April 26, 2011 – Mexico City, Mexico…Libna Stevens/IAD
The Seventh-day Adventist Church in Inter-America concluded its 3rd Pathfinder Camporee on a high note during a huge closing ceremony Saturday night. The camporee proved to be the largest territory-wide youth event in the history of the Inter-American Division (IAD), as more than 20,000 Pathfinders, leaders and chaperones from all 21 regions of the church participated in the five-day event.
The camporee took place in the Ciudad Deportiva in Mexico City and featured many activities such as community outreach projects, marches, relay races, swim meets, bike races, honor classes, musical presentations, a bible bowl competition, and more. The climax of each evening program saw one drama performance in a five-part series on the biblical King David. The plays paralleled the theme of the camporee, which was Conquering Giants.
Saturday night’s three-hour-long closing ceremony took place under a clear sky and was punctuated by shouts of joy and bursts of energy.
“Pathfinders, you must have the message very clear by now,” said Pastor Benjamin Carballo, youth ministries director for the church in Inter-America and top organizer of the event at the close of the program. “There were five basic messages we wanted to share during this camporee,” he added.
Pastor Carballo outlined again the five basic messages emphasized during the camporee, which were to remain faithful and obedient in the most simple of tasks, that God would anoint each one for His special plan at just the right moment, that God calls us to be available to serve, that we must wear the armor of God to fight our giants, and that victory is certain when we depend on Jesus and not ourselves. Each point was illustrated during the five-part King David play, which ended with David’s victory against Goliath.
Past IAD youth leaders were also honored during the closing ceremony. Pastor Israel Leito, current IAD president, was recognized for his service during the 1980s, during which the first territory-wide camporee was held. Pastor Alfredo Garcia-Marenko, who served from 1986-1998 and organized the 2nd Pathfinder Camporee in 1998, was also honored. Finally, Pastor Eliezer Melendez, who pioneered IAD youth ministries from 1998-2001, and Pastor Bernardo Rodriguez, who served from 2001-2010 and envisioned and planned the 3rd Pathfinder camporee, also received tributes.
In addition, Hilda Matar-Montero was recognized for her years of service in the IAD youth ministries department under all four past youth leaders.
Other honorees included Gilbert R. Cangy, youth director for the Adventist World Church, Jonatan Tejel, associate youth director for the Adventist World Church, Baraka Muganda, former youth ministries director of the Adventist World Church, and Jose V. Rojas, director of volunteer ministries of North America.
As the program concluded with over 1,000 investitures, a parade of nations, prayer revival sessions, a folkloric performance, fireworks and baptisms which summed more than 260, Pastor Leito challenged the young people to move forward in a new light.
“You have begun a new life as pathfinders here in this camporee,” said Pastor Leito. “This camporee was the platform to launch a new life with more dedication, more prayer, more conviction that there is nothing impossible for Jesus to overcome as you conquer the giants in your life.”
Pastor Leito announced that the decision was made to host a territory-wide camporee every five years going forward, saying that since the first camporee more than 30 years ago, generations of children did not have the opportunity to attend such an event. The next camporee themed “Ruth – A Lineage of Champions,” will be held in 2017 in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.
The entire five-day event received local media coverage, and camporee programs were streamed live over the internet. Thousands of young people followed the event on Facebook and Twitter.
Yisseth Jimenez Peralta of Oaxaca, Mexico, will never forget her experience as she camped with her Dunamis Pathfinder Club. “This was the best week of my life,” said Jimenez, 17. “To get to meet other pathfinders from different countries that I will never get to visit was so fantastic. And to be reminded that we need to have more faith in our lives touched my heart.”
Zaret Hernandez, 15, also from Oaxaca, agrees. She loved the theme of conquering giants because it reminded her that with faith God can help her face challenges. She recently faced a giant of her own.
“I had spent all my life studying in Adventist school and recently was forced to study in a public school,” she said. “It was so difficult to adjust to that environment, but God has helped me survive and I will continue to pray for His guidance.”
Jimenez and Hernandez were among thousands of pathfinders who participated in marches, honors and sports activities throughout the week. Their club came in second in the march competitions as well as second in a swim competition. They said they didn’t mind the rainy cold nights or the 13-hour bus drive.
The camporee was Jaxiry Villalobos’ first opportunity to travel outside his country of Costa Rica.
“The theme of conquering giants is what I loved the most,” he said. “For God nothing is impossible and to be a pathfinder means to help people and draw closer to God to accept His calling.”
The camporee was also a learning experience for Rose Celecburt, a pathfinder from Haiti.
“I really enjoyed my visit in Mexico and the spiritual messages were my favorite,” said Celecburt. “I know that in order to be a pathfinder I need to learn and teach others what I’ve learned.”
Facebook user Salim Moriah Hernandez shared that “this camporee was brilliant, we met beautiful people from other countries.”
Sheena Godoy also a Facebook user posted that it was “an awesome experience. Mexico is really a beautiful country although it was cold. The camporee was an enriching experience!”
Organizers and church leaders hope that spirit will endure as pathfinders travel back to their countries and resume their daily lives.
“We hope every pathfinder will be inspired to commit their lives to Jesus, armed with all the resources to conquer every giant that they face in their life,” said Carballo. “We want them to cherish the wonderful memories of the Christian fellowship in this multi-cultural, multi-lingual environment they experienced.”
Carballo added that the pathfinders will share what they have learned with the more than one million young people throughout the IAD territory.
“Our main concern is for our young people to be assured of God’s power as they face their giants,” explained Carballo. “They have giants such as low self-esteem, divorce, drugs, sex, pornography, music and other things that represent great challenges. We want our youth to foster true faith in Jesus, keep a song in their hearts and be anointed by the Holy Spirit so that they can say, as David did, ‘In the name of God, I will conquer giants.'”
Fabiola Quinto contritubed to this report.
To view dozens of stories on the pathfinder camporee, go to https://recursing-golick.147-182-135-0.plesk.page
To view webcasts of the camporee programs visit http://www.vimeo.com/album/1580309
For more on the Camporee website visit http://www.camporee.interamerica.org/
To view a photo gallery of the Camporee visit us at http://www.flickr.com/photos/interamerica
Facebook: In English click here In Spanish click here
IAD Camporee Facebook in Spanish click here
Twitter at http://twitter.com/camporeedia2011
