Education Camps are when many of our Paraguay MK’s are able to get together for a fun-filled week of learning interesting things, doing activities, going on field trips, and growing together.

We praise the Lord for a great week.  Mark taught elementary science as Detective O’Casey helping his Junior Detectives discover some of the amazing things in God’s creation.  Mark also taught the older students the computer program Google Sketchup helping them learn  this fascinating tool for generating 3-dimensional images with the computer.  Janet kept busy helping Detective O’Casey and also assisting with art, food preparation, etc.   These Ed Camps are certainly a highlight for all our MK’s and especially for those who homeschool and live in remote locations.

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This Ed Camp we had Josh and Beka Holbrook come from FL to help us out.  Josh is an educational specialist at the Palm Beach Zoo specializing in reptiles and amphibians.

The Chaco where we live is an incredible place teeming with all kinds of reptiles and amphibians.  Josh Holbrook had fun collecting many different kinds of snakes, frogs, toads, lizards, etc. to bring in to class to show the students.  This was a great way for our kids to see what a great God and Creator we have.

Check out the photos in our new album:  Ed Camp Photos

Ben got to be the judge in the trial, and Joshua was the bailiff.  Bill taught the older boys the skill of welding and helped the younger kids with arts and crafts.

Mark and his furry friend “George”  taught sessions to the elementary kids on solving some of the mysteries of science by doing a variety of hands-on science experiments.  Mark also taught 7-12 Bible with the theme of being Champions for Christ.

We praise the Lord for the privilege of serving the 20 NTM families here in Paraguay who have school-aged children.

Thanks for your prayers and part in our lives!  God bless you richly!

Mark and Janet Case

For the past three years, we have also served as dorm parents for children attending our MK school.  With an increase in students needing to be in the dorm, another family has taken over this ministry allowing us to dedicate our time to teaching and administration.  This is a big change for us as we have served as dorm parents for a total of 6 years.

Ben and Josh miss having extra “brothers and sisters” around the house.  Janet is adjusting to cooking much smaller portions than when we had ten or twelve of us around the table.  This change also allows Janet to be more involved in our community.  She enjoys participating in a ladies Bible study and being more involved in hospitality.

Pray for our upcoming Education Camp in October.  Almost all of our Paraguay MK’s will be getting together for this activity.  Pray for safety in travel and that the time will be a great time of learning and growing together.

Pray for translation checking that is going on presently.  A translation consultant is here helping to finalize portions of Scripture in three different tribal languages.  Pray that the checking will go well and that these passages of Scriptures will soon be able to be printed and made available to the people.

Thanks again for your prayers and part in our lives!  God bless!

We just finished a great week of Education Camp for our NTM Paraguay MK’s. Some of our MK’s live in very remote locations and have limited access to educational and social activities.  The purpose of these Education Camps is to bring all of our MK’s together for a week of learning, growing, and fellowshipping together.  Ed Camps have been a highlight for all of the kids!

This year I did a variety of hands-on science experiments including blowing up eggs with hydrogen gas, boiling water with ice (by decreasing the air pressure), making slime, floating tinsel (by static electricity), and a host of other fun science activities.  The thing I like most about sharing science with the MK’s is that the study of creation reveals the character of the Creator.  Hopefully, we all came away from the week with a new appreciation for how great our God is.

Other classes offered included small engine repairs, Paraguay and Australian culture, digital photography tips, underwater creatures, and much more.  You can check out the photos under our Photo section.

 Thanks again for your prayers and part in our lives and in the lives of our Paraguay MK’s.  We consider it a privilege to be part of the team reaching the tribal people of Paraguay with the Gospel by serving our missionary families with their children’s educational needs.

Cases in Paraguay October 2009 from Mark Case on Vimeo.

We just completed an Education Camp for our Paraguay MK’s.  We had 28 MK’s attend the 3 day activity.  Families traveled up to 8 hours to attend the sessions.

