Back in February I had the opportunity to travel to YWAM Harpenden to attend a writer’s seminar/retreat for two weeks. I found out about this seminar from my friend Charis, who led the time when she posted it last year. After I received more information about it, I knew this would be just what I needed: a time to be around other creatives in an inspiring environment to work on my writing.
This was actually my second time at this base, even though I don’t remember much about my first time. It was back in the early 2000s when I was traveling to the US from Madagascar. I had an overnight layover in London, and with some connections, they put me up there at the base.
The Harpenden base is gorgeous. All of the buildings (most of them) make up an oval, with a large grassy area in the middle. There are many buildings that house staff, students, volunteers, etc. There is the large dining hall, a pottery studio, an amazing coffee shop (The Oval Cafe), a chapel (photo above), and more.
Every morning we all met together, with classes about poetry, book publishing, telling a story, parts of a story, and a lot more. Some mornings we had worship together with the base, devotions with just our group, or intercession. And the afternoons were filled with time to work on our books/writing, doing pottery together, and talking walks.
This was one of the things I created during pottery class. The first one was a bowl, and this is a replica of a house in Sebiu, Romania. We had two classes for pottery, but I wasn’t able to make the second one, as I was getting over a bad cold. We could create something freehand or use the pottery wheel. I ended up just using my hands to create those two things. Working with clay is very relaxing and fun. You can make whatever you want.
I miss going to the Oval Cafe to grab a coffee or chai and work on my writing. And there were days I grabbed a delicious pastry as well. It made me think of the cafe I worked at with YWAM Budapest. This cafe is also a ministry, opened up to the public.
The cafe as well hosted our reading evening, where we all took turns reading snippets of our book, something new we wrote, or a poem. I was extremely nervous, but I was so proud of myself for getting up there and sharing from my heart. Everyone did an amazing job that evening!
I miss all these faces!! They are an amazing group of creatives. It was such a blessing to be around them all for those two weeks. It went by way too fast!! But I am thankful that we still keep in touch from time to time, learning from each other.