The Chain of Sponsorship – Workshop – 2025 – Part 2 of 2

I'm an alcoholic. My name is Dave. Hey, Dave. Welcome to the Wacky Paw 15 in Vegas. Wackie Paw is a western area conference of young people and Alcoholics Anonymous. Please help me open this meeting with a serenity prayer. God, grant me the serenety to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things that I can, and the wisdom to know the difference. The topic of this panel meeting is sponsorship. And I've now asked Matt P. to read a passage from AA Literature, and we're going to do how it works. I'm an alcoholic. My name is Matt. Chapter 5, How It Works. Rarely have we seen a person fail who has thoroughly followed our path. Those who do not recover are people who cannot or will not completely give themselves to this simple program. Usually men and women who are constitutionally incapable of being honest with themselves. They are such unfortunates. They are not at fault. They have seen them and been born that way. They are naturally incapable of grasping, developing a manner of living which demands rigorous honesty. Their chances are less than average. There are those too who suffer from grave emotional and mental disorders, but many of them do recover if they have the capacity to be honest. Our story is disclosed in a general way what we used to be like, what happened, and what we are like now. If you have decided you want what we have and are willing to go to any lengths to get it, then you are ready to take certain steps. At some of these we balked. We thought we could find an easier, softer way, but we could not. With all the earnestness at our command, we beg of you to be fearless and thorough from the very start. Some of us have tried to hold on to our old ideas and the result was nil until we let go absolutely. Remember we deal with alcohol. cutting baffling powerful without help it is too much for us but there is one who has all power that one is god may find him now half measures availed us nothing we stood at the turning point we asked his protection and care was complete abandon here are the steps we took which are suggested as a program of recovery one we admitted we were powerless over alcohol that our lives had become unmanageable two came to believe that a power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity. Three, made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood him. Four, made it searching a fearless moral inventory of ourselves. Five, admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs. Six, we're entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character. Seven, humbly asked him to remove our shortcomings. Eight, made lists of all persons we had harmed and became willing to make amends to them all. 9. Made direct amends to such people wherever possible except when to do so would injure them or others. 10. To continue to take personal inventory, and when we were wrong, promptly admitted it. 11. Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out. 12. Having had a spiritual awakening as a result of these steps, we try to carry this message to alcoholics and to practice these principles in all our affairs many of us exclaimed what an order I can't go through with it do not be discouraged no one among us is able to maintain anything like perfect adherence to these principles we are not saints the point is that we are willing to grow along spiritual lines the principles we have set down are guides to progress we claim spiritual progress rather than spiritual perfection Our description of the alcoholic, the chapter 2 of the agnostic, and our personal adventures before and after make clear three permanent ideas. A, that we are alcoholic and cannot manage our own lives. B, that probably no human power could ever lead to our alcoholism. C, that God could and would, and here's a thought. Thank you, Matt. And now we'll have Ken C just read a short paragraph in Working With Others. first paragraph I'm an alcoholic my name is Ken working with others practical experience shows that nothing will so much ensure immunity from drinking as intensive work with other alcoholics it works when other activities fail this is our twelfth suggestion carry this message to other alcoholcs you can help when no one else can You can secure their confidence when others fail. Remember, they are ill. All right. Thank you, Ken. And I'm an alcoholic. My name is Dave. And I like that comment, remember they're ill. And we are from a home group. We're from Dog on the Roof. And some of us are out here from California Dog on the Roof. Others are from Las Vegas Dog on the R roof. And we have something in common. and we're in the same chain of sponsorship, meaning that Keith D., he was on the docket, but he's fulfilling a commitment out in Colorado right now, and we are from his chain of sponsorships. So he is my sponsor. But one of the things that we have in our home group is strong sponsorship, and that's what people like us needed because, like you said, remember, they're very ill. We were the bent fenders of the world. We're the people that nobody else wanted, got kicked out of the Alano clubs for fighting or whatever the case may be. So we are so grateful for our home group. That's something that you're going to hear over and over again because when everybody else rejected us, they were the person with their hand out to us. And like I said, you're gonna hear both spectrums about sponsorship. You're gonna here from what it was like for us when we first found our sponsor and what it meant. And you're also going to hear the other side is when we started working these steps and it came time for us to reach out our hand and the impact on our lives from that and the lives of others. So what we're going to do is we're go ahead and start out and kind of do it by time. We also have four generations of sponsorship as well that are going to be actually sharing at the end as it works out. So we'll start off with Mark from Las Vegas. Give Mark a hand, please. I'm an alcoholic. My name is Mark, and my sobriety date is April 23rd, 2011. For that, I'm grateful. Thank you, Dave. My first AA meeting that I went to, I was 37 years old. I'm 42 years old now. It was in 2007. and I can qualify myself as if I put an alcoholic drink in my body, I can't stop drinking it. I have the obsession. I have a physical allergy. And through the years, it has persisted and gotten worse and worse. So I went to AA in 2007 And I enjoyed being sober, but ultimately I tried to work AA around my life. I wasn't all in. And so for about two and a half years I went to meetings and I had to quite understand that first step, that powerless part, because that's not why I was there. I was there to try and just take the heat off from my wife to get a little break. But eventually, I wanted to drink again. And so after about two and a half years, and then the meetings started cutting back from seven to five to three to one, I moved from Florida to Las Vegas and didn't go to meetings. I think I went to one meeting, and I was drunk within three months. and it got bad quickly. The whole time the disease had been growing, getting stronger the things that I hadn't done yet started to occur and at the end I was just miserable a little over nine months ago I was drinking on a Sunday and I went to bed And Sunday about 6 p.m., I got up Wednesday in the morning, and a lot of that was hangover and a little bit of sleep. A lot of it was fear. I didn't want to leave that room. I didn' t want to live my house. I didn''t want to drink. But I was at that jumping off point. And my wife had started going to Al-Anon meetings about three weeks before that, And she met a woman there, and that person said, you know, why don't you just invite them to a meeting? And so she came home. It was a Friday. And she said, would you go to a meet-in on Saturday at 7 p.m., speaker meeting? And there was no hesitation. You know, it was all out of ideas. is it was either drink to death, which I could actually see myself doing for the first time quickly, or come back to AA and do it right, you know, do everything that's suggested. So I went to that meeting at Saturday at 7 p.m., and I met who would become my sponsor. And he asked me, did you have any reservations about drinking? And I was like, I guess I did. And he tried to – so we met Sunday at a meeting the very next day. And he said