I enjoyed teaching sessions on eyes and vision.  We studied the anatomy of the eye and how it functions.  We did eye tests that included vision and color tests.  We learned how corrective lenses work.  We studied a variety of eye disorders and diseases.  The funnest part was actually doing a cow eye dissection where students could learn exactly what makes up the eye.

This week we also had music, sports, speech, and a variety of other topics and subjects.

Ed Camps are a highlight for our MK’s as it gives them an opportunity to grow academically, socially, and spiritually.

Our goal is to provide a field-wide educational support structure for the nearly 50 NTM MK’s here in Paraguay.

To accomplish this goal, we have started a traditional MK School for students in grades 4-12, and we also provide homeschool assistance. One of our strategies is to provide Education Camp Activities which will bring both the homeschooling and MK school students together for educational activities two or three times a year.

We just completed our first Education Camp for the 7-12th grade students. We praise the Lord for an excellent time together. We started each day with a Bible class where we focused on overcoming life’s challenges. By looking into Scripture and by hearing the testimony of a Christian man born without arms and legs, we were challenged in our faith to trust God for power to overcome difficulties. Then we had various classes including wood-working, speech principles, story-telling skills, tone chimes, study and time management skills, and volleyball. We then were able to enjoy swimming, horseback riding, and other fun activities.

We are hoping that in the future these Education Camp activities can become short-term missions projects for churches or teams to come and actually offer the classes to the MK’s.

We are in the process of setting up a field-wide educational support structure to assist the more than 50 MK’s in Paraguay.  As we go to Paraguay, our goal is to assist all the families with their educational needs so that they can be more effective in their particular ministries. 

One part of our support structure will be the establishment of a MK school.  We are presently doing renovations on a small property.   A dividing wall has been installed making two classroom areas.  An additional classroom has been added.  Everything is getting a fresh paint job.  Land is being cleared for an area to play sports.  Check out the photos of the progress on our Photo page in the album called MK School Renovations.  

You can read more about this project by downloading a small Adobe Reader file:

MK School Renovation Project  >>

We also plan to assist families who will continue to homeschool by providing advice, resources, activities, workshops, and much more.

Thanks for your prayers for us as we assist families with their educational needs.

Explore NTM MK Education>> www.ntm.org/education

During January, Mark attended the New Tribes Mission MK Care and Education committee meetings in Missouri.

As a mission, we are very concerned about the care and education of our MK’s (missionary kids). You can probably imagine that living overseas provides many exciting learning experiences, difficulties, and challenges. Educating our children overseas is often complicated by living in remote situations and by challenging ministry responsibilities.

It is our desire to provide assistance and direction to the fields and families around the world in order to ensure quality care and education. As a family’s educational needs are properly met, they are then able to be more effective in their particular ministries. The ultimate goal is that church planting efforts among tribal people will be more effective as a result of a proper educational support structure for families.

During our committee meetings, we heard reports of what is happening on various fields around the world. We evaluated a variety of issues affecting the education of our MK’s such as different learning styles and learning disabilities. We discussed the impact of internationalization in MK schools and the blessing and challenge of having children and teachers from various countries. We looked at homeschooling issues and ways to support and provide assistance to homeschoolers. We brain-stormed various ideas of assistance that can be provided in the future such as mission trips going to the fields to put on education camps. We discussed child protection efforts, the care of graduating and adult MK’s, and TCK (Third Culture Kid) issues. The week was a profitable time with the goal of equipping our fields and families to be even more effective in addressing MK care and education issues.

We have been privileged to serve MK’s and their families over the past 18 years in Panama, and God is now directing us to serve in Paraguay. Our vision is to provide a field-wide educational support structure for the over 50 MK’s living in Paraguay. We will be providing assistance to all the families whether they homeschool, attend an international Christian school, or attend a small NTM MK School.

We plan to go to Paraguay this coming July. We will be living in the northern area of Paraguay. The area is semi-arid and called the Chaco. Presently, renovations are being made on a property to accommodate a small MK school with multi-grade classrooms. Pray for continued progress so that classes can begin by the beginning of September.