OCT 1, 15 .. SUKHBAATAR .. MONGOLIA ..

Back again to Sukhbaatar Mongolia ..

This will be my second post about meetings in Sukhbaatar Mongolia. Below is a link to my first post.

http://aaphotoshere.blogspot.com/2015_07_01_archive.html

I am not sure what I expected to find here in Sukhbaatar Mongolia but what I found was PHENOMENAL.

Sit back .. Relax .. Enjoy the photos ..

Sukhbaatar is on the Northern border (RED HORIZONTAL DOTTED LINE) between Mongolia and Russian Siberia. On the map below it is spelled .. SUHBAATAR. Can you find it just below dead-center? 

The below map shows Ulaanbaater the capital of Mongolia (SHOWN IN YELLOW NEAR THE BOTTOM OF THE MAP). It is very hard to see Sukhbaatar (DO YOU SEE IT IN RED AT THE TOP OF THE MAP JUST BELOW THE MONGOLIA - RUSSIA BORDER).

I rode the Trans-Mongolian Trans-Siberian Express Train North from Ulaanbaatar to Sukhbaatar.

Of course! I am just teasing all of you! As it says on page 132 of the Big Book ..

We insist on enjoying life .. Here is the real train!

The Ulaanbaatar Mongolia Railway Station ..

All aboard!

Mongolia from the train.

Grazing sheep.

Almost like Northern Lights.

I stayed in a clean and modest hotel for US $ 12.59 per night.

What more does one want or need? It sure beats 'Three hots and a cot' down at the local shelter!!

It rained in Sukhbaatar Mongolia during the night! Do you see my hotel almost dead-center below?

A little fun and relaxation. Because it was an ' open-meeting '
a few of the local ' pool-sharks ' dropped by!

The Time Has Come for a meeting.

I have attended meetings in each and in every single state in the U.S. and across Canada as well as in many parts of the world. 

In Sukhbaatar Mongolia I found the neatest meeting room (??) perhaps ever in my life.

If you want to see the love and the passion these members have for their recovery just continue scrolling down. WHEW! I get just a little teary when I contemplate what I found below.

One of the local Sukhbaatar ' pool-sharks ' .. can you see him peering at me through the doorway? .. Wanted me to join him in a game of 8-Ball.

Sukhbaatar Mongolia ..

I feel like I-AM-AT-HOME IN SUKHBAATAR MONGOLIA!!

DON'T MISS GOING TO A MEETING THE NEXT TIME YOU ARE THERE.

A FEW ANSWERS :

I came to Mongolia 16 July 2015 with a group of International A.A. members who conducted a two-day seminar on the steps and traditions.  On Monday 20 July the others left. I stayed and have my own apartment in Ulaanbaatar as well as one in Hong Kong.

I was invited to return to Sukhbaatar as a result of the meeting I attended in July. See the link at the top of this post. I did not just drop-in.

Members of the local fellowship met me at the train and arranged my hotel room. I paid all of my own expenses.

The meeting was a 2-hour meeting. I had a local NON A.A. lady as my translator. 

Here in Mongolia the members are hungry for our experience strength and hope. To paraphrase the Big Book they are like the drowning grabbing frantically for life-preservers.

I am not able to give you a percentage but not all members in Mongolia own their own Big Book. The Mongolian Big Book does NOT have the stories! Only the first 164-pages are translated. Fewer members yet have the translated 12 and 12 .. Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions ..

I have seen absolutely no other A.A. books in English such as .. A.A. Comes Of Age .. Pass It On .. Dr. Bob and the Good Old Timers .. As Bill Sees It .. Living Sober .. Daily Reflections .. Came To Believe .. Experience Strength and Hope .. 

Several A.A. pamphlets (I can not say which) are available in Mongolian.

Basically it was two-hours (with one 15-minute smoking break) of questions asked of me with my answers. I did not tell my story. The members were full of their own questions. The meeting actually lasted well over the scheduled 2-hours and it could have continued on into the night. It was raining cats and dogs and I had to walk back to my hotel and I had a 6:30am train to catch the next morning. Their passion for knowledge is so great several members walked with me in the rain back to my hotel asking more ever more questions.

Questions were asked such as: How do I know when I have completed Steps 1 through 3 .. How can we grow A.A. here in Mongolia .. MANY questions were oriented to GOD and beliefs about GOD. Mongolia is a Buddhist nation with over 50% of the adult males being Buddhist Monks in the mid to the late 1900s .. Because sponsorship (as it exists in the U.S.) is rare to non-existent here in Mongolia there were many questions in this arena .. Many questions were asked on each of the steps and many of the traditions as well .. What do we do if a member at a meeting is drunk?

For me personally being in Mongolia is God's Grace working in my life. I feel at the summit of my life .. That my entire life has prepared me for this time in Mongolia.