to me after the meeting, he's like, what are you doing right now? And I thought, well, what I want to do is I want to go home and get on my couch and shut the door and isolate and just dig in, you know, and do it that way, which was similar to how I had done it the first time. So he didn't push me. He didn't say, you know, come with me. And so I went to a meeting with him Monday and Tuesday, and I was calling him. The session was there to drink. But by the next weekend, he asked me again, what are you doing right now? You want to go down to this shop, and are you any good with tools? Can you work on motorcycles or whatever? I was like, not really. But by that next weekend I was, like, yeah, I'll go. And it had nothing to do with motorcycles. It was completely about him just saying, come with me, follow me, and I've been doing that for the past nine months. And there hasn't been a debate about it. That's the best part to me. You know, it's been just follow my sponsor. I was fortunate enough he had a coffee commitment on Sunday mornings, which says a lot, almost 20 years of sobriety and a coffee commitment. And I was able to get that commitment. He passed that over to me after a little bit of time. You know, I love that commitment, you know. It means something to me. When I was first in AA, I thought the people making coffee must be really screwed up, you know. I'll chair a meeting, but I'm not going to make coffee, you know. So things change. And so in the last nine months, my world has been opened up to a whole different thing. All these guys here I've met just by following my sponsor. We got to go – we do these camp outs. You know, I find myself camping with about 50 guys. They're all from the dog on the roof in California, most of them. And then just out there in 120-degree heat, it's designed that way. You know, and shooting shotguns and guns and eating like kings out there. And nobody was complaining. You know that was amazing to me. And so I've been able to do a few things like that with that group. You know and I really look forward to when I get to see these guys it's always great. You know moving along with the little motorcycle part of things. You know, I was scared to death of those things. And in the shop we had one one day and my sponsor was like, do you want it? I was like yeah I do. And I have to talk to my wife about that but I think she wanted one more than I did. So I got to do that and that's something I never thought I would do ever. Just there was so much fear there. And we went to a convention in San Diego, and there were about 15 of us, and we were going to ride about 100 miles on the highway. I had never done anything like that. And it was a lot of fear. But every time I looked in that rearview mirror, I saw two guys from the group, and they were keeping their eye on me because they knew. And the whole group kept their eye out on me. You know, I just never felt a part of anything likethat before. and just being able to make AA first instead of like that first time where I was just trying to fit everything, fit AA into my life. It's changed this time. And when I do that, it's completely freeing. If I just do AA and make that first, all the other things, and work on my relationship with my sponsor, then all the things in my life have gotten better. My relationship with me wife has gotten better because I've worked through things with my sponsor, talking to my sponsor. There's no secrets. He shares things with his sponsor that I share with my sponsor. So I got almost 56 years of sobriety guiding me. I don't have to invent this. I just have to follow what they do. So I'm very grateful for the line of sponsorship that I've really fallen into. And I know, for me, I'm in the military and my grant sponsor talks about discipline and devotion. And he said something, He's like, I'm sure Mark knows about discipline because he's in the military. And I was like, yeah, yeah. I probably do know about discipline. But really that's where it stopped. You know, I know about the five. But as soon as I come off the clock there, I don't have any – had no discipline in my life. You know? Zero. And these sponsors – my sponsor and that line of sponsorship teaches you about discipline And slowly that becomes devotion, devotion to my sponsor, to the group, to AA as a whole. So I'm really grateful to be here, and thanks for letting me share. You know, I hear all these stories, you know, of Vegas, AA in Vegas, you know, it's crazy and all this kind of stuff. And you know what? Some of the people that I love most are from Vegas. You know, I meet them. I go, what the hell are you talking about, man? These are fantastic guys, and Ray is one of them, man. And I met Ray at the campout, and, man, it's just like we wanted to know his story, you know. And he instantly just clicked with everybody, and it's that identity, you know, that identity that as soon as you say you're an alcoholic, I already know everything there is to know about you. So, Ray, come on up. Thank you, Dave. I'm an alcoholic. My name is Ray. I haven't had a drink since February 22nd, 2011, and for that I'm grateful. With me, the first meeting I ever attended, you've got to understand where I came from. Just before the first meet-up, the first time I attended, my house was raided by SWAT. They kicked in all the doors. my four-year-old son was in my arms and i'm trying to stick him in the attic so that they wouldn't find us and it just didn't work out they found us and he got took by cps so this is this is just before i attended my first meeting and uh someone told me about these meetings so i was like you know what i just they just took my son from me and i am facing life in prison and And, you know, I just had no control over what was going on. And I was frightened. And so I attended my first meeting and I show up. And when I first walked in, I can't say I was really wanted. I mean, when I First Walked In, there's a room with a bunch of white guys in there. And me, you Know, I'm an ex-felon. You know, i feel like i look like an ex felon. I come off as an ex-felon. So I was like, I'm not going to relate to all these white guys up in this meeting and it's just not going to pan out. But so but I sat down and gave it a try. And I sat down and I was just listening to people's stories. And I just couldn't fathom. I couldn't believe that all these alcoholics in this room were doing the same thing, walking the same path and weren't drinking. That's the only thing that I'd wanted. Just I wanted to learn how not to drink. And I kept hearing people talking about sponsors, sponsors. And to me, when I first heard sponsor in the meeting, I thought it was someone that gave you money or I just didn't understand what sponsor meant. And then people were telling the more I kept going, the more people were telling me, hey, you've got to get a sponsor and, you know, you're going to have to start working on the steps. And so there was this man at the meeting, and I related to a lot of what he was saying. It almost felt like he was directly talking to me every time he talked. Every time we shared, you know, I felt like He felt my pain, and He knew what I was going through. But it was difficult for me to ask him for his number because I normally didn't ask guys. for i never had a relationship with a man like that before and so it was kind of awkward for me i had to come up to this man and ask him you know can i get your number or how is this gonna work and i was just confused and here's what i what i love about my sponsor he came up he was like he came out and it was you know was just he got to the point do you have a cell phone i'm like yes i do he was like well write this number down and i'm like writing the number down he's like call me every day you know start going to a meeting every day and for for me at first i was like wait wait a minute call him every day go to a meet every day i didn't sign up for all this you know and uh i tried doing it a lot i mean i called him i was i called them for about three weeks And then I stopped calling him because I thought I had it. You know, I was like, I'm good now. And that's when everything started falling apart for me again. You know? I wasn't drinking, but my life wasn't changing. You know. I was still dealing with a lot of things. And that made me embrace. I had to come back. You know I felt awkward because