More than 7,500 young people packed up their sleeping bags and tents to attend this year’s master guide camporee events that took place during the month of April throughout several territories of the Seventh-day Adventist Church’s Inter-American Division, or region.

Hosting the camporees were the Venezuela-Antilles, Inter-Oceanic Mexican and West Indies regions of the church. The Venezuela-Antilles Union held three separate camporees in Venezuela, with 4,660 master guides attending; the West Indies Union held its camporee in the Bahamas with over 400 master guides. The Inter-Oceanic Mexican Union held its camporee in Veracruz, Mexico, where more than 2,500 master guides camped out for the event.

Pastor Bernardo Rodriguez, youth director for Inter-America, explains that the basic purpose for the camporees is to train and inspire master guides or Pathfinder instructors for the joy of salvation and service to the community.

“This event is where the skills of the trained youth as the master guides can be appreciated so that they can guide the Pathfinders and Adventurers and the youth for the end times and the coming of Jesus,” says Rodriguez.

Master guides are instructors, ages 16-30, who have completed a certain number of honors in arts and crafts, health and science, industries, community service ministry, and recreation, thus providing needed vocational abilities to take the gospel to this generation. They study nature and instruct young people in the pathfinder and adventurer clubs.

There are over 80,000 master guides leading more than 120,000 pathfinders and adventurers in Inter-America.