Today for the first time ever I got the chance to run a mini writing workshop with some of the DTS students currently on base. It was unique and funny because every member of the group had a different native language. We had a german, an indian, a fin, a swede and a belgian. So i was determined to get them writing in their own languages, but to get the ideas out there we begun in english.

We started with poetry, shared songs we liked (i shared a kanye west song.) We talked about why we liked the writing and then wrote an 8 lined passage about something in the room. After which we wrote another 8 lines in our own language about a colour without using the word colour or the colours name. I wrote about blue. Then we shared them out loud. It was so cool hearing these very different languages and then hearing the poems get explained.

We then talked about story, and tension and why one would write. After that we retold the resurrection story from a different perspective. I took mary, someone took a woman in the crowd, the clothes of Jesus, the sky and another took the third man that was crucified.

In writing the story in different angles we heard things we have never heard before. Like, if the sky has a personality, it would have been groaning for Christ to come. But to the sky, Christ was still ant sized like the other humans. Christs clothes would’ve felt His sweat, his blood, his wounding. The third crucified may have been jealous and confused at the popularity of Jesus. Maybe Mary had been so overcome by grief she fainted.

Writing for me has been a way to process my relationship with God and people. A place i can SEE my thoughts. A way that forces me to respond to education. Its also been a tool i have used to tell stories to people I have never met, or seldom get to see.

Writing can be seen as boring sometimes. But ultimately with the word we can describe in depth scenes and adventures. When pen beauty into existence using only the writers imagination expecting the readers imagination to translate it uniquely into their own context.

Write!!! It changes lives.