Roy’s Trip to Germany
Roy attended the biannual German SA Convention in Schneverdingen on November 4th, 5th, and 6th and other German SA meetings during his three-week trip in Europe. He had not been to Germany for three years and reports being joyously grateful for the quality of meetings and sobriety there. He reports that the sobriety imperative is “alive and well in Germany.” “I was especially struck with the warmth, depth, genuineness, dedication, and unity of our brothers and sisters who had come from all over Germany to attend,” he said. “It was such a heart-warming, powerful, and useful time we had together, I just wanted to stay there and keep meeting with them.” There are now some twenty-one SA groups in West Germany and Switzerland.
Following the SA convention, Roy held a three-session seminar at the Psychosomatic Clinic in Bad Herrenalb on November 8th, 9th and 10th. This proved to be a time of very personal sharing. On the following weekend, Roy was given the opportunity of holding a three-hour workshop at the First Conference on Somatotherapy (the first of its kind) in Paris. At his request, the German SA Convention had designated two German SA members, Ruth P. and Michael, to share in the workshop. When the designated French translator did not show up in Paris, it seemed all was lost, until one of those attending the workshop volunteered to translate English into French. When it came Michael’s turn, Ruth translated his German into English, and the volunteer translated that into French! Ruth was also Roy’s interpreter throughout Germany, doing a fine and tireless job at considerable personal sacrifice. Although most persons attending the Paris workshop were unfamiliar with the concept of sexual addiction and SA, the response was very positive and productive. Let us pray God will open the door in France.
Roy’s wife Iris accompanied him on the trip; it was the occasion of their twenty-fifth wedding anniversary. There are tentative plans that tapes of the Clinic seminars and those from Roy’s previous visit to Germany will be available at some future date.
