JUL 27, 23 .. JULY .. THE 7th MONTH .. THE 7th STEP

Last month I published a Post discussing Step 6.

This Post is almost a "mirror image" of that Post except it refers to Step 7.

Step 7 - Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.

Copy and paste is great.

Step 7 - Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.

In addition to having known Step 7 for all of your time in A.A., will you all tell me precisely where it says what, if anything, God IS actually going to do?

I do not see where it says, or implies, that God is going to do anything!

All Step 7 says is that we, as individuals, are going to humbly ask God to remove our shortcomings.

Last month, in a meeting, a friend brought Step 7 up and in discussing it pointed this fact out. 

Ask 1,000 members of A.A. what Step 7 says, and my money is that many of them will say, in Step 7, God is going to remove all of our shortcomings.

That sure is NOT what Step 7 (and Step 6 as well for being ready to have defects of character removed) says!

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In Mongolia, A.A. celebrated its 25th Anniversary during a three day conference beginning July the 7th and ending on July the 9th.

Our best friend in Russia presented the below Ceremonial Token.

I published a Post on my Mongolian Recovery website showing some photos sent to me by friends over there. The below link will take you to that Post. I hope some of you will check it out!

https://mongolianrecovery.blogspot.com/2023/07/jul-4-23-congratulations-aa-mongolia-25.html 

My Post is 100% in English!

OCT 4, 19 .. A TALE OF THREE MEETINGS .. CHAPTER THREE

Meeting one was quite the event.

http://aaphotoshere.blogspot.com/2019/09/sep-20-19-quite-meeting-this-one.html

Meeting two was an absolute non-event.

http://aaphotoshere.blogspot.com/2019/09/sep-27-19-last-fridays-meeting-update.html

Today, Chapter Three, Meeting three.

It must be true : The third time was a charm.

Fourteen ( as in 14 count them ) members were here today. So it was a real meeting. Unfortunately there were no English speaking members so I was literally a 5th wheel. Using my smart phone's Google Translate App, I spoke a few words and handed my smart phone to a member beside me who read my words in English that were translated into Mongolian. 

After the meeting adjourned on time, several members sat in a small circle and held a real meeting-after-the-meeting that lasted well over one hour. I did not join them in their circle opting to just stay out of their way.

I had to stay because I was responsible to secure the room after we were finished and to lock the door. I'm the only one with a key to the door.

What more can I say?

Next week the regular meeting leader will have returned from a long trip out of Mongolia and I will just see what happens going forward.

SEP 27, 19 .. A TALE OF THREE MEETINGS .. CHAPTER TWO

I could title this Post..

'A promise made is a debt unpaid and I promised..' 

Last Friday I published the below Post..

http://aaphotoshere.blogspot.com/2019/09/sep-20-19-quite-meeting-this-one.html

And?

At the end of the above Post, I said.. 

"I'll let you know next week."

So what happened?

Nothing. Neither Hannah or Bunny showed up this morning. I showed up. They did not nor did either call me. I called them with a ring-no-answer.

So there you have it..

SEP 23, 19 .. GOD IS EVERYTHING or GOD IS NOTHING .. WHAT A MEETING

I believe that in The Big Book the above theo/philosophy is stated..

God is everything or God is nothing.

Isn't the internet amazing! What do I find on page 53 of The Big Book..

"When we became alcoholics, crushed by a self-imposed crisis we could not postpone or evade, we had to fearlessly face the proposition that either God is everything or else He is nothing. God either is, or He isn't. What was our choice to be?"

For me it boils down to this : You believe or You don't believe.

Would you rather believe and be wrong? Or would you rather NOT believe and be wrong?

This evening, into a small meeting in the basement of a large apartment building I entered.

From July of 2015 up until today, I have spoken at a lot of meetings here. I recognized the below room the instant I stepped into it. A REAL, committed, meeting room. 

The small room was jam-packed. The meeting  was 1-1/2 hours. 6:30PM to 8PM.

There were two newcomers. They sat up front and basically I spoke directly to them.

When you have spoken to groups for as many years / decades as I have, you develop a 'sixth sense' about members of your audience. And in every audience, no matter how large or how small, you find those very few who are 'locked in' on you.

