![Adventist young people rake debris and beautify public areas in the southern part of Chiapas, Mexico, on March. 13, 2022. The group is part of more than 15,000 young people who took to the streets in their cities, communities, parks, and public places as part of the church’s “Clean Your City” initiative one week ahead of the Adventist World Church’s Global Youth Day. [Photo: Chiapas Mexican Union]](https://cdn.adventistcontent.org/images/5df200974469ba078555eb4c/76e1c221b88f66792562c7010b5e70912c2efbcb/1200x/ybe1648569544270.png)
A week ahead of the Seventh-day Adventist Church’s Global Youth Day, more than 15,000 Seventh-day Adventists in Chiapas, Mexico, took to the streets, parks, and public spaces on March. 13, 2022, to clean up and inspire others to join their efforts.
From very early on, many local church youth clubs wore their Adventurer, Pathfinder, or Master Guide scarfs. Also, with their “The Final Hope” shirts, young people swept, cleared, and gathered trash.
The church’s state wide initiative, coined “Clean Your City,” was created three years ago by Youth Ministries in Chiapas to motivate young and old to care for their environment as God’s stewards, said Pastor Daniel Torreblanca, Youth Ministries director for the church in Chiapas.
“Because of the pandemic, the young people had not been able to freely clean the streets of Tuxtla Gutiérrez as intended, but this year, we were able to motivate young people to expand to cleaning their cities and communities,” said Torreblanca.
“We were so pleased to see children and young people moving about and cleaning because they are clear in their role of being good stewards.” In addition, he indicated the initiative is teaching young people who take part in the activity are participating in delivering a message about creation—a quiet and effective sermon.
![Young people in Motozintla, Chiapas, load up bags of trash in a truck provided by the local authorities. [Photo: Chiapas Mexican Union]](https://cdn.adventistcontent.org/images/5df200974469ba078555eb4c/28a8b2df9085b861786c5c4ae4dca48f992d6da0/30x/iWu1648569578971.png)
Young people in Motozintla, Chiapas, load up bags of trash in a truck provided by the local authorities. [Photo: Chiapas Mexican Union]
In Tuxtla Gutiérrez, the capital city, close to 1,500 young people cleaned the riverbed around the Sabinal River, adding to the municipal authority’s efforts in their campaign to restore a drainage area that crosses the city and was previously used as a sewage canal.
Carlos Morales, municipal president of Tuxtla Gutiérrez, met with youth volunteers to congratulate them for their spirit of service and thanked the church for making the world better.
Throughout Chiapas, municipal leaders visited young people where they were serving to congratulate them.
Pastor Ignacio Navarro, president of the church in Chiapas, expressed how proud he was of the passion and commitment of so many children and young people during the clean-up. “This is simply a demonstration that the church cares for society and presents Jesus in our cities and communities through the practical message of the gospel,” said Navarro.
Many onlookers joined the young people during the clean-up activity, church leaders said. The event was covered by television and print media.
A group of young people pose for a photo after cleaning up the Sabinal River area in Tuxtla Gutiérrez. [Photo: Chiapas Mexican Union}
“I’m very glad to see so many children involved in cleaning up, to see that at such [a] young age, they have the motivation on behalf of the Adventist Church for caring for the environment,” said Elida García, a resident from Huixtla, in the southern part of the state.
The “Clean Your City” initiative was organized within the national impact campaign led by the church in Mexico. The campaign, coined “The Final Hope,” calls for 3 million missionary books titled The Final Hope, by Clifford Goldstein, to be distributed. More than 800,000 Adventists in Mexico will distribute the books on Global Youth Day on March 29, 2022.
To learn more about the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Chiapas one of five major church regions in Mexico, visit umch.org.mx.
This article was originally published on the Inter-American Division’s website