In Inter-America, Parents Are the Real Heroes Sending Their Children to the Pathfinder Camporee

A master guide from Chiapas, Mexico helps finish the entrance to his group’s campsite, Apr. 10, 2017. Image by Daniel Gallardo/IAD

April 11, 2017 | Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic | Libna Stevens/IAD

Thais Erazo from West Venezuela holds flags to sell during camporee to raise funds for the entrance costs when she returns to her country after the weekend. Image by Daniel Gallardo/IAD

“A pathfinder camporee is a once-in-a-lifetime experience,” says Thais Erazo, a single mother of two from Venezuela who has done the impossible to make sure her 13 and 15 year-old sons could take part in Inter-America’s fourth territory-wide pathfinder camporee in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.

Erazo, a business professor at the Venezuela Adventist University in Nirgua, West Venezuela, always dreamed of attending a camporee so she began raising funds two years ago. With the devaluation of currency in Venezuela, the costs of three airplane seemed impossible.

“I got a loan from work, a loan from my bank and still couldn’t meet the nearly $2,000 worth of plane tickets,” says Erazo. Many of her friends told her she was crazy to think she and her sons could raise so much money. “You could buy a car with that money they would tell me.” Erazo called on her friends from all over the country and outside for whatever they could donate.

“It’s been a real miracle to finally be here, and it feels so wonderful,” says Erazo. She says she usually cannot stand the heat but she says the sun does not even bother her because she has so much joy.

Pastor Anthony Hall, youth ministries director of the church in the Caribbean Union. Image by Daniel Gallardo/IAD

Erazo is among a group of 26 from the West Venezuela Union. She has already seen miracles take place as she walks around the campsites. Her group has been provided meals during their six-day stay this week, another miracle she says.

“I want my children to have the love for that church identity that we enjoy as Seventh-day Adventists,” says Erazo. “I want them to deepen their relationship with Jesus and see how the church moves through the Bible, education, and formation of so many children who become leaders of the church in events like these.”

“Parents are the real heroes here,” says Pastor Anthony Hall, youth ministries director for the church in the Caribbean Union. Hall says that parents are the ones who cover most of the costs for pathfinders among his 700 delegation from dozens of islands in the Caribbean.

“Many clubs raised funds by holding concerts, car washing activities, bake sales, and fun day activities, but the bulk of the costs comes from parent’s pockets and some assistance from their local churches,” says Hall. Most of his pathfinders spent upwards of $800 each just to cover their airplane ticket.

Jesus Vega, a parent of Gemini Pathfinder Club in the outskirts of Montemorelos, Mexico, helps with fundraising for club expenses to the camporee. Image courtesy of Oscar Rivera/IAD

Oscar Rivera, youth ministries director for the church in North Mexico has a group of 342 settled into the campgrounds already. He saw firsthand how parents covered the costs for their children. Parents of the 11-member Gerizim Pathfinder Club in the outskirts of Montemorelos raised money by having car washes and selling food for over a year just to cover the airfare.

“That club alone raised over $9,000 and was the first to deliver funds to the union office,” says Rivera. “There are two things I want the young people to encounter God and new friends.”

Ensuring that pathfinders enjoy themselves and draw closer to Jesus during the week is at the top of the organizers’ list says Pastor Hiram Ruiz, general coordinator of the camporee.

“Just like in biblical times, the people of Israel invested in including their children to be part of special gatherings or parties that spoke of the power of God with His people, and so is the same with parents who have invested in sending their children here,” says Ruiz.

Many of the parents who sent their children to this year’s camporee took part in the Inter-American Division’s (IAD) first territory-wide pathfinder camporee held in the early 1980s in Oaxtepec, Mexico, explains Ruiz.

“Many are sending their children and grandchildren here this week,” adds Ruiz. “The investment parents make is in response to the spiritual need and moral values they want their children to have in this new generation of Seventh-day Adventists,” Ruiz says.

To view devotionals at 6:45 a.m. and evening programs at 6:30 p.m. online every day, go to webcast.interamerica.org