Further, when in a foreign country, you also 'sense' when certain members understand what you are saying. In other words, they understand your language.

This meeting-of-the-minds happened between myself and one of the new members. 

I swear to God in the Heavens Above I thought.. 

"He seems to understand ever word and everything that I am saying!"

It was an intense meeting. They all are intense meetings over here. The leader went through the meeting format and then I spoke from 6:40PM to 7:15PM, they took a 15-minute smoke-break. We finished and wrapped-it-up precisely at 7:59PM. I watch my cell phone for the time and, trust me, I know how to end on-time.

Up to me walked the new member who I had locked-onto during the meeting. In absolutely perfect English he said, "Can I ride with you when they take you to your apartment and visit?"

He has a beautiful wife and two gorgeous small children. He is a professional at the CEO level. He is at-the-end-of-his-road with alcoholism. He is only age 30 years. 

I said as we approached my apartment..

"I am amazed at your mastery of the English language.."

"Were you born here?"

"Yes."

"How did you learn to speak such good English?"

Are all of you sitting down?

"I lived in San Antonio, Texas, for five years where I attended university!"

And off we went! Did you go to any Spurs games? Were you a Dallas Cowboys fan? .. And on and on we raced ..

What brought you to A.A.? 

I've a brother and two cousins who run our company. All three are in A.A. One brought me here tonight. My father died of alcoholism. 

He is in extremely 'rough shape'. I am concerned he risks having an alcoholic seizure at doing an instantaneous withdrawal from alcohol. Were we in the United States, I would've immediately taken him to a hospital Emergency Room. I offered to do this here. A major hospital is very close to where I live. 

He promised me he would call a cousin who is an M.D.

He insisted on walking me to the door of my apartment. I then walked him back to the street to assure myself he was OK and had flagged down a taxi.

He called to report he was home safe.

"God? Do I have a young, Mongolian, sponsee?"

God is everything or He is nothing!

SEP 20, 19 .. A TALE OF THREE MEETINGS .. CHAPTER ONE

Last Friday, the 13th of September, a friend here in Ulaanbaatar who chairs an 8AM morning meeting asked me to 'chair' the meeting for the next three Fridays as he would be in China / Korea / Japan for a few weeks. He also arranged for a translator for me and a key to the meeting room in a local Community Center.

I said I would chair the meeting.

Yesterday I received a phone call from a lady (Hannah) I did not know. She asked me if I would indeed be 'chairing' the meeting. She said she would be bringing her sister Bunny.

I said yes I would be at the meeting. 

She replied that the two of them would be there. 

Now we are at today, Friday the 20th of September.

I was there at 7:35AM nice and early. For 'openers' I could not get into the building to get to the meeting room because the building itself was locked. 

At 7:55AM up raced my translator who told me that he had taken a new job, could not translate for me, and off he dashed.

At 8AM I tried the door to the building again. It was now open. In I walked, opened the meeting room door, turned on the lights, set out a few chairs and sat down. 

At 8:15AM a Mongolian lady came in and sat down. I called a bilingual Mongolian friend who told her we did not have a translator. At 8:20AM I put away our chairs, turned off the lights, shut and locked the door, and the two of us left.

I got home to my apartment about 8:30AM and my phone rang.

It was Hannah (the lady who'd called me yesterday) asking about the meeting and where I was.

I told her I was home and had no translator.

She said we didn't need a translator because both her sister and she speak English and in a pleading voice asked if I could possibly return and conduct a meeting for the two of them.

I said I would but it'd be about 20 minutes before I could return.

Hannah said that would be fine.

Back to the building I went. Hannah was outside waiting, came right up to me saying that her sister was on-the-way.

Into the building and downstairs to the meeting room we went, turned on the lights, set out chairs and I called Patti who had a great visit with Hannah. Her sister Bunny then appeared and Patti was also able to briefly chat with her.

At around 9AM we got going.  

For a full one hour the two of them got my 'A' game as if I was talking to an audience of 200 not just 2 shy and reserved Mongolian ladies.

We ended with the Serenity Prayer in English. The two of them said they'd be back next week.

Will they?

Does The Shadow Know?

I'll let you know in one week!

Smiles !

