God has been fashioning something beautiful in our lives that we would love to share with you. We have a passion for the Great Commission and seeing the LGTB community encounter God’s power and love, leading to transformation of lives. These passions joined together for Amy in 2010, when she spent six months working among ladyboy (transgendered male to female individuals) and gay prostitutes in Pattaya, Thailand. The last month of her time in Thailand was spent primarily in Bangkok, volunteering with Dton Naam Ministries. Dton Naam is the only ministry of its kind in Thailand as they specifically reach out to marginalized transgender and boy prostitutes. Dton Naam Ministries offers these young men the opportunity to leave prostitution and helps them to rebuild their lives by providing discipleship, counseling, education and healthcare assistance, and vocational skills training. 

During our visit to Thailand in May of 2015, the Lord opened a door for us to be able to meet with the director of Dton Naam, visit their facility and pray for their staff. Though our encounter with the ministry was brief, we both felt the Holy Spirit on it and specifically felt Him drawing us to consider an opportunity to come alongside Dton Naam as long-term staff. We have been invited to join with them for as many years as the Lord may lead and have initially committed to serving with them for 3 to 5 years.

As a part of Dton Naam, we will seek to create an environment where our students can encounter Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit to bring healing to all areas of brokenness: spirit, soul and body. Amy’s administrative skills will be employed by Dton Naam in areas such as marketing their cafe and bakery, spreading the word about their work and other communications facilitation. Matt will use his experience with apartment maintenance to help around the Dton Naam ministry building. Together, we will help serve in leading outreaches and taking care of the day to day needs of the students. We are also excited about the possibility of helping to form an addiction recovery program for the ladyboys. Dton Naam has found that many of the ladyboys are addicted to drugs, alcohol and sex. While there are many great Christian addiction recovery programs in Thailand, none are specifically for ladyboys. Women’s programs won’t accept them because they are not biologically female; because they’ve been perpetrated against by men, men’s programs are not a safe place for them. Dton Naam desires to establish a safe place for them to get free from their addictions and begin walking into freedom. (www.dtonnaam.org)

It’s our passion to demonstrate God’s power and love in word and deed, and see wholehearted lovers of Jesus arise from the ashes into the fullness of what God has created them to be (Romans 15:15-19). We believe that as the love of God works in these men’s hearts they, and the entire nation, can be transformed. We are excited about this opportunity to partner with the Lord!

While we will be serving with Dton Naam Ministries, we will be missionaries with Commission to Every Nation (CTEN). Dton Naam is a smaller ministry that does not have the capability of providing the administrative and pastoral covering that we need in order to succeed as missionaries, which is where CTEN comes in. CTEN is a servant organization which helps missionaries fulfill the unique vision God has given them. Through administrative support CTEN provides accountability and help to get us to the field. They also provide pastoral care to us to help us remain effective and healthy while we are there. 

The next phase of our journey is to begin raising our partnership team. We would love to schedule time to sit down and share with you in person about our heart for Thailand and answer any questions you have. We would appreciate your ongoing prayers as there is much planning and decision making left to do. Please join with us in asking the Lord for grace, provision, and divine leading for each step.

In Him,

Matt and Amy Baldwin