To SA Everywhere, from SA Oklahoma City:
How many ways can we say thank you for the conference? Or how do we love you for being there and being you? Let us count the ways.

The November 1990 German SA Newsletter has been translated into English. Copies are available free from the Central Office. Many thanks to the generosity of Gregory A. of Niagara, NY, who did the translation.

Overheard at the Baltimore Convention: “I have to let others in to make room for myself.”

Newcomer comes into the Program: Sees the light. Goes to meetings. Stops acting out. A change takes place, and he or she knows it. Something’s different. There’s a sense of impending joy. There’s recovery in the air, and they get caught up in it. Maybe there’s a way out after all! Starts talking the talk.

The following paper represents a first-attempt at dialogue on the issue of SA and sexual abuse. This paper, and cover letter, were sent from the SA Central Office to the Regina Committee on Sexual Abuse in Saskatchewan in July.

Looked at from the outside, nothing appears weirder than SA. When I first heard of it, I laughed out loud. When I heard they were against masturbation and sex before marriage, I just felt sorry for them. (Much like the way I felt at the references to God in the AA Big Book three years earlier.)

Thank you for your helpful response to the article appearing in “Regina Committee on Sexual Abuse.” Yesterday I met with “The Sexual Harassment” committee of the United Church of Canada Saskatchewan Conference. I met as a minister of the church although they also know of my connection with SA.

Good news! As of April 27th, I now have more than two years sobriety. I have put much work into my spiritual recovery as well and both need constant vigilance and much effort. I am most grateful for my brothers and sisters in both the Monday and Wednesday groups and all SA members everywhere for the binding support we share.

I feel compelled to write this letter to share my experience, strength, and hope. I write this as much for me as I do for others in the fellowship. I want to share a message. A message I have learned the hard way.

The autonomy of individual SA groups (Tradition Four) does not extend to matters affecting the fellowship as a whole. Nothing is more basic to the SA fellowship as a whole than what has come to be known as the SA sobriety imperative. The sobriety imperative is the thing which makes SA unique among several 12 Step programs dealing with sexual addiction.

Our groups SA and S-Anon in Frauenfeld have existed since spring 1988. They grow up very slowly. Our meetings are every Friday. Once a month on the first Friday we have our meeting together with S-Anon. For interested members, we also have rooms in our homes that we will make available to visitors for lodging.

Our fellowship continues to grow. We are averaging between 20 to 25 a meeting. By God’s grace there’s a lot of healthy recovery with many over one year of sobriety. God is changing lives slowly but surely. I have almost ten months of sobriety—Praise God!

We now have an ongoing San Diego intergroup and an SA meeting every night of the week. San Diego is so large that a person may need to drive a little.

I am really pleased to be a member of SA and I’m now sober nine months. Miracles do happen. Thank God for SA…. We are growing here in Australia. The city meeting last week was up to ten and the outer city meeting has a strong regular four to five. It really is amazing.

…Our Penn Hills Wednesday night group has varied between nine and twelve attenders the last couple of months. Thanks for being there.

To prevent the Central Office from being placed in a position of endorsement, the CO will no longer mail flyers or do select mailings for regional retreats, marathons, conventions, and the like. The CO will continue to list such activities (SA only) in the Calendar section of Essay.

Two American SAs flew to Germany to attend the German SA Conference this June. We arrived four hours late and missed our German host at the airport. After two obsessive and fearful hours, our powerlessness was rewarded by a phone connection with Kornelius, an SA, who directed us to the Thursday meeting in Mainz.

Since our last issue of Essay, we learned that Mark M. of West New York, NJ died of complications from AIDS. I met Mark a couple of times, and he would phone me from time to time over the years, so I followed his progress in the program.

…I agree wholeheartedly [with J.L.’s letter regarding hugging in February ESSAY], it’s sad to say, but it’s such a slippery place whenever angels dare tread. Today I know the difference between my old body-grinder hugs and an appropriate lean forward gentle family hug, but how many newcomers know that!

I am writing you about the details of Michelle’s death. It has taken me awhile due to grief. I hope these details will be shared so others will find help. Michelle was beaten and tortured to death for two and one-half days.