NOV 29, 17 .. WHO IS LISTENING AND WHAT ARE THEY HEARING

I don't think that I am alone when I write : 

Whenever we share at a meeting, or wherever we share our thoughts, we have absolutely no idea whatsoever as to what our audience (be it only one person or a room full of people) will hear (i.e. understand).

Let me paint a short picture of the gentleman I am going to write about here : I would estimate him to be in his late 40's or early 50's. Very bright in appearance and could well be a university educated professional career wise. He was fit and trim and appeared to be in good physical condition. He was very likeable and friendly.

The stage is set. I was asked to give a full and formal open talk. Podium, microphone, a standard format was followed.

My talk lasted a full 45-minutes. 

Right up front, during the first few minutes of my talk, I explained that I have been spending considerable time in Mongolia carrying the message of recovery in A.A. During this introductory period I explained the challenges of working with a translator in Mongolia. That is to say, I will say something in English and my words then have to be translated into the Mongolian Language.

I then went on to give my open talk, speaking for another forty or so minutes. I was very pleased with how it went.

And now for the final curtain.

The next day I encountered the above very bright gentleman in another meeting. When he saw me, he came over to me and said :

"In your open talk last night, you spoke of being in Mongolia and of having to work with a translator who would take your words of English and repeat them in the Mongolian language. I did not believe that there exists such a thing as a Mongolian language. So I went home after your open talk and immediately did a Google search. My Google search proved that you are correct, there is indeed a Mongolian language."

I was polite BUT, I could not believe that this one issue, is there or isn't there such a thing as a Mongolian language, occupied his attention all during my talk to the point he went home and did a Google search to prove or disprove my statement.

I did not ask him what language he thought would be spoken in Mongolia.

Go figure! Who knows who is listening and what they are hearing when any of us speaks.

JUL 28, 17 .. BACK IN MONGOLIA ..

I was on-my-way to return here to Mongolia last November 25th, 2016. On that Friday, I fell in the Dubai International Airport and broke my hip. 

I returned to the United States for hip replacement surgery. After a little over 6-months of recovery from the surgery, I flew to Hong Kong on July 6th and North to Mongolia on July 20th. 

It is wonderful to be back here in the Mongolian Capital City of Ulaanbaatar where I first visited on July 15th, 2015. 

I decided that a selection of photos, showing just a few of the meeting rooms and locations at which I have attended meetings here in Mongolia, as well as other miscellaneous photos associated therewith, would be a worthwhile memory refresher for you and well worth publishing. 

Here we go.

Sukhbaatar, Mongolia, is a small city in the far North on the border with Russia.

ULAANBAATAR is the Capital City of Mongolia.

THIS, is going to any length to make a meeting!

I spoke at an all day seminar in Choir, Mongolia. 

The drive from Ulaanbaatar down and back was a little over 3-hours each way.

To paraphrase the Statler Brothers song, "Counting flowers on the wall" .. 

Don't tell me .. There's nothing to see! .. Out here on the open road in Mongolia.

Of course! There are rest stops.

One does not want, nor does one need, 'car trouble' out on the open road in Mongolia.

Our host was ..

 Humility : Realizing how far, and the effort it took, for my audience to come and hear me. Some drove down from Ulaanbaatar. 

Some rode small, motor bikes, from 100-kilometers away.

I'd say the average age of the participants, most of them 'working class adults', was about 55-years.

As I began my talk, as I looked out at them all, I thought to myself, "If I was age 29-years they would dismiss me and wouldn't hear one thing that I would say."

The lady that organized the one-day-seminar heard me talk in Ulaanbaatar so she pretty much knew that I could handle myself and her constituents.

One needs their very best 'A' game with an audience such as this.

It was about a 5-hour session (11am-1pm, 2pm-5pm) with a lunch break.

Questions were many and varied, open, honest and piercingly to-the-point. They wanted answers they could understand and put-to-use.

"In the Mongolian language, the word alcoholic is a very bad, negative and demeaning word. I don't want to use such a word to describe myself. What should I do?"

"Don't even use the word alcoholic! Just say that you want to stop drinking, AA is helping you and leave it at that."

I loved the warmth of the late afternoon sun returning to Ulaanbaatar.

Ulaanbaatar! You sure look good to me!

Sign me off as one of the very luckiest human beings on this planet.