More than 2,000 children and young people from different regions of Spain gathered from June 25 to 28, 2026, at the Raso de la Nava campsite in Covaleda (Pinares district, province of Soria), for the 2026 National Explorers Camporee. The gathering, the largest of the movement in the country, had the theme Transformed and was organized by the Youth Department of the Spanish Adventist Union.
According to the Spanish Adventist Youth (JAE), the program revolved around an immersion into the life of the apostle Paul, with the aim that participants not only attend an event but experience, in the organization's words, "a real renewal in faith and in life purpose." The Explorers were accompanied by monitors and support staff.
What happened in Covaleda
The 2026 National Explorers Camporee occupied the Raso de la Nava campsite in Covaleda for four days — a town surrounded by pine forests in the Pinares district, in the north of the province of Soria. According to the newspaper El Mirón de Soria, the event brought together more than 2,000 children and young people from different parts of Spain, in addition to the monitors and the support team responsible for logistics.
The choice of location was no accident. The natural surroundings of Covaleda, the JAE reported, once again became the reference setting for the national gathering, taking advantage of the forest as a backdrop for the outdoor activities — the hallmark of any camporee.
The dates, June 25 to 28, were confirmed both by the Adventist organization and by the local press in Soria, which followed the preparations throughout the month.
'Transformed': the life of Paul at the center of the program
The theme chosen for the 2026 edition was Transformed. According to the Spanish Adventist Youth, the aim was to lead participants through an immersion into the life of the apostle Paul — the persecutor who, after an encounter that changed his course, became one of the greatest names of the early Christian church.
The idea, the organization explained, was to use that path of radical change as a common thread to speak about personal transformation to the Explorers themselves. More than a series of lectures, the JAE described the experience as immersive, seeking for each child and young person to leave the camp with a "real renewal in faith and in life purpose."
Themed camporees like this one are common in the movement: each major gathering usually adopts a motto and a biblical character or passage that organizes the activities, the worship services and the dynamics of the camp days. It is a model that the Brazilian reader recognizes immediately.
What a camporee is — and who the Explorers are
For those who follow the movement in Brazil, a word of vocabulary is in order. In Spain, the club that in Brazil is called Pathfinders is known as Explorers. They are the same ministry of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, aimed at children and adolescents, with uniforms, honors, progressive classes and outdoor life — just with a different name depending on the country.
A camporee (or campori, in the spelling most used in Brazil) is the large camp that brings together several clubs from the same region, country or even division. For a few days, participants pitch tents, compete in skills events, take part in worship services and live together in community. For many Pathfinders, it is the high point of the year.
In the Spanish case, the gathering has national reach: it brings together clubs from all over the country in a single camp. Keeping the proportions of territory and number of members in mind, it is the equivalent of the large conference and union camporees that mark the calendar of Brazilian Pathfinders.
Read alsoAbout 5,000 Pathfinders gather at the 4th SID Camporee, in ZimbabweWhere Spain fits on the Pathfinder map
While the Pathfinders of Brazil belong to the South American Division (SAD), the Explorers of Spain are organized under the Spanish Adventist Union, which is part of the Inter-European Division — the administrative region of the Adventist Church that covers much of western and central Europe.
A division is the largest regional instance in the church's worldwide structure; below it come the unions, the conferences or missions and, finally, the local churches and clubs. The Pathfinder Ministry follows this same logic on every continent, which means that a camporee in Soria and a campori in the interior of Brazil share principles, pledges and the Pathfinder law, even with different languages and cultures.
The Adventist presence in Spain is a minority in a predominantly Catholic country, which gives gatherings like this one extra weight: bringing together more than 2,000 children and young people in a single camp is, for the local community, a milestone of mobilization.
Security coordinated with local authorities
A camp of this size required separate planning with public authorities. On June 3, 2026, according to the portal Desde Soria, representatives of the Government Subdelegation, the Covaleda Town Council, the Guardia Civil, the Junta de Castilla y León and Civil Protection met with the Adventist organization to coordinate the event's security arrangement.
According to the local press, the camporee had a private security service, in addition to its own internal organizing team — made up, the newspaper reported, of about 40 people. An additional technical meeting between the Guardia Civil and the organizers was planned for the days before the camp, in order to check access points and control posts.
There was also a scheduling challenge. The start of the camporee, on June 25, coincided with the Jueves de La Saca, one of the central events of the San Juan festivities in Soria, which forced a review of bus movements and access to the national road so as not to overload the region on the same day.
What this says to the Brazilian Pathfinder
At first glance, a camp in Spain would seem to have little to do with the daily life of a club in Manaus, Recife or Porto Alegre. But the news is a good reminder that the movement is worldwide. The same elements that define a Brazilian campori — tents, honors, worship services, field events and a central biblical theme — appear, with a different accent, on the other side of the Atlantic.
The life of the apostle Paul, chosen as the theme in Covaleda, is the same story studied in units and classes by Brazilian Pathfinders. And the idea behind the motto Transformed — that the camp serves less the trophy and more the change of life — echoes the purpose that the South American Division repeats at every major event.
For those who dream of one day taking part in an international gathering, news like this shows that the network is real: on any continent, there is a child with a scarf around the neck learning to tie a knot, light a campfire and serve others. The name changes; the movement is the same.