I hadn't called this man and I told him that I would. So I had a, you know, and then I stopped going to meetings as well, you know. And then when I needed his help, I went back to the meeting and I asked him. I went over. See, I didn't know how the whole sponsorship worked. I thought that he was no longer my sponsor now because I had made him upset and quit calling him. But he was, when I went Back to the Meeting, he was sitting at the same chair that he always sits at, you know, and he never misses a meeting. And and, you know, I kind of I need I need that kind of structure in my life. I'm not really good with suggestion. Like when people people used to say, Mr. Garcia, I suggest you get out of the vehicle. You know, those kind of those kinds of suggestions just didn't really pan out for me. Now, I would always you know, I needed someone in my life to tell me what was up to guide me in this in this and in the program. You know, for me, if if if it's not structured like that for me is just not going to work. And now I know that this is how I feel. It's the best thing that's ever happened to me. The sponsor that I have, my home group. I've never felt like a part of something and we're all not there's some crazy guys in my home group you look at some of us some of them have tattoos a lot of them ride bikes we all look like criminals but I love these guys more than anything they've shown me a new way of life it's really important to me September 2011 11 i got my son back you know i got my son back and um i i you know i mean i'm still facing a few uh i'm still going to court for some of the things that i did but now it's uh it's just very simple for me it my routine is very basic you know and and what's really bizarre like at first it was bizarre for me because we all do the same thing you know we all wake up hit our knees in the morning you know read our literature every day i call my sponsor let them know what's going on and now today it's it's just really bizarre for me because i'm going to meetings every day i share a lot even even speaking in public is difficult for me i feel my ears like really red right now because i am nervous but i mean it helps me out this is uh this is all it's all for you know it's honestly it's just the best thing that's ever happened to me um i'm really grateful to be here um oh yeah yeah um and from you know from going to meetings and sharing my story um i never thought that this would happen but someone actually came up to me and said uh hey would you sponsor me and uh at first i was like i you know i i was Like, I don't know if I'm capable of doing that. I really don't want to mess up and, you know. But so I called my sponsor and talked to him about it. And honestly, it's another really great thing that's happened to me. I used to second-guess myself, not know. Like, if I am worrying about someone else helping someone else, I am not concerned about my little problems. And the guy that I am working with really helps me out a lot. He reminds me a lot of when I first came to the program. And it's just, you know, it's a great experience for me, you know, and thank you for letting me share. All right, and for our next panelist, it is kind of the start of the four generations of sponsorship. I sponsored Troy, Troy sponsors Ryan Ryan sponsors Terrence So Terrence come on up My name is Terrence and I'm an alcoholic My sobriety date is December 24, 2010 For that I'm truly grateful to the rooms of Alcoholics Anonymous Sponsorship When I came into AA on December 24, 2010. That was my first day coming into the rooms and I had no clue as to what AA was. I have an alcoholic father also. My father has 20 years in the program but never pressed anything on me. I just thought he had a drug problem and didn't even know anything about AA. So that's something that I never even knew about. I'm thinking that that was a good thing though for me because I had a very open mind when I came into the rooms. You know, I had super open mind, and I'm not someone who normally likes to take advice, you know, direction from anything, anyone. You know? I've always been able to finagle my way through every situation, and until, you now, I finally wasn't able to fnagle my away anymore. I went to jail on November 30, 2010, and the judge gave me 10 AA days. And he sentenced me to 10 AA meetings. And so I came in on the 24th, and I was just trying to feel my way around AA, going to a lot of different meetings, got me a little book, an Orange County AA book, and went through it, and I was just running around all over, you know, trying to figure out what fit. And I had no clue, though. And I came upon a candlelight meeting, you now, a midnight meeting. I didn't understand. I was like, well, you kno, I asked my father. I said, well what's a candle light meaning? He was like well, ya kno it's just turn out the lights and, ya know, you share under candle light. And I was, like, oh that sounds cool. Ya kno let's go to that one. and so we went, and you know, this is the first time, the first time that, you know after that meeting I shared, and when I shared at that meeting, I happened to have a, you know like a big black eye that day, you know. It was from ice skating. My group to this day still doesn't believe that story, but I'm sticking to it. So I shared. I probably look crazy, And Troy, Troy stuck his hand out to me and asked me if I had a problem with drinking. I said, yeah, I do. And I knew I did by that time because my – I've always tried to – I always thought I just had a high tolerance for alcohol. I was up to 1.75 liters a day of vodka by the time I stopped. And Troy said, well, how about you come to a meeting with me? You know, this was real odd for me. You know? It's just, you know, all the, it was very, I mean, you know, he was very direct, you know, and like gave me not a lot of room to say what I wanted to say. It was just quick. I had to come up, you know, it's either yes or no. Basically that's what it, it called for yes or no answers, you know? And I said yes, you know? Yes, I'll go, you know? And because I also, you know, I asked him though, I was like, well, you know there are going to be some young people there you know because i'd been going you know i'd be going a lot of meetings where you know um some nice ladies there you Know you know that's what i was looking for you know just to see you know just To get a different uh type of aa but anyway uh so anyway so you know he said there will be that you know there'll be young people there'll be you know they'll be some ladies but you know let's just you know Just worry about not drinking for the day, you know. So anyway, I go with them to the meeting, and, you know, it ends up being a great meeting, you know, and I continue to hang out with these guys, you know, and then I ended up hanging, you know, with Ryan. Ryan also met that same day, and you know, I kept rolling around with these guys, just kept getting in the car with them, kept hanging out with them. I still had no, really no clue as to what I was doing, and, you know finally, Troy said, you need a sponsor, you know what I mean? And I was just like, yeah, okay, you know, all right. You know, there's like, you know, races. I didn't really know what that meant. You know? You need a sponsor. I had an idea. But, you know, again, you know, I just kind of like put it off and just kept hanging with them. I knew I wanted to hang with them because, you know, the attraction was there. They were sober. The way they shared in the candlelight meeting that i went to was amazing to me i mean it was like 10 guys one after another hand up you know hand up hand up and hand up it was just it was cool so i knew i wanted to hang with that that group of guys um but anyway so i ended up asking ryan to be my sponsor me and right have a real close story so um and you know um troy's you know he's a different breed you know i mean troy is very very he's hardcore you know and ryan's a little more of my my style you know so I went ahead and went with Ryan. But I continued, you know, to hang with these guys. And then they brought me into the home group, Dog on the Roof. And my dad went through an Illino Club. He got sober through the Illino Clubs back in the day. I guess that's kind of how folks did it also. But for me, I'm an all-or-nothing type guy, you know, and I want to drink all I can drink until