which serves as a center of influence for reaching the unreached Isan people of north-east Thailand.
Tonya & Jared Wright - Nilubon Srisai
We previously lived and worked with the Gorkha people of India and Nepal from 2007 to 2013. Now we serve the Isan Buddhists of Thailand along with our sons, Justus and Jon Marc. Our vision is to develop and mentor local Isan Thai church planting leaders who are committed to fulfilling the Great Commission and forming healing communities in every province and every district of northeast Thailand so that all 23 million Isan Thai people will have an opportunity to know Jesus as a real person who cares about their lives.
Our good friend and fellow AFM colleague, Nilubon Srisai, coordinates all of our programs and outreach activities in the community. She is a certified facilitator for trauma healing groups and is working to help families heal and grow. She also has years of experience in mentoring new disciples and training local leaders to lead worship groups.
In 2024, fellow AFM colleagues, Pastor Claudette and Rene Aleman, joined the Isan Thai project. They live about a four hour drive away from Ubon Ratchathani province in Khon Kaen province. They are also certified facilitators for trauma healing groups, and we are working closely with them to train local church planting leaders who are inspired and equipped to catalyze a church planting movement.
Frontier Stories
Days of Trouble
Remember your Creator in the days of your youth, before the days of trouble come . . . Remember him—before the silver cord is severed, and the golden bowl is broken . . .
and the dust returns to the ground it came from, and the spirit returns to God who gave it.
(Ecclesiastes 12:1, 6, 7)
By:
Jared Wright
March 01 2022, 2:10 pm | Comments 0
Ready to Bloom
I was so surprised. Before that, I had wondered if I, as his teacher, was making any difference in Tawan’s life. At that moment, I realized that with God’s help, I had assisted Tawan in learning the most important lesson of all—that Jesus is our friend.
By:
Nilubon Srisai
March 01 2022, 1:09 pm | Comments 0
Frost and Fern
A few months ago, we heard from Frost’s and Fern’s mother that the girls’ school had been closed indefinitely due to the ongoing pandemic in Thailand, cutting them off from their teachers and friends. Learning that, Teacher Tonya prepared a large packet of fun learning activities for them, and I purchased a copy of a beautifully illustrated Thai children’s Bible.
By:
Jared Wright
January 01 2022, 8:07 pm | Comments 0
Sailaap
Now, we often ask Sailaap to help the younger students at our school with their math homework because she has begun to value the effort and believe that she can teach someone else.
By:
Jared Wright
December 01 2021, 4:56 pm | Comments 0
Planting Youth & Reaping Movements
He was lying in the hospital, seriously injured and afraid that he might die, he told us that he saw a man dressed all in white, who was shining, and he came to him and comforted him. He believes that man was Jesus.
By:
Jared Wright
November 01 2021, 12:11 pm | Comments 0