Mission Africa camporee brings together 35 clubs in Moldova

The Pathfinder camporee in Moldova filled three weeks of the 2026 European summer: from July 13 to August 2, the camp ran in three sessions at the Adventus Multifunctional Center in Rezina and hosted 35 clubs. By the count of the Moldova Union of Churches of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, 367 Pathfinders and their friends from non-Adventist families took part, along with more than 80 instructors. With the theme Misiunea Africa (Mission Africa), the program became an imaginary expedition to the African continent.

The Union published its official report in Romanian on August 11, and the Euro-Asia Division republished it in Russian on August 27.

📰What was the 2026 Pathfinder camporee in Moldova?

It was the camporee of the Exploratori (the Romanian name for the Pathfinder Club) of the Adventist Church in Moldova. According to the Moldova Union of Churches, it took place in three sessions between July 13 and August 2, 2026, in Rezina. The report does not give the dates of each session or how many people attended each one.

A Pathfinder camporee usually brings clubs from several churches together for a few days of camping, worship and outdoor activities. The one in Moldova followed that format, with a common thread: every activity was part of the same mission story.

👥Who took part, and how many were there?

The report is signed by two Union leaders: Robert Leahu, who directs the Youth Ministries Department, and Svetlana Bașmacova, coordinator of the Exploratori and Adventurer clubs in the country. By their numbers, the camp hosted 35 clubs, 367 Pathfinders and their friends from non-Adventist families, and more than 80 instructors. The report does not say how many of the friends came from outside the church.

Pastor Andrei Moldovanu, president of the Union, visited the camp and, according to the report, urged the Pathfinders to keep seeking God and serving the people around them. The Sabbath worship services had two special guests: Ruslan Bulgac, secretary of the Union, and Sergiu Tarlev, secretary of the Moldova Pastoral Association.

🌍What was the theme of the Mission Africa camporee?

The storyline worked like an expedition: on arriving in Rezina, each Pathfinder set off, in imagination, toward the heart of Africa and, day by day, moved one stage further along a missionary's life. The organizers' message, though, pointed close to home. According to the Union, nobody has to travel far to be a missionary, and mission can start right now, in the neighborhood, at school and among friends. Anyone who has been to themed camporees in Brazil will recognize the approach.

The backbone of the spiritual program was a set of five lessons, listed in the table. Together they trace a path from liberation to service: leaving sin behind, choosing a direction for your life, contemplating Christ's sacrifice, giving yourself to God and taking up the care of others.

Source: Moldova Union of Churches (adventist.md), August 2026, freely translated from Romanian.

🥾What did the Pathfinders do in Rezina?

The toughest activity was an 18-kilometer hike. The organizers say the route became a hands-on lesson in helping a teammate, not giving up and trusting God. The program also had a themed forest trail, quest-style challenge games, drama, creative workshops and work on Honors.

One of the spots that drew the most attention was Rope Town (Orășelul de funii), a course where each participant had to face their own insecurity to keep moving forward. The African theme also took on real faces: the program featured mission stories from the continent, and members of the team itself shared what they had lived through on mission projects in Ethiopia and Kenya.

🧺What was the mission outreach in Saharna Nouă like?

According to the Union, the high point came outside the camp, in the village of Saharna Nouă, which lies in the same Rezina district. There, each club put together and delivered packages for families in need, with food, toys, school supplies for the children and Christian literature. The outreach also extended to two villages in the district, whose residents received books and copies of the newspaper Comoara ascunsă (The Hidden Treasure, in free translation).

The report notes that, for many of the teenagers, this was their first taste of mission work done with their own hands. At the camp, a special collection passed 5,000 lei (plural of leu, Moldova's currency). The money will help prepare the next mission trip, whose destination the Union has not announced.

🙏How many decisions and baptisms were there at the camporee?

In the Moldova Union of Churches' report, nothing carried as much weight as the spiritual decisions. One Pathfinder was baptized as early as the first session, and over the course of the camporee 167 people answered the call to give their lives to Jesus. The Euro-Asia Division's text gives the same two numbers.

The camporee also held solemn ceremonies to consecrate new club members; the report does not describe the rite. In Brazil, a newcomer's official entry is usually celebrated at the scarf admission ceremony. At the farewell, the Union summed up the summer's message: after the imaginary journey to Africa, each Pathfinder goes back to their first mission field, which is their family, school, friends and neighbors.

You came as a participant, but you will leave as a missionary. The mission goes on, and now you are part of it.Central message of the camporee, according to the Moldova Union of Churches (adventist.md, 2026), freely translated from Romanian

🗺️Where is Moldova, and what is its place on the Adventist map?

According to Encyclopaedia Britannica, Moldova is a landlocked European country at the northeastern edge of the Balkan region, bordered by Romania to the west and by Ukraine to the north, east and south. Its capital is Chișinău and its official language is Romanian. As in neighboring Romania, the club is called Exploratori, a name that runs through the history of Pathfinders in Romania.

In the Seventh-day Adventist Church, the country forms the Moldova Union of Churches, part of the Euro-Asia Division, one of the world Divisions of the Adventist Church. According to the Encyclopedia of Seventh-day Adventists, the Union had 140 churches and 8,479 members as of June 30, 2020. For another picture of Pathfinders in Europe, read about the first Balkan Camporee, in Bosnia and Herzegovina.