DIRKS UPDATE

For five years, Nathan and Taryn Dirks served as Mennonite Church Canada workers in Gaborone, Botswana, nurturing relationships with young people through a variety of efforts ranging from prison ministry to sports. Their term has ended, and they have now returned to Canada with their young son, Malakai. Thank God for the dedication of Nathan and Taryn, and pray for God’s blessing as they discern what the future holds. 

(from PrayerNet, July/August 2017)

Nathan and Taryn Dirks - Update

A while back, Waltrude Gortzen, our BC Women's Ministry Rep, sent a video link which featured the work that Nathan Dirks, Mennonite Church Canada Witness Worker in Gabarone, Botswana is involved in. Nathan and Taryn are recipients of our Pennies and Prayer Legacy Fund. The video titled 'Youth Innovators' is about 25 minutes long and interviews the various persons involved in the Pula Sports Development Association who are responsible for the development of the Bontleng Futsal Park in Bontleng, Gabarone. Nathan is the Project Manager and explains how the project involves the community and strives to be sustainable by using water collection, sewage techniques, bio-toilets, and solar power.  

CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE VIDEO

   

Nathan and Taryn Dirks - Update

Nathan and Taryn Dirks are recipients of our Pennies and Prayers Legacy Fund (PPLF). The following news release was recently published by Mennonite Church Canada.

For Nathan and Taryn Dirks, ministry in Gaborone, Botswana, is all about relationships. But ministry by relationship is hard to measure, so they’ve creatively translated some of their good news into numbers.

For almost five years, the Dirks have served youth and young adults from local African Initiated Churches (AICs) through their role as Mennonite Church Canada Witness Workers, in partnership with Mennonite Mission Network and local churches. Following community needs and initiatives, they focus on development and Bible teaching. They organize local volunteers for prison ministry and a school for special needs children, and they coordinate development projects, most notably Bontleng Park. This green, sustainable initiative supports urban agriculture and sports, and has revitalized an abandoned area in a disadvantaged area of Gaborone.

As they complete their last 6 months of service, the Dirks reflect on some of the successes achieved through local partnerships, by number. Nathan and Taryn complete their ministry term in June, 2017.

Here are a few of the numbers they've shared: 

46 prison inmates at First Offenders Prison, Gaborone, completed a certificate program offered by Mennonite Ministries in Botswana.
18 students graduated from the Inter-Church Ministries Botswana 3-year Bible study program.
42 students have already signed up for the 2017 program.
7 prison inmates will begin a Masters-level theology program by distance this year.

To read more, please CLICK HERE.

Africa is for babies! ~ Nathan and Taryn Dirks

In a reflection about becoming parents while living in another culture, Nathan Dirks wrote the following:

"As newlyweds embarking on an international ministry assignment, Taryn and I soaked up as much southern African mission knowledge as we could…..So after a term of our own in Botswana, we thought hey, why not give it a go?"

To read the entire reflection follow THIS LINK. 

Nathan and Taryn are recipients of Mennonite Women Canada's PENNIES AND PRAYER LEGACY FUND. Keep in touch with them through their BLOG!

As we celebrate Christmas let's remember to keep our ministry partners in our prayers. Christmas can be a difficult time for them as they are far from relatives and friends back home.

Congratulations, Nathan and Taryn Dirks

Earlier  this summer Nathan and Taryn, our Pennies and Prayer Legacy Fund recipients, were on home leave from their ministry work in Botswana and shared some of their experiences in a number of churches.  I was pleased to have a chat with them the morning they spoke at my church, Vineland United Mennonite. Their excitement about their calling to serve was very evident and we wish them all the best as they are now back at home in Botswana with their new baby, Malaki.

Nathan and Taryn Dirks summer speaking schedule

Nathan and Taryn Dirks, our Pennies and Prayer Legacy Fund recipients and Mennonite Church Canada workers in Botswana, are currently in Canada awaiting the birth of their first child. Please keep them in your prayers during this time of anticipation. They have scheduled speaking engagements at the following churches.  I encourage you to attend one of these events and hear about their experiences first hand. 

********************

May 10 - Waterloo Kitchener United Mennonite Church (Kitchener, ON)

June 14 - Grace Mennonite Church (St. Catharines)

June 21 - Listowel Mennonite Church (Listowel, ON)

June 28 - St. Catharines United Mennonite Church (St. Catharines, ON)

July 5 - Douglas Mennonite Church (Winnipeg, MB)

July 8 - Evening at Springstein Mennonite Church (Springstein, MB)

July 9 - Evening at Morden Mennonite Church (Morden, MB)

Nathan and Taryn Dirks

Nathan and Taryn Dirks 
are recipients of our 

Pennies and Prayer Legacy Fund.

~ ~ ~ Please pray for Nathan and Taryn, a young Mennonite Church Canada worker couple from Niagara United Mennonite Church. They focus on ministry with youth and young adults from local African Initiated Churches (AICs) – congregations initiated by Africans and not by missionaries from another continent. In March they will be coming back to Canada for the first time since 2012, and then will be heading back to Botswana at the end of July, in order to serve a second term. They are expecting their first child, due while in Canada, so please pray for that, too!
---from a Mennonite Church Canada release

Congratulations, Nate and Taryn!  

May you feel God's blessings through the miracle of birth and 

through the love of family and friends that surround you 

at this special time!

Nathan and Taryn Dirks

Nathan and Taryn Dirks are Mennonite Church Canada Witness workers in Gaborone, Botswana.  They are recipients of our 

Pennies and Prayer Legacy Fund.

Dream like a mustard seed is an article written by Deborah Froese in the Mennonite Church Canada News, February 24, 2015.

"Just like a tiny mustard seed, Nathan and Taryn Dirks’ dream of building a futsal (soccer) field with a playground in the rundown, poorly lit neighbourhood of Bontleng in Gaborone, Botswana, is blossoming into a much broader, community-embraced project."  

 Read more about this project HERE!

Sketch of the future Futsal Park drawn by a local Bontleng
youth, Michael Zachariah, provides a rough idea of its layout.

Nathan and Taryn Dirks

A recent email from Mennonite Church Canada shared some information from the blog of Nathan and Taryn Dirks.  As Witness workers in Botswana they are recipients of our Pennies and Prayer Legacy Fund.

As we look at our fiscal year ending January 31, 2015 we anticipate a shortfall and continually strive to do more with less.  Nathan and Taryn’s perspective on the ‘Numbers Game’ describes the difference that generous donors from across Canada are making.  Here are a few excepts:

• 38 – Prison inmates who completed the year long “Bible Timeline Series” and received certificates of completion
• 5 – Youth from Mennonite Ministries Bible studies who were ordained as preachers
• 55 – Bibles gifted to serious students of scripture who had no Bible of their own
• 6,000+ – Number of chocolate chip cookies baked by Taryn for Bible studies
• 5 – Usual length, in hours, of Friday night Bible studies
• 258 – Christmas gift bags packaged and delivered to First Offenders Prison in Gaborone, enough for every inmate in the prison and every guard on duty
• 40 – Length of time, in years, that Mennonites and African Indigenous Churches in Botswana have been partnering together as of 2014

You can read more on the Dirks’ blog. Theirs is just one of many impact stories of the work we do together as a national church in 25 countries around the world and in Canada.