RMCNews with Sue Nelson – Gillette, Wyoming … The International Pathfinder Camporee in Gillette, Wyoming, is only ten days away. Pathfinders from the Rocky Mountain Conference (RMC) and around the world are on the move! That’s right! Pathfinders are already leaving their homes to make the trip to the RMC to participate in the Gillette mega-event, August 5-11.
“Churches and schools, be ready to be contacted about places for the Pathfinders to stay overnight on their way to the Camporee, if you have not already been contacted. Several have been,” says Sue Nelson, executive coordinator of RMC Club Ministries.
Nelson adds, “we are so excited to have this Camporee finally happen!”
Much is happening behind the scenes in preparation, and the Rocky Mountain Conference has 36 clubs attending. According to information from the Camporee organizers on entry ticket sales, over 900 RMC Pathfinders, staff, and guests plan to attend. They will be a part of 60,000 Camporee participants. On Friday, August 9, a baptism service will include 23 participants from RMC Pathfinder Clubs.
Visitors to the Camporee will not be able to miss the presence of participants from the host region—the Rocky Mountain Conference. There will be patches and trading pins representing individual clubs, but the main entrance gate will offer itself for souvenir photographs. Eli Gonzales, an architect from Littleton, Colorado, who also serves as co-executive coordinator of the RMC Club Ministries, designed the entrance gate.
Based on the Camporee theme, “Believe the Promise,” Gonzales was motivated by the ministry of young people. “For me, they are the ministers of today and tomorrow. And my string art design included a theme of mountain peaks for which we are recognized in our part of the world,” he explained.
He shared that the design needed 2,800 pounds of iron elements, 600 feet of chain, and five miles of rope. Six emblems from Pathfinder and youth ministries are displayed as part of the artistic vision of the design. After the event, the designed sculpture will be moved to its permanent home at Glacier View Ranch in Ward, Colorado.
Several RMC clubs are hosting international clubs. Dr. David Smith, from the Grand Junction Seventh-day Adventist Church in Grand Junction, Colorado, is hosting about 100 Pathfinders from the German and Netherlands Unions. The Denver South Trailblazers Pathfinders Club is hosting some 20 Pathfinders from the London, U.K., area—the Brixton Jays.
“Please keep all our Pathfinders in your prayers. May they have a safe journey and that this experience will be ‘Making it easy to know God,’” comments Nelson.
—RMCNews with Sue Nelson, RMC Club Ministries executive coordinator. Photos supplied.
