Bill Hebner

With the passing of Neil Armstrong this week, many of my childhood expectations came crashing down.   There was no way when I was 6yrs of age, following the excitement and celebration I saw around the world,  could you tell me that; we would not have a station on the moon that I could visit by the time I was 20.   That Mars was too far, that personal flying cars would not be a reality, and that mobile phone coverage on the M1 would be complete.... But not much has moved on.   Neil Armstrong went on to being a great professor at Purdue University, funding was redirected from NASA’s manned space flight, and with the invention of health and safety, I am not sure that anyone will ever again set foot on the planet as it will be too hazardous to do so...   So the one small step for a man became a step into a wall...... a wall of great reasons, but none the less a wall that stopped the expansion of space, the dream, and the future of all of those involved..... Why do I share this....

  More Photos Click Here With the amazing support from Young Life Expeditions providing 75 volunteers from Arizona and Wyoming, and a matched donations from the UK and USA of nearly £70,000.00, we moved the camp to what we believe could be the permanent site.   Phase one of the ground work was done in the spring, and the camp though very wet through the setup weeks, received 277 visitors July 20 th for the first ever Scotland/Ireland residential camp.   This summer the property saw over 550 visitors and now has the capacity for 1200/year in its existing format.   All the equipment on site has been purchased and we are so excited with the results on our shoe string budget.   We even had an inflatable sports hall donated last minute to use when the weather is not cooperating. (See our Photo Gallery for pics and video below) Please pray as we now have decent ‘toys’, and equipment to facilitate camps for youth in the UK taht we remember that the point of this camp is always, al

Our April trip to South Africa to build the school for Olive Branch Outreach seems a distant memory after so much time focused on camp.   However, not only is the school working well, the school has been ‘finished’ by the local charity to a standard that is so refreshing to see.   This 560 sq/m building cost just over £35,000 and accommodates just under 400 students.   The concept has been so successful that we have had several more requests to build similar if not larger structures in 2013.   I will be in Gambia sometime this winter helping to develop the first phase of a school based on the same general principals. The South Africa trip for April is already building momentum, with some of the groups that have attended in the past creating their own flavour of trips.   I was questioned if I was concerned about this break away from our direct supervision.   The truth is I am honoured.   If we continue to only run trips via the YMP label, then we will limit the potential growth that