I pass out. You know what I mean? I want to do whatever I can do to the extent, you know, I want to do it all, all or nothing. So in this group has the way that they do Alcoholics Anonymous or is just it's just amazing. It's super structured, you know, and I like structure and you know it's very direct and there's kind of no there's no way of finagling, no way you know and I don't need a loophole because if you give me one I'll figure out how to get through it. And it's just, you know, just very, very strong. And I started, so I continued to hang with them, kept going to the meetings and, you know, it just got, you know, life started to get better, you know? And I didn't, still didn't understand it, but it just got better because I've done a lot of crazy things, you know what I mean? I needed an AA program well before you know I even came to the rooms um you know well before I get to my home group and we have I mean it's just I don't know it's like 60 men you know um we also have an Alateen and an Al-Anon um do you know uh part two uh part also to our uh group so it's Just it's all there everything's there you know whatever you want you can get it get it right there with a dog on the roof and um man what just just an amazing an amazing experience for me also just like just as Mark said I mean I've done a lot of things now that I never thought I'd do you know black people don't camp you know what I mean? I mean it just doesn't happen but I'm camping now you know I mean and uh I'm I'm campin' and I'm havin' fun campin', you know, and it's it's amazing you know it's it's amazin' you know. I feel the same a little bit same way as Ray. I grew up though in Orange county so you know the whole i grew up i mean white boys taught me how to drink you know what i mean so i don't have that problem but uh it's just it's a cool cool experience i'm still i'm just doing lots of first man things that i thought i'd never do in life you know and i'm doing with aa and uh i have a you know my background is is an athletic background so i've been a lot of places I've done a lot of cool stuff, you know, but for this to be able to still do first, you know, sober, you know, and this is just a great thing. And man, you know, the people who I follow, you know, are just just top, you know, who I when you when I hear these stories, when they tell these stories. I don't believe them. You know what I mean? Because I these are these are top notch people to me in my mind. You know, these are I mean, you couldn't tell me anything wrong about Troy. ryan or dave but the way their stories are you know i mean their stories are wild stories you know so i mean but that's not who i know i know these people as strong a very active members you know and uh these are the people that i follow and i follow them and then my life just my life just works it works i get to do cool stuff i get to come on panels i getto go to vegas and not drink you know, and just do amazing things. Dave has an action step study that we go to. And I'm seeing things, you know, in my life, you Know, and I'm learning things about myself that I would have never learned about if I just kept living life. You know what I mean? Like if I would've just kept doing me, it just, you Now, Dave knows how to bring, you Know, how to make you see certain things, You know, not only that, my sponsor is very good at helping me you know through my through this with the steps of Alcoholics Anonymous and he's very good with the advice that he gives me you always want everybody always wants some super profound advice when it comes to you know you come to your expo your sponsor you want him to tell you some serious stuff you want them to say like well you know what I think you should do let's have a seat sit down and let's you know uh Terrence what you should doing is uh think about this you know I want all that, you know. I want it professor-like, you know. But he just tells you, he just says, you were wrong. It's like, what? So, you know, all right. But what's so crazy is the simple stuff that they, the simple advice that I get, it means mountains for me when that situation comes up again because now you have a bookmark or a reference point to go to, you know, it's like I know how to get through that one now you know and that's what sponsorship has done for me you know and man it's just it's great man there's no other way to do AA I don't believe if you don't have a sponsor it's Just I mean I don' t see you surviving you know what I mean I don''t see you Surviving AA without a home group without a sponsor you know get in here follow some people around man because this is serious and this is definitely something And that's, you know, saving my life. You know, I was on my way to death, you know, believe it or not, you know, I was on my way to death. These guys, just life works today. I've even been able to put my hand out to someone, you know to the next alcoholic and hopefully I can start sponsoring myself and give this thing away because this thing is fun man and I'm here forever for I'm here to stay thanks for letting me share Thank you, Terrence. You know, when sponsoring people, one of the hardest things to do is to let them go. And in a situation where to continue to try to work with someone is going to take away from the time that you need to spend with the person who really wants it, especially when they're loaded and coming to the meetings and they're not quite getting it. And, you know, Troy had that heart-wrenching conversation with Ryan when he was first brand new that, you Know, I can't help you anymore. And Ryan had to go out, but Troy called him months later when Troy was at his deepest point and said, How are you doing today? And Ryan said, It's not good, and I'm ready. I'm already for the program today. Recently that's, you know, come full circle with Ryan having to do that with one of his sponsors that he loved very much who he had to, you know, say I'm sorry, you know. But he already saw what happened to him. So who knows what's going to happen to this next guy. But those are the things that, you know, we go to the big book and we find the answers in here. And, you know, that's the basis of our sponsorship. So, Ryan, do you want to come on up? Ryan, I'm an alcoholic and my sobriety date is September 29th 2009, I am grateful for that Troy is my sponsor I get the privilege of working with Terrence Terrence was talking about how he doesn't believe all our wild stories he just sees these great examples of the program Alcoholics Anonymous And, you know, I remember, you know, Dave, you know, he has some pretty wild and, you know, it's like, you know, we're I idolize, you know, my chain of sponsorship, Troy and Dave and some other guys. We stay sober with him like, man, Dave you know how do you go from, you know, being nuts and doing all this crazy stuff and, you know staying sober by the skin of your teeth to today how you are now, you know, and he said, you know, the answer is working with newcomers, you know, that's a topic of the panel when all else fails work with newcomers. And, you know, I'm just grateful that, you know, i get a i get to be clean and sober today. You know, it's like, I'd always, I was introduced to a lot, you know, and I probably went to, you know, detox and rehab about a dozen times. And you know, I always get introduced to AA. But, you know, I wasn't done, you know, I didn't want when anybody had, you know, I just wanted the stuff that I had back. And so I'd go to all these programs, and I'd come off a bad run, you know. And I'd be desperate and open and willing, you Know. And, you Now, I remember one time my parents were sending me down to Teen Challenge, right? Because it was free rehab. And it was all the way down in San Diego, and I lived in Orange County. And they don't let you smoke, and I'm all fired up like, yeah, you Know, I'm gonna come out of there with a year sober. And I won't be smoking cigarettes. And, You Know, it's going to be great, you know, and just because it was, you know, it was a really bad, bad run that I'd had right prior to that. And, you know, I told myself there's no way I could ever drink again after something like that. And I go all the way down to San Diego and, you know, I check in and, you know the next morning I wake up and I find out there's choir practice. It's like a church program and there's choir