Harpenden

I never wanted to be the kind of person who only blogged every few months…I did plan on keeping this pretty much up to date, and yet, three weeks have passed now, and I haven’t written here. So, this is my attempt at making up for it! Quite a lot has happened in the last few weeks, so I think I’ll not attempt to communicate it all in one go! I’ll start with my week in England…

Harpenden

When you last heard from me, I was sitting in the airport in Belfast on my way to Harpenden, which is a five-minute train ride from Luton airport. The rest of our school was already over there and I was heading over late owing to the fact that I had stayed late to see my friend Jessica from college as she visited from America (much more on this adventure the next time I blog…) I navigated the journey, and arrived at the YWAM base in Harpenden early on the Sunday afternoon. I spent the afternoon getting to know the base a bit better there and had a nice cup of tea and plate of chips with a few people, then getting a good nights sleep!


The entrance to the YWAM base in Harpenden.

We were sharing lectures with the DTS in Harpenden and the guy speaking was an American guy called Carl Stauffer who has been living and working in South Africa for the last 13 years in mediation. The Belfast DTS and base here is very much focused on reconciliation (as you should know ☺) and this was the topic that Carl was talking on over the week. The good thing about this week of lectures was the fact that in the past we’ve been learning about reconciliation from quite a theoretical point of view, but Carl this week, although he comes from a place of great theoretical knowledge, was also coming with a lot of practical knowledge and stories of reconciliation working in action.

The base in Harpenden couldn’t really have contrasted more with our base here in Belfast! There’s a lot of ground around the buildings there, (known as “the oval”) Just before I left, I stood in the middle of the oval and took a video of the base there that you can see below here, it’s a pretty impressive set-up! (That’s one of the Belfast staff Adam running towards the camera at the end by the way…)

It’s funny to see a base that’s been there for so long, that’s pretty well established, when you look at us here in Belfast, pretty much still in the pioneering stage. I’m really encouraged and excited about what is happening in Belfast, and excited to see the future develop, to see what can happen with us. In the world of big YWAM bases, we seem to be doing something a bit different, and it’s pretty exciting to be a part of it.


Harpenden Town Centre


Our students in the dining hall bonding over the table tennis table…this happened a lot!

The students did great in England, I think seeing another YWAM base makes you appreciate what you yourself have, and although we all had a good time in Harpenden, I think everyone was glad to get back to the norm, and to the house and city that is becoming “home” to these students.