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.
I assume I’m writing to the Central Office. I’m so thankful I received the big white envelope with ESSAY. I was really needing it. After my father died, two weeks ago, I started acting out again. I was perplexed, and numb with fear, I prayed to God for a miracle. The next day I got the envelope in the mail. Hope is renewed again.
