My name is L.A. and my sobriety date is August 19, 2000.
One of my favorite passages in the literature is a quote from the Big Book: “We have found much of heaven and we have been rocketed into a fourth dimension of existence of which we had not even dreamed. …

SA’s Sponsor-by-Mail program, sponsored by SA’s Correctional Facilities Committee (CFC), is our primary means of carrying the SA message to prisoners. Unfortunately, at the CFC meeting this past May, we learned that the number of SA members available to sponsor prisoners by mail has been dwindling.

At the last meeting of the Board of Trustees, I was appointed as the new chair of the International Convention Committee. I’m excited to serve in this position because of my great love for SA conventions.

The Europe & Middle-East Region (EMER) combines the former UK and Ireland Region with Intergroups in Israel. EMER comprises seven Intergroups: Belgium (Flanders), Ireland, Israel, Netherlands, Poland, Spain and UK. It includes 120 SA Groups and 530 members. We are also building strong fraternal links with the German-Speaking Region and with the Iran Intergroup.

¡Hola amigos! Jim D. here—“Jaime” to those of you who speak Spanish. I’ve recently joined SA’s International Committee, to help coordinate outreach efforts in the Spanish-speaking world.

I just returned from visiting a loner who lives in Slovenia. This man has 21 years of SA sobriety, but because of the nature of his profession, he has been unable to attend meetings—although we did have two meetings whilst I was visiting there. This member subscribes to ESSAY, and for many years he participated in a letter-writing circle within our fellowship.

“I’m a recovering sexaholic and I’m making a program call.” These words are a bit harder to say from the inside of a jail cell. Nevertheless, even in here I can get current, I can reach out, and I can get out of isolation—just by writing this letter. Even though I’m stuck in a cell 21 to 23 hours each day, I still have the tools to grow in recovery and have a positive sobriety—by doing all I can for the sexaholic who still suffers.

My first SA sponsor, Frank S. (also known as Francis), passed away on Sunday, March 3rd at the ripe old age of 90, about one month away from his 91st birthday. I first met Frank in early December 2000, around 6:30 on a Saturday morning in San Diego He was 78 at the time, and he had just returned earlier that week from visiting China.

A few years ago I was having lunch with a sponsee while he shared his Fifth Step with me. One thing he struggled with, he said, was perfectionism, a character defect—rooted in a deep sense of inferiority—that he felt his father had passed on to him.

I was on my way to an SA International Convention, less than a half an hour from home, when the traffic started to back up. I was already fighting a resentment about the traffic problems I usually encounter when I drive to this particular city. I was becoming more and more frustrated, certain I would be late. I had committed to speak on a 3:00 p.m. panel discussion of how to develop a deeper relationship with my Higher Power!

In the years of my addiction, I liked to play in chess tournaments—but my self-worth was attached to how I fared in a tournament. When I won, I felt great. When I lost I felt like a failure. I would feel depressed, inadequate, and insecure. I believed I did not belong at a chess tournament; that the members should revoke my membership and ban me from the game for life.

I was raised in an alcoholic home that was fraught with violence, incest, and molestation. In the past six months, my older brother and my twin sister both passed away. They were finally at peace (although they never found recovery).

During my years in SA, I’ve been both a sponsor and a sponsee. My drawing below is about both of those experiences.

I’m Tom, a recovering sexaholic, grateful for seven years of sobriety—although as they say, I’m never grateful enough! I know that I must continue to work the SA program.

I’m grateful that I was led to SA about a year before I got married. Otherwise, I believe I would be in a horrible place today, and my family might have been torn apart. But even though I found SA before I got married, my behavior caused my family much grief.

I am a low-bottom sex drunk who has been sober now for 29 years. Yet today I’m writing about a most glorious spiritual journey that I only recently made. The purpose of my journey was to bring the message of recovery and the miracle of my sobriety to fellow sexaholics throughout Europe.

I’m Michael T., grateful to be sexually sober since April 10, 2011. SA has given me a better life than I could ever have imagined. I no longer fear everyone and everything. I no longer regret the past; I use my past as a tool to be helpful to others. I can practice patience and tolerance, and be a part of society. I learned all of these things from SA.

We are grateful to our members for our excellent 2012 financial results. We finished the year on target compared to budget! Five years ago, the fellowship used Prudent Reserve to meet payroll. Since then, members have stepped up to meet our needs and replenish the Prudent Reserve.

One of the most exciting service opportunities I’ve found in SA is my participation in Skype meetings. I belong to two groups—one on Monday at 12:30 p.m. and one on Saturday at 7 a.m., both New York time. We have members from the US, Europe, Asia, Guam, and Tasmania!

Dear Friends in SA,
Greetings from the new group in Nairobi! Five years ago, we tried to start an SA group in Kenya, but it only lasted two months, with just one regular member. Then in May 2012, an SA meeting started again and we have been alive and well for the past eight months!