Salt Lake City, UT
Our New Beginners Meeting averages 45 each Monday night with five newcomers weekly. We are grateful to be part of this ever increasing fellowship which has given each of us “a new pair of glasses” to work through our share of problems by being rigorously honest. Working Tradition Five now allows the message to be carried inside state prison facilities, where there are many who need recovery. In time, more members will experience the sights in sobriety through the importance of our primary purpose and of going to any length to maintain serenity. Nothing can so much insure immunity from acting out as intensive work with another sex addict; this works when other activities fail. Thanks for keeping us in touch through the Essay. Still Growing.
M.S.
San Bernardino, CA
The meeting is less than a year old and we are experiencing many wonderful challenges. It’s a great opportunity for relatively new members, as well as long-time members such as myself, to do 12th Step work and face the reality of the condition from which we all suffer. Recently we faced a challenge to our understanding of the sobriety imperative regarding sex with a live-in girlfriend, who, it was claimed, “is my spouse.” We did some heavy duty sharing about this (not comfortable at all — in fact, quite painful to see one person doing his utmost to rationalize his behavior), and our unity was strengthened when we acknowledged that, for us, marriage is traditional, heterosexual and legal. Clean and simple. We did not, nor did we intend to, drive away the individual concerned. We simply made known our personal convictions and laid out our understanding of sobriety. We recognize this is not an easy program. But the greatest gifts are given to those who surrender unconditionally and quit trying to change SA to suit their own individual desires. Thank God for the strength and recovery of the past several years in our program!
S.M.
New Orleans, LA
We are five members still “trudging the road of happy destiny.” Our group wishes the national office many blessings and are grateful for SA’s perseverance. God bless you.
C.L.
Pompano Beach, FL
We are a small group. Our attendance is three to four regular members. We meet at a church where the minister is sympathetic to our recovery. This is the only SA group in the whole of South East Florida that I am aware of at this time.
C.T.
Tokyo, Japan
The group in Tokyo began about three months ago and is a hundred miles from where I live, but I will try hard to attend the weekly meeting. Keep me and the group in your prayers.
B.M.
Portland, OR
The Thursday-East Group is pleased to note we celebrated two sobriety anniversaries. One member celebrates three years and another celebrates four years. We have acknowledged a number of 30-, 60-, and 90-day, and 6- and 9-month periods of sobriety. It is great to see the program work!
D.B.
Somerville, MA
We have been in existence for about a year and after a rather slow start with most meetings drawing about five people or so, we have recently expanded and have had in attendance about 14 or 15 people for the last five meetings. Somerville is a northern suburb of Boston, and the meeting came into existence to fill a need for another meeting felt by some of the Cambridge members. Our finances have been low until recently, but we are now proud to be able to donate to the Central Office.
C.A.
Union City, NJ
Once again we have accumulated a small sum from our member contributions in the course of our once-weekly meetings here. Again it is our group conscience that we give half of what we have to the church that graciously houses us and half to the SA Central Office.
J.V.
Quebec City, Canada
We have two groups in Quebec City, one on Wednesday (the Liberte Group) and one on Sunday (the Deliverance Group). I am responsible for both groups for the time being, and I am grateful, but at the same time, the responsibilities are heavy at times. (I have been so irresponsible all my life.) For the first six months it was mostly two of us, with a visitor once in a while, but now we average four to six persons per meeting. It’s growing and I find it scary at times. The need for SA is out there, but as you say, “It’s not for people who need it, but for those who want it.” We are “French Canadians” and most of us are not fluent in English, so we work with the translation of the White Book in French. If someone feels like writing to us, we sure would appreciate it.
M.R.
Oklahoma City, OK
There’s recovery in Oklahoma with God’s help and through working the Steps in SA. The Oklahoma City Intergroup has broadened its area and is now the Oklahoma State Intergroup. There are now six meetings a week in Oklahoma City, three in Tulsa and one in Lawton. We have some loners who are praying to get another member in their area for a meeting. One in the panhandle has paired up with a couple of people in Liberal, KS, and is meeting with them once every two weeks. We attended a great regional retreat in Wichita, KS led by the Kansas City group. Good job, folks! We had a wonderful “Family Reunion.”
D.T.
Casper, WY
We started a new meeting. I’m excited because I have new work hours that have forced me to stop going to our regular meeting, and our new meeting is in the morning. Here in Casper we’ve talked about having two meetings for some time, so we’ve finally done it, even though we only have four steady members. I’ve stayed sober and it’s my lust that I ask God to keep me sober from, not anybody else’s. I’ve got 20 months of SA sobriety and I’ve only started to see how dishonest I am now that I’m trying to practice honesty. My ego and fear seem to get in the way. But life has been terrific. I am the one who has to work this program, not anyone else.
D.W.
