More than 4,500 Pathfinders from six South Pacific territories gathered near Honiara, capital of the Solomon Islands, for the Trans Pacific Union Mission (TPUM) Camporee, held from December 16 to 20, 2019. The event closed with 278 baptisms — a number far above the 19 initially planned in the program, according to Adventist Record, the official publication of the South Pacific Division of the Adventist Church.
With the theme "Hear the Call," the Camporee gathered 119 Pathfinder clubs on a site of the Solomon Islands Mission, on the banks of the Lunga River, where the baptisms were held. The Solomon Islands made up the largest contingent, with more than 2,000 participants.
What happened
The Trans Pacific Union Mission Camporee is the major regional gathering of the Pathfinder clubs in that part of the South Pacific. The 2019 edition took place at the end of the year, taking advantage of the Southern Hemisphere school holidays, and ran from December 16 to 20 on a site of the Solomon Islands Mission, near Honiara.
According to Adventist Record, the venue had the structure to receive the crowd of campers, including a hall (the Maranatha Hall) and a central space where the clubs gathered at night, and it stood beside the Lunga River — a detail that would become central to the story of the event, since it was there that the baptisms took place.
A report by the local newspaper Solomon Star recorded the opening ceremony, marked by colorful parades of the clubs. For a Brazilian reader used to the camporees of the South American Division, the scene is familiar: rows of tents, flags, uniforms and a schedule full of spiritual, physical and field activities over several days.
The numbers of the gathering
The released totals give the scale of the event. There were more than 4,500 Pathfinders, spread across 119 clubs, according to Adventist Record. The Solomon Islands, the host country, brought the largest number of participants: more than 2,000, nearly half the total.
The rest came from five other territories in the region: Fiji, Tonga, Vanuatu, American Samoa and Papua New Guinea. These are nations spread across an immense ocean, which turns a gathering like this into a logistical operation of long journeys, many of them by sea or air between islands.
| Item | Number |
|---|---|
| Pathfinders present | More than 4,500 |
| Participating clubs | 119 |
| Territories represented | 6 |
| Solomon Islands participants | More than 2,000 |
| Baptisms initially planned | 19 |
| Baptisms held | 278 |
From 19 to 278 baptisms
The highlight of the Camporee was spiritual. The program planned for 19 baptisms, but, over the days of messages and activities, that number grew significantly. In the end, 278 people went down into the waters of the Lunga River for baptism, according to Adventist Record.
The publication reports that the experience touched even part of the communication team covering the event: four members of the media team were among those baptized that day. It is the kind of detail that helps explain why camporees, beyond the challenges and competitions, are treated by the Adventist Church as opportunities for personal decision.
The theme chosen for the edition, "Hear the Call," sums up the purpose: the evening meetings were conducted with a focus on invitation and decision, and not only on recreational programming.
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The organization involved leaders from different levels of the region's Adventist structure. Leading the coordination were Pastor Steve Aquila, youth director of the Solomon Islands Mission, and Pastor Charlie Jimmy, youth director of the Trans Pacific Union Mission, according to Adventist Record.
The official opening carried institutional and political weight. According to the Solomon Star, the one who declared the Camporee open was the then Prime Minister of the Solomon Islands, Manasseh Sogavare. Church authorities also took part, such as the president of the Solomon Islands Mission and representatives of the South Pacific Division and of the world headquarters of the Pathfinder work.
In a statement quoted by Adventist Record, Pastor Steve Aquila summed up the feeling of the organizing team upon seeing the public's response. "The success of the camporee is another evidence of God's existence," he said.
What a Camporee is — and why it matters
For those just arriving to the movement, some context is worth it. A Camporee is a large campout that gathers several Pathfinder clubs from the same area — it can be from a region, a field (Conference or Mission), a Union or, as in the case of the Solomon Islands, an entire Union that spans several countries.
At these gatherings, the clubs camp together for a few days and take part in a schedule that usually mixes ceremonies, spiritual messages, skill challenges, field activities, drill and moments of fellowship. It is also where many Pathfinders make decisions of faith, such as baptism.
In Brazil, the Pathfinder knows this format well: the South American Division holds camporees at every level, up to the large Union gatherings with tens of thousands of participants. The TPUM Camporee is the South Pacific equivalent — the same idea, on another side of the planet.
Where the Trans Pacific Union Mission is
The Trans Pacific Union Mission is one of the Unions of the South Pacific Division of the Adventist Church, headquartered in Fiji. It brings together the Church's work across a group of Pacific island nations, among them the Solomon Islands themselves, Fiji, Tonga, Vanuatu, Kiribati and neighboring territories.
The Solomon Islands, the country that hosted the Camporee, form an archipelago east of Papua New Guinea, with hundreds of islands and a population with a strong Christian presence. Honiara, where the event took place, is the country's capital.
Comparing the distances helps to understand the effort behind the gathering: while a Brazilian camporee usually gathers clubs that arrive by road, the TPUM Camporee depends on travel between islands separated by thousands of kilometers of open sea — which makes the mark of 4,500 participants even more striking for the local reality.
Setting aside the distances and the differences in size, the picture is the same one the Brazilian Pathfinder recognizes: uniformed children and teenagers, a spiritual call at the center of the programming and water as a symbol of decision. The ocean changes; the purpose of the Pathfinder Club remains the same.