practice every morning at 9 a.m., and all that desperation and willingness goes right out the window, give me my $7 back that I came in here with, I'm out of here, I am 26 years old, what am I doing in a place like Teen Challenge anyways, you know, this doesn't make any sense, and hit the streets, and that was my story until one day I was white knuckling it on my mom's couch, and I begged her back in one more time, made all the promises that I knew I couldn't keep, like I'll never drink or use again. And, you know, I begged her, you know, and it's 16 days. I knew, all right, I'm getting thirsty. It's about, you Know, I've had about all I can take. I have to get loaded again. You know what? I knew that there was an answer. And I picked out a meeting out of a meeting directory and I said a prayer. God, if something could happen at this meeting tonight, I sure would appreciate it. And I went to that meeting and Troy and this other guy, Brian, stuck their hand out to me, made me feel welcome. And I started getting in the car, going down the road with Troy. Troy was sponsoring me. I got a job. You know, I hadn't really been steadily employed for a few years. I Got a job and 30 days and I thought I was cured, you know, and I stopped doing what I was doing. And through a series of events, you Know, I ended up loaded again, you Know, and loaded at the meetings, you Know, in denial again, like, you Know, i'm not now i'm okay. I'm okay I just I have to take these painkillers because you You know, I broke my back. And, you know, that was the day that Troy told me, listen, man, I can't help you. You know? You can't get honest. I can' t help you and, you know, as I walked away from the meeting hall and into my car, it felt like I was sinking into a black hole, you know? And the next three months, I was out there, you know, and drinking and using and, you know when I was at, you know, just a total bottom, you know? And, and, uh, you know, that, that, you Moment in time, that window where I was still loaded but receptive, I got a call from Troy. I'm grateful for that call. And I got back to the rooms and I did everything that was suggested. I was all in this time. I did all the stuff that I didn't think I could do. And they taught me anything. They taught me to be self-supporting. I moved into the house. They took me into a sober living house and gave me a place to stay with two days, you know, sober and helped me start going along. You know, I started working my steps again and I had seen that Troy had grown a lot, you know, from the other guys he was sponsoring. You know I did a fifth step with him before and then we did the fifth step this next time. It was like, you know, all right, all right, I don't need to hear any more of that, you know, just write this down. You're a liar, you know, you're a cheater, you are a thief and strong sponsorship, you know, and it helped me. And I think, you I'd done my fifth step, and this guy, I had maybe 60 days. No, maybe less than that. I had like 30 days, and then this kid that's like 16 with 32 days asked me, can you sponsor me? I'm like, I don't know. I asked my sponsor. He's like, help him out, man. You're picking him up and taking him to meetings. I started learning to try to work with newcomers. I noticed too from working with newcomer is that when I'm not working with new comers, I get into myself really bad, and I get depressed, and I get irritable, and I get discontent. And then somebody has to come along and remind me, listen, man, you better pray that you don't get what you deserve. Cuz it's not gonna be good. And I haven't gotten what I deserve from all the horrible drinking and using, but I've gotten a great way of life. And another time I shared my story at a low-bottom indigent detox, you know. And this guy, he's about 50 years old, comes running up to me and he's like, hey man, will you sponsor me? You know, you just told my story, you Know. And I found out a little bit about him. And he's Like, yeah, I started coming to AA when I was 25. I've been in and out for 25 years, you Now. In and out, in and out. Detox is just low bottom. And you Know, I was grateful because you Know what? It's like he said I told his story, but he was telling my story. You know, if I don't keep doing what I'm doing, you know, and, uh, and uh, you know, cause I'm not the, I don'T know, for some reason, you know, I'M NOT THE TYPE OF ALCOHOLIC OR ADDICT THAT, YOU KNOW, I, I DON'T, I HAVEN'T DIED. YOU KNOW, WHEN I DON'T DIE, THEN I GOTTA COME BACK TO AA. I DON' T DIE, I GOTTO COME BACKTO AA, YOU KNOW? AND, UH, THERE'S A LOT OF TIMES WHERE I THOUGHT, YOU KNOW, TOWARDS THE END IT WAS, YOU KNOW, THE THOUGHTS OF GETTING SOBER WAS, UH...YOU KNOW, DYING WAS A LITTLE BIT LESS SCARY, YOU You know, and I'm just grateful that, you know, I got a sponsor who's helped me through the steps and got me out of that place of just fear and obsession to drink and use and, you Know, into a good place in my life today. You know? And, you Now, it's like all I've had to do is get a sponsor and follow his lead. You Know? And I've worried about a lot of the other things along the way, family and relationships and work and money and yada, yada yada and the truth is I just worked hard at building a relationship with my sponsor and my home group and my higher power and every other area of my life got better that's really the message that I have for everybody and for myself when I work on my program everything else takes care of itself thank you Okay, next guy is, I mean, he's a workhorse. Just what Ryan just got done sharing, he knows the concept of if I just put everything into AA, the job, the girl, everything else works out, you know, because the principles of AA are good enough. And, you Know, like I said, he is a work horse. He is always out there with his hand extended, seeing what he could do for the next alcoholic, and he sponsors a lot of guys. So we'll go ahead and bring up Troy. I'm an alcoholic, my name's Troy and my sobriety date is June 12th 2008 and I'm very grateful for that it's good to be here it's great to be sober I was laying in bed last night at about 11 o'clock I was thinking about what I was going to share and I pictured like hundreds people maybe so it is what it is but I'm really grateful people are here that have someone to talk to And it's good. And we're a small piece of a greater whole that's working out there in Orange County that is my home group, and that's where I draw my strengths. We do a lot of meetings, a lot to set meetings. I know where I'm at Monday night, Tuesday night, Wednesday nights. But I've been given the ability to go into the Salvation Army and work with guys there, and we go to outside meetings. Sometimes we do the meeting after the meeting, you know, the second meeting, and that's really just to go look for newcomers, you know. And I enjoy working with newcomers. You know, I'm going to tell a little bit of my story. I was born here in Las Vegas, Nevada. You know my parents were on the run from the IRS. That tells enough about them. I had my first drink at 11 years old and you know at 13 years old I was awarded to the state. You know at 16 years old I was already going out of juvenile halls and you knew all kinds of stuff. I already had all kinds arrests And, you know, at 18 years old I had just graduated my first treatment facility and I do really well in constructed areas. You told me what to do and when to do it, and I excel. You know, you take the drugs and alcohol away and I Excel, you Know. And, You know nothing there was really no God or AA and, You Know, I continued doing what I was doing. And, At, You, Know, I'll tell you guys my last drink. It was nothing profound about it. I was down on a bar in Main Street, Seal Beach. and I was a few sheets to the wind. I decided to stand up on the bar table and I got knocked out by the ceiling fan and I thought it was the bartender who wanted to fight me and I proceeded to fight him but he had some really big friends with him and they had that word across their shirt that said security and I know when to leave and I jumped on my beach cruiser and I took off and I ended up at some house and I saw some keys and I walked outside And it was a nice new BMW. And I got in that BMW and I proceeded to go pick up where I know where to pick up. And, you know, I came to the next morning, the sheriffs were there. And, um, you