Finally, after having only online summer camps for children and youth for two years during the pandemic, we were able to have a combined preteen and youth camp from Aug. 8-14, 2022. We met in a region known as the “eternal spring” of Mexico—Cuernavaca. It is only an hour away from Mexico City at “Camp Lomas Pinar.”

It was a blessing to have exclusive use of this beautiful, verdant place for camp. It has a multi-purpose living and dining room with a fireplace and a kitchen with ample space for food preparation and dishwashing. In addition, it features two multi-purpose outdoor courts and several other recreational areas. The rooms and cabins were very comfortable and sheltered us from some evening rain during the camp.

The theme of the camp was “Anchors Away!” The concept was used in the daily Bible classes, arts and crafts, sports and other activities. The kids were asked to “anchor themselves” with the biblical principles learned from this camp while having a lot of fun.

We encouraged them to read God’s manual—the Bible—in order to navigate our “ship of life.” Then, they were to use the “spyglass” of hope to look positively at whatever the future holds and to use the map of the Bible to ask ourselves “where is our true treasure?” Finally, we used the symbol of the anchor again, but this time upside down, so that everyone could “anchor” themselves upward to God through our High Priest, Jesus Christ (Hebrews 6:19-20).

Both children and teens received daily Bible classes from two ministers, Jaime Díaz from Chile and Gabriel Garcia, from Mexico. Gabriel’s wife, Andrea, and Jaime’s wife,
Lorena, helped coordinate many of the activities. We also had a fine support team: for food processing—Roberto Hernandez and his wife Eufemia, Gregorio Santana and his wife Martina, Ana de la Cruz and Javier Medina. The activities for children and youth were coordinated by Blanca Aguirre, German Alvarado, Jair Ventura and Hector Alejandro.

During the week we did various sports, two dances, recreational activities of all kinds (including an inflatable bounce castle for the children) and spent a whole day at a water park.

On Sabbath morning, the ministers travelled to Mexico City to conduct services for the whole country. Once services were over, they returned to the camp to carry out the Sabbath services with the preteens and youth. The youth participated in the songleading, sermonette and special music. What a joy it is to see the youth participating in godly things!

The campers and staff came from several regions of Mexico: Acapulco, Nayarit, Tabasco, Veracruz, Chiapas and Mexico City. We also had some children travel from Temuco, Chile. There were 18 teenagers, 15 children and 17 adults who participated in the camp.

We want to first give thanks to God for this beautiful opportunity to care for the Church’s children at the camp. We’d also like to thank those who helped and served tirelessly in such a noble and dedicated way, to the parents who trusted in the whole organization to care for their children and to the teens and children for their joy and their desire to anchor their souls with God. We can’t wait until next year!