Los Angeles Chinese

I had heard how God turned aside the path of a tornado in 1999, sparing the Pathfinders at the last Pathfinder camporee. But when I experienced a miracle myself, I decided that I believe in miracles, too.

As part of our club’s preparation process for the “Faith on Fire” Camporee we told parents and Pathfinders that we might encounter mosquitoes as big as hummingbirds. With the fear of the West Niles Virus, everyone packed bottles and bottles of mosquito repellent. However, we found that the weather during the camporee was so cold, with the wind blowing 40-50 mph, that not one mosquito could have survived so we did not have to worry about the West Nile Virus. We praised God for that.

For community service, our club had a great time painting fire hydrants. Pathfinders also enjoyed meeting their “neighbors” thousands of miles away from home, giving back a little love to the community that had so welcomed us.

Since the camporee, our Pathfinders have continued singing the “Faith on Fire” theme song and songs from “The Fire Within” soundtrack. The event was definitely a life-changing experience for Pathfinders and adults alike. We promised we would light each other’s candle and keep our fire burning.

Ron Lee, L.A. Chinese Pathfinder director

Sylmar

The first activity of the Sylmar club was to clear hiking trails. The youth enjoyed the work so much that they stayed longer than they were supposed to. Two other projects that the club worked on were sweeping the parking lot and laying mulch on the hiking trail to keep down the weeds and mud for hikers.

When the eighteen club members who came to the camporee arrived in Oshkosh, they found that the transportation they had arranged to help them get food was delayed in arriving. They had not eaten since breakfast, so the Pathfinders spent their travel day on an unexpected fast and were very happy when their evening meal finally arrived at 7:30 p.m.

Randy Reddig, Sylmar leader

Glendale

In his work with teachers of the L.A. Unified School District, Glendale Pathfinder leader Warren Dale learned about an area resource person with an interesting feature on pyramid building. So when he attended a meeting with North American Division leaders planning the camporee and heard them express their interest in obtaining quality features on Egypt, Dale recommended Dr. Maureen Clemmons, a National Geographic explorer who was then just finishing her second History Channel documentary.

Clemmons accepted the invitation to come to the camporee, where she was hosted by the Glendale Pathfinders. Housed in a tent near the main entrance of the exhibit area, Clemmons brought kites and costumes plus a 400-pound cement obelisk, all of which were transported in the semi truck chartered by SCC Pathfinder Director Bob Wong to haul luggage for SCC clubs.

Clemmons’ presentations to packed audiences shared her research on early drawings of pyramid construction sites that showed ropes similar to those used for rock climbing as well as pulleys and airfoils or kites. Clemmons theorizes that the Egyptians wove linen sails or kite sections reinforced with the varnish-like substance emitted by scarab beetles to lift large, heavy building materials with relative ease.

Clemmons’ hands-on show included costumes, scale models and videos with pictures of Egyptian hieroglyphics. Though the feature was interesting to young people and parents, Pathfinders especially enjoyed opportunities to pull the 400-pound obelisk around with a four-foot kite.

Warren Dale, Glendale leader