Know, one more time back through that loop. And it wasn't my first time going through the loop, you know, and, uh, I detoxed in jail and, uh, around 60 days I was sitting in my cell and, um, a lady came in and said, uh, people are going to go to church tonight. Would you like to go To church? And I'll be completely honest with you guys. I wasn't raised in the church. I didn't know anything about God. I just wanted to get outside and feel the sun on my face and maybe get some fresh air. And I walked into a room that was just like this, and there were people saying a prayer, and I said my first prayer. My prayer was help. And when I got out of there, I got drunk again. I got drank again because nothing changed, you know? Nothing changed. And thank God that I had a judge. You know, I had six years over my head at the time. It was jail or treatment facility. And I really gambled it for a while. I was like, oh, you Know, I'll do three and a half. I might get some cool tattoos. You know, I've already done Phoenix House. You know what's going to be different this time? And I remember sitting in the backyard that day and a guy from the program got on the phone with me and he said if you're ready to do something different this Time, you know, it'll work. But you've got to work it. And I made a decision to check into the Salvation Army. And I checked into the San Francisco Salvation Armey on June 12th, 2008. And, you now, when I was there my first week, a guy walked in for my pass. And that was the first ray of hope that I got that, you know, I could stay sober. And he took me to his home group meeting, and that's where I met Andy. Andy extended his hand to me and said, you Know, I can take you through these steps. And, you Now, Andy showed up there every Wednesday night to work with me. You Know, he took Me through Steps 1, 2, and 3, and he got an opportunity to move out of Vegas. And what I love about Andy is that he was going through a really hard time in his life right there, but he never, ever missed coming and meeting with me, And, you know, he moved out to Vegas and he asked me before he left. He said, you want to pick a sponsor out of this home group? And I said, yeah, I do. And I wanted Dave because Dave was coming into the Salvation Army a lot. And Dave started me on the fourth step. I thought we were going to get to know each other, go out and have coffee. He said here's your fourth step, you've got two weeks, get it done. And I did my fourth step and I did mine. I did the fifth step and got in the car with him. And I thought he was going to tell me I was sick and I needed real help and get out of the car. But for once in my life, I was completely honest with the guy. For once in My Life, I Was Completely Honest. I mean, the best I could, right? I was still foggy, but I was honest. I did the best that I could and I shared everything with him that day. And we formed an honest relationship. And I graduated on New Year's Eve. Like who lets people in rehabs graduate on New Years Eve, right ? And they gave me the boot that night. And my parents came and picked me up and I went over to my home group. My home group was having a huge dance. There was loud music playing. I got out of there. They gave me this nice little suit, you know, and a trash bag full of clothes. And I showed up there, and the music was playing, and I was scared. I didn't want to go in. I didn' t really know anybody. But I knew that I wanted to do something different. And they got me into a house that night, and I started sleeping on the couch. And just started putting one foot in front, and I was calling my sponsor. They were going to meetings every night. I was going to meanings with them, and just doing a lot of AA. And I was 26 days out of that Salvation Army. And, you know, a guy came up to me and asked me for help. And he actually came up and said, I need a sponsor. And I Was like, hold on. I ran over to my sponsor. I was like, hey, this guy's really cool. He needs a sponsor and he was like why don't you help him? You know, and I was Like dude, I can't help. I just got out of rehab, you Know, like I suddenly get a truck a girl maybe two, you know, like a job, you No, like all these things I need to do and he Was just like no you can help him, you Can take him through the steps the way I took you through the steps and started picking this guy up every day and taking him to meetings, you know, and we started forming a relationship. And I met his family, and his mom loved me, and His sisters loved me. And they called me an angel. They called me An Angel. And we would have dinner together, and it was great. And we formed a great relationship. And me and Dave were sitting in a meeting one night, and we got a phone call, and It was from His mom. And His mom called and said that He had flipped a car and broke His face and back, and He was down there at Kaiser. And we left the meeting immediately and went down there with a big book in hand. and, you know, walked into that room. And he was, you could see in his eyes, you know? He already got shut up with that stuff and, uh, you know, it was, uh... It was on, you know? And, uh You know, we just told him that we'd be there for him when he got out, you know. And, this disease is, uh, you know cunning, baffling, and powerful, you know and he had to go through what he had to go through, you know, but I was sitting in a meeting three months later, you know and I got a sponsor because his sponsor went up to him and said why don't you check on that new guy you know and he called me and said Why don't you give Ryan a call? And I called him, and he was wearing women's makeup at the time. He didn't share that, but he had picked his whole face apart and was wearing woman's makeup, and man, it was pretty bad. And we got him in the car, and it's been an absolute blessing. But the thing that I learned from that is one, that I have a heart, because when I got here, I had hurt every relationship in my life, my parents, my sister, everybody. And I thought I was insane, you know, because people were always telling me, what is wrong with you? What is wrong mit you? And I didn't know. I didn' t know. I can' t stop drinking. I cannot stop. And, you kno, I'm staying outside about an hour ago and I got a phone call. I sponsored a guy for a while, for almost a year, and I get a phone from his girlfriend. She was crying. I could barely even make a word out of what she was saying. And what I did get from what she was saying, that he was murdered last night in a drug deal that went bad. And my heart really goes out to her and his little girl. And it's just like, man, I get to stand up here and share my story with you, or there's the other end. Jails, institutions, or death, or spiritual help. Which one do I want to do? And it is just a complete blessing that a window of opportunity opened and I fell in. And when I got to Alcoholics Anonymous, I did not debate it. You know, I didn't debate it, my ass was kicked, you know, and I wanted help, I wanted to recover, you now, I want to get better. And there were great examples ahead of me that said, hey, this is what we're doing, you know? Get in the car, come down the road, and you know it's been an absolute blessing. And you know I've been having the privilege to work with a lot of guys, you know? And some guys stick and some guys don't, you And I don't know which ones are going to stay and which ones aren't. But I'll tell you what, I'm a much better person when I'm working with these guys than I'm thinking about myself. And it's just – it says intensive work, intensive work. Intensive work. It's not just once in a while. It's every day. But the thing is it's – thinking about that, it's like, man, that's a lot of work. But it's not. It's a lifestyle. It's just like the way I drank and used. It's an absolute lifestyle. And, man, I absolutely love it. Today I've got a lot of good things going on in my life, a lotof really good things, a loto great opportunities have presented themselves. And just last week, you know, a guy from another troop came up and asked for help. And it's like God throws me these things when I need them the most, when Ineed them themost, because as soon as I start focusing on the material things and the other things, I start sabotaging what's in front of me. And, youknow, I don't want to do that today. And, you know, it's a