Email: Stephen Cottingham

The life and times of Phen Cottingham

Greetings from the Emerald Isle! What a fantastic journey this has been so far! Yes, I’ve chosen to go by the nickname “Phen” while over here, as it sounds similar to the Irish name “Finn.”  I’ve been kept really busy with my weekly schedule. I have already made some adjustments based on where I find that I am most helpful and where I’m not; ain’t nothing like the real thing to show you where your skills are.

I’ve learned that part of being a leader is to go with your ideas and try them out. They might work end up as disasters. But you prepare as much as you can and then you go for it; you can’t be afraid of taking the risk to get it started. Leading youth is not always a picnic, but then again I’ve learned that the reason to do what you do in life is not solely for your own enjoyment. For these kids we are trying to help them grow in areas of acceptance, focus, obedience, friendship, and patience. And at the end of the day, that brings me enjoyment to know that I’m part of a team that is preparing these young men and women for daily life in this community as well as in their lives ahead of them.

And this is just one aspect of my work here. I’m learning how to love better. It’s a life- and perspective-changing movement. Turns out, love, as I’m coming to understand it better, is not entirely just something that comes easy. It takes practice and patience. More specifically, I’m learning that because people receive love differently, whether because of their age or personality (or both), I’m working on adjusting my approach to meet the specific needs of whoever I’m sharing with. This has become tremendously important, as I am working with drastically different age- and background-groups each day; but this is also something that I will carry with me the rest of my life.

Please respond with your questions as they will help me shape my further updates as to what you’re most interested in.

Thank you, my supporters, so much for the gift of this experience. You’ve given me more than you know.

Love,

Stephen

P.S. I figured it might help to share with y’all some of my responses to some questions my brother had asked me. Cheers!

Life over here is great, but I think that’s because I enjoy the city life over the country life. I ride my bike or take the public bus nearly every day (It’s great to not have to take care of a car or its payments and maintenance.), and it works because everything is not spaced so far apart like in Dallas or San Antonio.

Actually, yes, I am trying to pick up British Sign Language as my neighbour in the flat next to mine is deaf. It’s a lot different from ASL, (which I picked up in AZ with Aunt D).

Yes, there are still bombs going off here, but it’s not as much as I’m told it used to be. One went off last week or so just down my street. I heard the helicopter overhead the night before, and the next morning on my way to work all the police and military were out there with their gear and mobile units and blocked off the streets and what-not. I think I put it up on my Blogspot.