I came to SA in November 2007 and was granted the grace of sobriety from the first meeting. It was the beginning of SA in our country, we didn’t have SA books or materials, so we used the support of NA-program Step books and an NA-sponsor. I first got involved in SA-literature translation in 2008 when I was offered to translate SA-literature into my native language.

Together with my wife we spent one year on translating Sexaholics Anonymous, Recovery Continues, Discovering the Principles, and three Step into Action books. This experience facilitated my recovery enormously. I focused solely on the SA-literature translation and spent my whole days in contact with the 12-Step program.

The work was slow as I managed to translate only like five pages a day. My wife, who is an S-Anon member, proofread and edited the books. We worked close together, so it also benefited our relationship. Throughout the process I kept sending lists of questions to the SA Literature Committee and SAICO. They assisted me a lot patiently explaining all my literature-related questions and doubts.

In the process of translating the SA literature I also needed to be in touch with literature fellows in NA and AA Fellowships. They had definitely more experience in our country and had already gone through the painstaking process of having their literature translations approved by their Fellowships.

I learned a lot thanks to the many literature-related meetings and discussions with other Fellowships. My first sponsor was a long-sober NA fellow responsible for the translation of NA literature into our language. I also translated NA literature. I needed to constantly compare AA and SA translations to understand the true meanings.

My second sponsor, Jerry, at that time headed the SA Literature Committee and was a tremendous support in the process. Another friend of mine, an AA member, was part of the team who prepared the new translation of the Big Book into our language. Thanks to all these members I got to know many good people who helped us translate the SA books in 2009.

I didn’t want to translate on my own, so I literally sent to SAICO hundreds of issue logs and requests for disambiguation of sentences in our literature positions. SA fellows and SAICO patiently replied and explained everything throughout 2009. Other SA fellows checked and double-checked the translations.

I work as a professional translator, so I’ve got the necessary experience, competence, knowledge, and tools to do the translations, however, translating for SA in 2009 was the most difficult and challenging task in my life I must admit.

My service has been challenged by my SA friends many times since then and I still can’t stand listening to the books being read aloud at meetings as I would like to constantly improve something (progress not perfection). I needed to do a lot of Step work to be able to accept the translations as they are. I’m very impatient so I can’t wait to see the final effect of all the hard work of so many SA fellows.

My second involvement came with the request to translate the ESSAY in February 2021, so for three years I translated every new ESSAY magazine. It aided me a lot to recover after my relapse. This service again helped me to focus on the SA core principles, was both a reminder and a focus on the SA program and solution.

I can very often identify with the personal stories of SA fellows from all over the world, and they help me focus on my recovery. I can learn many useful tools that fellows share about. Their humility has always been striking for me. It also opens my mind to other cultures and different spiritual paths. I can experience the wide variety of SA all over the world. I’m often deeply moved by the personal stories I translate.

I appreciate this service a lot. To be able to translate them I need to be able to empathize at a deep level with the people. Often I’ve got tears in my eyes when I identify with the personal stories I translate. I can also learn a lot about so many different countries, cultures, and spiritual paths. It really broadens the perspective of my understanding of the world and people. It teaches me tolerance and open-mindedness. I can also get to know about the different SA events all over the world. It’s amazing how creative our fellows are.

I especially follow the SA 12th Step work in prisons and hospitals. I’m really positively surprised how God changes people’s lives in different countries and cultures. Everyone I contact is so kind to me, people are really helpful and patient with me asking them too many questions. After 17 years in SA I’ve recently discovered that in my case what’s really needed is surrender and trust—in a way it’s all that’s needed to keep me sober—so I start each day on my knees turning over my will and life to God asking for surrender and trust. It works one day at a time.

I want to add a personal spiritual experience: at the same time as the SA literature I was also offered to translate spiritual texts from my religious tradition, and I was greatly surprised to discover that on a very deep spiritual level they are very much intertwined and describe the same spiritual reality. I also experience it when I translate SA personal stories from different spiritual traditions.