I recently started a new Skype online White Book Study, on Thursday nights Australian time, for those who are looking for a meeting in that time frame. These meeting last for one hour, and members have the opportunity to share on the reading and participate in general sharing if the time permits.

Because of SA, I have opportunities to work with sexaholics from all over the world. I (a Russian who lives in Chicago) am sponsoring Roberto (Mexican), who in turn is sponsoring an Orthodox Jew. Both of those men live in Chicago. I also have a couple of long-distance sponsees; one lives in Israel and the other lives in Russia.

I am a true “loner” living in a remote area in northern Maine. The closest SA meeting to me is about a five-hour drive away. Yet for the past four years, I have attended an SA meeting almost every day. I have been sober for more than two-and-a-half years and I have sponsored several people. How?

We are happy to announce the emergence of a new SA Region, the first to be formed with the support of the SA International Committee. The “Europe and Middle-East Region” (EMER) is fully operational and will hold its first face-to-face Regional Assembly and Convention at Ammerdown, UK from 30 August through 1 September 2012.

Writing and journaling have helped me process the emotions of the end of my 30-year relationship with my wife. I am powerless over what happens to me and I’m powerless over the resulting emotions, but I am not powerless over how I deal with my feelings.

We needed to ask ourselves but one short question. “Do I now believe, or am I even willing to believe, that there is a Power greater than myself?” (AA 47).
Only one question? Too simple. Or so I think when I’m trying too hard to solve all my problems at once.

I know all about doing a quick “1-2-3” when I am confronted with an obvious threat to my sobriety. For example: Should I go to the party when I know “she” will be there? In those moments, I mentally go through Steps One, Two, and Three, which I summarize as: “I can’t, He can, so let Him!”

In my addiction, I harmed many people whose names I don’t even remember. As I was considering how to make amends to these people, my sponsor pointed me to a passage in the White Book: “There is always some way to make an amends, even when the injured person is dead, lost, or nameless. …

Recently, while sitting in an SA business meeting, I began feeling uncomfortable. It seemed that others were not sufficiently valuing my opinion! I began feeling hostile, but I was unwilling to admit it to myself. In that moment, a lust image I thought I had given up came to the forefront of my mind.

As a sexaholic, I have a hard time dealing with life. I look at other people who seem to have it all together and wish somehow that my insides could look the way they look on the outside. Of course, I’m just kidding myself because I know that most people do not always look on the outside as they feel on the inside.

I am a convicted felon and a registered sex offender, and I’m very grateful to have passed through my second anniversary of SA sobriety this past December. I am thankful that there is such a fellowship and that I am able to attend two meetings a week, with a group of wonderful people who I can call my friends.

About ten years ago (three years before I came to SA), I was looking for a card to give my wife on Mother’s Day—more out of obligation than anything else. I hated Mother’s Day. As I began to read the different cards, I was filled with a mixture of pain, sadness, and rage.

Six months ago, after having been sober for a little over two years, I acted out. I am writing this in the hope that it may help another sex drunk—so that you don’t have to go through what I did.

I have been sexually sober now for 28 years. When I first came into SA, the fear of relapsing (and of the subsequent pain that relapse caused) helped me to maintain my sobriety. Fear of getting another venereal disease, fear of being arrested, fear of losing my wife and family, and fear of getting further into financial difficulties all seemed paramount to me. But today I know that fear and pain are not enough to keep me sober.

I’m Alan, a grateful recovering sexaholic. I’ve been sexually sober by God’s grace since May 10, 2004. I believe that I was born with this disease. In the past I was only able to give in to it, but today, because of SA, I can choose sobriety.

Dear Fellow SA Members,
2011 was financially a very good year for SAICO operations. We finished the year with a $4,088 net gain compared to a budgeted $4,300 net loss. Total revenue exceeded budget by just under $15,000 (6.4%). Increased literature sales and ESSAY subscriptions accounted for $12,500 of the revenue excess. Convention revenues accounted for the remainder.

Dear Fellow SA Members:
We have received requests to check different websites that offer free PDF downloads of the SA White Book and sell SA literature from locations other than SAICO online and SA Publications.

This past November, many of us celebrated the blessings we enjoy as citizens of the United States. Tradition has it that the early British settlers held a Thanksgiving meal with the natives who had helped them bring forth a bountiful harvest that year.

A summer convention in Nashville? Yes! The convention hotel has great air conditioning and plenty of room for us all. Come join us in what promises to be a very spiritual weekend.

I absolutely loved the SA/S-Anon convention In Midlands. I learnt a massive amount about myself—from all the people I shared with and from all those who shared with me. I’ve never experienced so much experience, strength, and hope as I did during those two days. I was sad that it had to end!