Bill Hebner

  Click to view more photos from my trip A couple weeks ago, at the request of a friend, Brigitte and I were flown to Van, Turkey. The puropose was to see if there were any practical ways that we could offer support to the victims of the recent earthquakes. Not being much of a traveller myself, I was again faced with a cultural shift that leaves me feeling awkward and offensive. Being a type ‘A’ personality, my first response is to take action. What we came upon was earth shaking.    Click to view more   I was shaken by a collection of people that were more passionate about life than me. People who value the simplicity of friendship and life. If we, from our western context, lived with their daily struggles, I'm sure many would contemplate suicide. But the adversity was not just from the quake... No, most of the people we met considered that a temporary setback. Being this close to Iran, we were faced with pe...

The YMP trip continues to have a life of it’s own as we see many youth fall in love with serving and making a difference in the lives of those less privileged, while learning about the good news of Jesus Christ. 2012 is no different except the SIZE of the structure. This year is 3 times larger than we have ever done before, this is because we are building a 12 classroom school with the main structure supported by 6 shipping containers . We know that the youth are capable of building the main roof and classrooms in the 4 day build time, however the amount of materials needed will be the rub. Each year the youth work to raise $2,000.00/each to travel to South Africa, sleep in a tent and work. This amount usually includes $250 component towards cost of the building materials, which has been enough for houses, but is not adequate for a commercial structure of this nature. Therefore I am making a special appeal this year for people in Canada to help with materials for the school. We need...

Brigitte and I will be heading back to Canada for 2 weeks in February 1 to 14th. The first week will be spent with Calgary friends and the second with those in BC. We would love to hook up and see as many people as we can to share the dream and the adventures of what is growing in Younglife International, the camp and the work projects. AND with Brigitte there, you might get more of an honest glimpse at our everyday life. We will have a large group social in Kelowna  and Calgary so please when you get this info please keep the day clear, or please book a visit with Tara Ray who will coordinate our visit. In His Service, Bill

Remember Frankenstein and his stitched forehead, neck and every other appendage? Remember the stiff-necked, whole-body-turning shoulder checking of the giant monster? Currently, this is my reality. I have been limited in my typing speed and my clothing selection, but I do have a new appreciation for Tylenol. As I reported last month, I recently had my bicep reattached after my accident in Africa. Therefore, to keep things simple this month I leave you with a look at Younglife Wales and our dreams for the 2012 year . It is my desire to get back to Canada in February. Stay tuned for more info. In His service Bill (p.s Please pray for the over 50 young people who have already signed up for Africa 2012.) CLICK TO READ FULL REPORT

I Recently had the privilege of being a guest of the NHS in Wales. I had surgery to repair an injury sustained last year while in South Africa. (They are re-attaching my bicep). Since leaving full time church ministry to work primarily with youth, I have not had many occasions to visit a hospital recovery unit. I had forgotten that overall, the age of the nation is getting older and the occupied beds at NHS accurately reflect that trend. The real eye opener... The thing that takes me aback however, is the stark entrenchment of people's demeanor. Those who have hope seem relaxed and empowered.... Those without hope seem even more hopeless. In college I remember studying Erickson’s psycho-social stages of development and the final stage being intimacy vs. isolation. My visit and surgery has driven home the point of how important the things we do with youth are. Yes, definitely for their eternity, but also for their life here and now. I believe that the experiences we have...

CLICK! Gallery & Facilities For those of you who did not get the last report, 2011 saw the Powis camp move up to the middle park site with the lakes, the quad, the low ropes course and most of all the quiet beautiful trees. The generator, waste system and water though having a few glitches during setup during camp ran seamlessly allowing us to not only enjoy the camp with the youth, but also paved the way to a larger capacity for next summer. The camp will extend to 3 weeks next year with a capacity of 200+ per week. We are expecting that this will translate to over 500 youth on the site through July and August. Please pray as we now are already all about detail the details for 2012. CLICK! Photos Gallery It is finished! At the time of Jesus Christ’s death on the cross, not many people were catching on to what he was talking about, His fulfilment of the Abrahamic covenant, that someday the ‘perfect lamb of God’ would be sacrificed to bring salvation to man. ...

This newsletter is being written in my car as I am once again in a field outside of Welshpool sleeping in a tent. After a much needed break with my family in Venice, we have returned to start the ‘pre setup’ camp for the soon to follow YL / Urban Saints camps running through the month of August. Click Here to See More This year with the change of site location to what we believe would be an excellent permanent camp facility, we find ourselves setting up infrastructure again. I know a great number of you have come along to support this vision already and I want to assure you that so much has been done due to your generosity. All I can say is thank you.... We have dredged the pond so that the water quality is adequate to swim. We have excavated for the Blob tower and a new waterslide. We have created a cesspit, one of those often overlooked important priorities and a countless other things that need to happen before the relational aspect of ministry here begins. MORE PHOTO...