great deal. And, and, you know, I love Alcoholics Anonymous. It has absolutely saved my life. And, uh, you know, a little joke is this is a young people's event and they say, um, alcoholism and chicken pox are, uh. You know, kind of the same thing. You know if you get it while you're young, you're cool. But if you wait until you're longer, the shit could kill you. So thanks for letting me share. I'm an alcoholic. My name's Dave. I've been sober since April 24th, 1999. I'm grateful for that. And so, you know, I've really enjoyed, you know, the guys in the panel. I get to see them all the time and, you know, really blessed by them. And, you know, when I, see, I slipped out of AA for years. I was even the Alano Club drunk for a year. And never once did I ever do step four. You know, I'd look at the wall and say, okay, I just did step one, two and three, you know, or I would get a guy that would say, you know, I'm your sponsor. And it would be like, oh, this is so weird, you know, being close to a guy, you know, and all that kind of stuff. And of course, I would never be truthful with them or whatever the case may be, but no steps, no sponsor. And I was drunk all the time. I was drunk, drunk, drunken. You know, I have a background. I was a minister for seven years. I have an education. I have blah, blah, and those are all the kind of things that I'd look at it and say sure people in here you know of course I could get this. I'm a quality person. Well I pass out on the floor in the middle of the AA meeting and they all set their chairs up around me and have their meeting. I wake up you know I look around and you know I'm running out the door and they say keep coming back dave i go damn it they know my name you know and um you know that and having that type of mentality and you know i didn't you know get this thing till i was 36 i i i came into this one you know one meeting and you Know they stuck their hand out and this one guy stuck his hand out and he said do you know how to do this and i said no i don't i don' t know how to do this and he said why don't you come along with me so i did the best i could still thinking that this is a little weird you know this man-to-man thing and trust and all that kind of stuff and i i my word didn't mean anything so you know i'd show up you know a couple times a week when he was going every day asking me if i'd shows up oh sure i'll be there and i'd showed up and he'd say, where were you last night? And I said, well, it was raining. And he goes, so? You mean you guys go to meetings when it rains? And he was just looking at me like, did you drink then? Of course I did. So naturally, got loaded again. Come back, and this time I know my life depends on it. How I know the difference of this time around compared to anything else is when my sponsor said something, it had depth and weight to it. I never had that before. I never have the ability to when he said something I was going to try to do it to my best of my ability. Now see, I am completely self-centered and it is totally a radical concept having a self-centered disease to actually listen to someone else. But here it is, is this guy, he did not have my background, but he knew how to stay sober. And when I got to the point that that was the most important thing in my life was not to change the conditions of my life, but obviously I had to change my life. I started listening to that person. Now, you know, I was a mess my whole first year, you Know. In fact, my grand sponsor then, who's my sponsor now, you Now, he would point me out and he'd say, that guy is an asshole. And that's the kind of things I was doing in the meeting. And my sponsor would be sitting next to me, and I'd look at him and say, he just called me an asshole? My sponsor would look at me, yeah. And I'd say I thought I was the nicest guy in the group. And my spouse would just fall out of his chair laughing at me because in my mind, you know, the craziness, you know I thought, you all these things. But when, you know, I started going down the path and getting around these guys and everything, I really saw the insanity of my fighting everything and just, you knows, just the craziness in my life. Here's when things started changing. I started having a relation. I did my fourth step with my sponsor. And for once in my wife, I was like, I started trusting someone. When I did that, I wasn't introduced back into the human race where it wasn't all about me anymore. Now, something else occurred that was life-changing for me. Now, see, all my life I've had the sickest women that you would believe in my life. I got the sickiest one every time because sick attracts sick. I did not know how to do relationships at all. It was just bad. You know, my idea of a great relationship, you know, and how I'd pick people is whoever wants me, I'm yours. You know? So it was that type of deal. So here's the thing. There's this street urchin kid that comes into the meeting, and his mom's pushing him off on us. And I'm sitting there going, you now, I don't know what to do with him. So I said, why don't you come live on our couch? So he comes and lives on our coach. And all of a sudden, I start taking him to meetings because I'm doing all these bad things, trying to do AA, going back to my sponsor saying, yes, I did that, and I'm lying. And this kid needs to stay sober. So I take him to the morning meeting because he needs to go to the Morning Meeting. And then, you know what? I pick him up from his job, and I take him to the meeting because he needs to stay sober. He's new sober. You know, he has to stay sober. And then I take them to the meet-in after the meet. Then we sit up at night, and we start talking, and all this stuff is going on. This kid really needs this, so I'm taking him along. He's sober. All of a sudden, all these things that are going through my mind, you know, when am I going to get another woman, you know and all this stuff you know when when am i going to get mine goes away you know and it started you know i started getting that relationship with god because i say hey first thing in the morning you gotta hit your knees right now i'm not hitting my knees okay i'm gonna hit my knees too and because no longer could i tell this guy to do something that i wasn't willing to do and he and you know I just all along the way one night a critical moment He got in a fight with my roommates and called my sponsor. My sponsor said, just everyone go to bed right now. So I go, everyone go back to bed. I sneak back in, and I see him on the couch, and he's sitting straight up, and I could just see the silhouette, and I knew everything in that kid's head. I knew every thought he was thinking, and it was, should I stay or should I go? And by this time, I have a relationship with this. This is the first person I ever, I've been married a couple times. I never cared about them. I never care about anybody. But this one person, an alcoholic, I absolutely loved. And he was saying, should I stay or should I go after the event? And I got on my knees and I prayed. Next morning he was there on the couch. I had to let him go thinking that it might not be his time. And he was there, and he says, you know what? I'm going to work the steps on what happened last night. And we started going down this path together. That kid's still sober today. You know, 11 years sober. He's 11 years sore today. And out of that, you now, started my relationships where all of a sudden, guess what happened? I met her. And because I was willing to have a relationship with a sponsor, all right, and I was able to give to this kid, I was abled to have a healthy relationship with a woman. And it was, you know, water seeks its own level. She was healthy. That meant I was getting healthier by helping this kid out, doing what I needed to do to stay in front of him, you know, because I loved him. I was able to love another human being. And that's how it's happened in every area in my life. Every area that I needed to accomplish, it came so between the Relationships and Alcoholics Anonymous. And it always starts with my sponsor. My sponsor is ahead of me. He does more than me. He shares with me, especially the spiritual aspects of this program. And I get to listen, and I get absorbed that. And then I go around, andI say, Troy, and then I get a share of that with Troy. And it goes on down through the chain. And