Night after night, for thousands of years, in all lands and continents in the Northern Hemisphere, there is one speck of light in the sky that hardly ever moves—a quiet testimony to the faithfulness, constancy, and immutability (unchanging quality) of God and His way of life.

Polaris, the North Star, is located about 430 light-years away in the constellation Ursa Minor (a.k.a. Little Bear or Little Dipper). It lies nearly in a direct line with the Earth’s axis of rotation above the North Pole—about only two-thirds of a degree from the exact North Celestial Pole. As a result, it seems fixed in the sky as observed from the Earth, while all the heavenly bodies—the moon, the planets, and the stars—revolve around it. For several centuries, Polaris has been used by explorers as a reference to determine their travel direction and latitude, and by sailors to chart their course through the open seas.

“Remember True North” was chosen as the theme for this year’s United Youth Camp. Since we now live in a world that increasingly believes that there is no such thing as absolute truth, we wanted to stress that, in the midst of the resultant moral confusion happening all around us—not to mention the dizzying pace of societal and technological changes—some things remain constant and never do change—God, His Word, His principles, and His promises. Scriptures also show that in reference to the Earth, God’s throne is in the far North (Psalm 48:2; Isaiah 14:13).

There were a total of 84 participants in the Philippine United Youth Camp this year. While last year we had 32 campers, this year two additional dorms of eight boy campers plus eight girl campers were added, bringing the total to 48 campers and 36 staff members (including 12 counselors). For the sixth consecutive year, the UYC was held at Eden Nature Park in Davao City, from May 13 to 20. However, members of the staff came a week earlier for camp set-up and pre-camp training.

Upon arrival and registration, each boy camper was given two royal blue camp shirts and each girl camper was given two royal purple camp shirts. All the shirts had the logo of the United Youth Camp printed in white on the upper-left side at the front. Each camper was also given a plastic-laminated camp ID and assigned to one of six dorms—three boys’ dorms (1B, 2B, and 3B) and two girls’ dorms (1G, 2G, and 3G). Each dorm of eight campers (plus the counselor and the assistant counselor) stayed in tents and cooked their own food on two-burner gas stoves.

Each day began at 5 a.m. with Quiet Time (an hour of prayer and Bible study). Then at 6 a.m., the dorm would shower, get ready, and cook their breakfast. During other meals, however, dorms would invite one another, help prepare the food, and join hands in cleaning up afterward. Like a family, the campers and counselors in each dorm slept, ate, played, learned, and worked together.

After breakfast, the first activity of the day was Compass Check conducted by Camp Director Edmond Macaraeg. On the first Compass Check, Mr. Macaraeg asked each camper to put on a blindfold, stand up, turn and point to the north. Then, he asked everyone to remove their blindfold and look around to see where everyone else was pointing. It was in every direction! He said this fact illustrates the confusion that exists in this present world because Satan has blinded the minds of people from the Truth. He then gave each camper a special souvenir—a carabiner key chain compass. On the back, it read, “Remember True North—United Youth Camp 2007.”

But there were other lessons that morning. With compass on hand, he demonstrated that even the compass needle can point to the wrong direction because of the influence of nearby materials made of iron or steel which are among the most common and abundant metals on earth. This can represent the abundance of people in this world who, if we’re not careful or knowledgeable enough, can influence us in a wrong way.

Apart from that, he also demonstrated that even from some distance another strong magnet can change or even reverse the direction of a compass needle. He said this can represent the invisible but powerful influence of Satan and his demons upon humanity, to turn us away from God.

For five mornings, Mr. Macaraeg expanded on the theme and related it to the other major compass directions which many could follow and alter and affect one’s true direction or purpose in life. These are: Careerism, Outside relationships, Media (music & movies, etc.), People (peers, popular ideas), Addictions, Sabbath compromise, and Sexual immorality. Note that the beginning letters of each topic spell the word COMPASS, and all of them represent seven possible deviations—out of the eight major compass points. But there is only one True North.

After Compass Check, several activities were also lined up for the day: Confidence Course, Dance, First Aid, Inline Skating, Orienteering, Riflery, Softball, Soccer, Swimming, and Wilderness Skills. In the Wilderness Skills activity, each dorm hiked to the “wilderness” away from the campsite and prepared their food without the regular conveniences and utensils. They cooked their rice using bamboo tubes and baked their bread without ovens. They had to build and maintain a fire to cook the barbecued chicken.

After the Wilderness Skills activity, each camper got to conquer their fears by overcoming several obstacles in the Confidence Course. First was the Wall Climb. Each camper had to climb a 40-foot high vertical wall by grabbing on to holds fastened to the wall. Each climber, of course, had a helmet and safety harness. After that, they had to descend by rappelling. Then they went through the Monkey Bridge, the 50-meter Pulley Slide, and then finally the much-awaited Mud Tunnel. The last one seemed to be, by far, the most popular. It seemed that the quality of the Mud Tunnel experience depended on how muddy, slimy, and dirty each camper got!

On the sixth day of camp, 14 workshops were offered to pass on a marketable or useful skill. Each camper could choose to attend up to two workshops: Art Illustration, Basic Carpentry, Basic Home Painting, Basic Home Plumbing, Beading Accessories, Conversational English Training, Cooking & Baking, Envelope Making, Etiquette & Grooming, Journalism, LPG/Home Fire Safety, PA System, Public Speaking, and Silkscreen Printing.

For the other evenings we had Orientation Night, Acquaintance Night, Fellowship Time, and a Bible Study-Open Forum.

On the fourth day of camp, it was a clear moonless night, perfect for star-gazing. All the campers and staff went to the top of the hill to look up at the sky. Aided by an astronomy program running on a laptop computer and projected onto a screen through a multimedia projector, and with a two-million-candlepower spotlight, the campers and staff were shown the different visible stars, planets, and constellations, including the location of the Big Dipper and the North Star.

The evening on the fifth day of camp was the perfect follow-up to the night before. A video by Moody Institute of Science was shown entitled “The Milky Way and Beyond.” In just 40 minutes, the video took the viewer through a spectacular trip exploring galaxies and observing pulsars, quasars, and mysterious black holes. It featured photography from the Hubble space telescope. It was very inspiring to see how majestic and limitless the universe really is. Both campers and staff had a greater appreciation for the incredible beauty and immensity of God’s creation, and the fact that in spite of our present nothingness, we have the promise of ruling over God’s creation and inheriting all things!

On the Sabbath, we had a challenging Bible Bowl in the morning and Sabbath Services in the afternoon. Mr. Florante Siopan, pastor of the Visayas congregations, gave a sermonette on “How to Handle Conflicts When They Arise,” while Mr. Edmond Macaraeg gave a sermon on “Seven Keys to Making Wise Decisions.”

For the final evening at camp, everyone was treated to a buffet dinner at the Lower Veranda of the Eden Nature Park. We had a formal dance and each dorm gave their best performances with cheers, yells, and dorm songs. Some of the “braver” staff members even did a special dance number! This was capped by the awarding ceremonies. The camp was officially ended at midnight. It was considered by everyone a great success!

The next morning, everyone started packing their belongings. Quite noticeable was that many, if not most of the campers had their key chain compasses hanging from their belt loops. . . This time, the theme wasn’t just an empty phrase or slogan written on the back of their compasses, but a living phrase written in their minds and hearts as well. It was a call to remember God, who gave the great blessing of knowing Him better and His way of life during this year’s camp. We hope and pray that when life gets confusing and they don’t know which way to turn, they will recall United Youth Camp 2007 and “Remember True North.”

—Reported by Daniel Roy Macaraeg

© 2007 United Church of God, AIA - Pilipinas