those are the most important things. you know in that relationship with my wife it came with two kids now the man of the house i should have you know i should ever say so and stuff you know my sponsor i raised that entire family those two kids who were in allotine and my wife goes to Al-Anon by calling my sponsor up, and he would say these magic words, you know, because I would tell him what my opinion would be. And he goes, oh, I wouldn't do that if I were you. I said, well, what should I do? He goes, well, why don't you mind your own business? Oh, what? That doesn't sound right. Yeah, why didn't you remind your own business? Tell you what, keep your mouth shut. Okay. And I found out, you know what? If I just keep my mouth shut and mind my own business, I just took care of about 90% of my problems in the world. And I raised that family where they were so appreciative of me because what we do is when there's a problem in the family, we all call our sponsors. My wife goes to her corner. She gets on her cell phone. Kid goes to his. He calls his. The daughter calls her. I go call mine. And we listen to the answer. We come back. We let each other know what the other sponsor said, no more fight. It's over. We all worked the program on it. And they loved me because of the way I treated their mother. All right? And that's why they really love me. Not so much the way i treated them, but i did treat them well. But the way i treated their mother. And that was all about the relationship with the sponsor. You know, years later, fast forward it's funny because last week i had a major we had a major blow up where she had to leave the house to cool down and come back you know and um and i've been knowing that something's going on in our relationship that we just can't communicate and do these things you know like i want to like there's an elephant in the you know in the living room and and so she said i threw her under the bus and i thought i owed her a man so i said well what did you mean as soon as She started saying, you know, boom, there was a fight. So I called my sponsor up. You know, he made me laugh, said go unload her gun so she doesn't shoot you when you come back home. And so, you Know, I was going to do that, but she came home too soon. But anyways, next day I call her. I call my sponsor. I go, yeah, she was like this, this, and my sponsor goes, no, no. You pushed her buttons. No, maybe you didn't hear me right. It was as if, no you pushed her buns. okay you know hung up i was mad started writing next day i call him here's the what really happened you pushed her buttons i just talked to my wife you just pushed her buns and now i'm really mad he won't talk to me anymore click you know so i'm writing it out more and more and these words are jumping out at me as i'm writing it out, you know? And I'm going, and the next day I'm driving to work. I'm going, I'm always right. I're always right, you know? Who wants to live with a jerk that's always right? You know? How can I do that to the woman that I love? But see, that was a deep and, you know, seated character defect of mine. But my sponsor, who has all these years, you know, all these years of experience because he's done them too. And other guys that he sponsors has done them. He could let me know exactly what's going on. If I tap into the years of experience, I could stay married. What a concept, you know, and all those things. And I get to do the same thing that I know what it's like to be three. I know when it's liked to be two. I know it's likely to be one cause I'm an alcoholic and I've experienced it. And if these guys tap into, you know, sponsorship, we could share those things with them. But that's all that we're doing is we're sharing our experience and everything that's in this book, you know. So I appreciate your guys' time. I do want to call up on one more person because this is a person that I love and we all here respect. He moved here about three years ago? About three years. Three years ago. So let's welcome Andy W. to close us out. I'm an alcoholic. My name's Andy. The most important thing I can share is I haven't had to take a drink since June 12th of 92, and for that I'm grateful. Thanks for calling me up here. And I want to thank the guys up here that shared. They did a great job. And the funny thing for me is that I've seen most of these guys get sober, And I've seen them go through their stuff and, you know, work the staffs and work the traditions and stay no matter what and get better, you know. And one of the things that I really heard him share a lot about tonight and a lot of the stuff I share with the guys that I work with is that the attraction for me when I got here was not the single person. The attraction for my life was the people. me when I got here was the group. It was a group of guys, about 40 guys at that time, going in the same direction and doing the same thing. And they were really doing it. You know, when they said, well, we'll see you Tuesday night at the meeting, they were all there Tuesday night at the meet-in. See? When they said we'll see you Thursday night at the meeting they were all there Thursday night at the meeting. They didn't miss a beat. And I couldn't make a commitment. I didn't even know what a commitment was um you know i'm just like the rest of these guys i'll tell you what you want to hear and then i'll go do what i want to do you know and uh you know And I couldn't I couldn't stay sober period you know I uh I ended up uh for me I got here when I was 30 years old I um went to a marriage counselor at the Crystal Cathedral in California and I wasn't married And I had a long beard, long hair, leather jacket, greasy blue jeans on. And after an hour of sharing my story with this lady, she looked at me and said, you know what, I can't help you. She said, but here's the phone number of a guy that works with misfits just like you. And I wasn't offended. I took that number, and I went home that Wednesday night, and I made a phone call. And it was to an old-timer in Alcoholics Anonymous, and he shared with me over the phone that night and invited me to an AA meeting the next night, you know. And I went to that meeting. I listened to these guys share that night and I identified with them, you now. I didn't know if I could stay sober. I didn' t know if wanted to stay sober but I knew something had to change, you kno. And I started going along with these guys and doing what they were doing and they were, like I said, serious about staying sober but they were having fun, you know. And it's been a long time since I was having any fun anymore. And I started working the steps. I started working with guys. I started sponsoring guys. And like you heard up here tonight some stayed, some didn't. Mostly didn't, but what my sponsor said is you're still here and you're still doing it. Keep doing it, you know. And I like The simplicity that the group had, like you heard, it wasn't long, drawn-out stuff. It was like, you're wrong. Work the steps. Do it this way. Shut your mouth. Mind your own business. Simple stuff, stuff I couldn't do. I used my sponsor today. I still call him every day. I called him this morning and talked to him and let him know what I was doing today. and I share with him what I'm doing with the guys that I'm working with, see? Because I want – for me, I want the guys that I am working with to have a relationship with my sponsor, their own relationship, see. And I want them to know that whatever happens, it doesn't just stop right here, see, when I'm working with you and going down the road, I'm getting input on what's going on. You know, I share with my sponsor what's gone on with me in my life and the guys that I'm working with, I get input from him, he gets input from his sponsor, and I pass it on down the line, see? And I believe that's the way it works, see. I didn't believe any of that kind of stuff when I got here. I believed in nothing when I Got Here, see, And today, I believe in this book. I believe In the guys that are sitting up in this panel. I believe The Alcoholics Anonymous as a whole, see? In here, see, and I can stand, I crawl before nobody today, see. My head is held up high, and I can look anybody in the eye, I'm straight up, see ? And Ray, when Ray was going to that meeting, was on a Wednesday night and he asked me to help him, asked me to sponsor him and I told him, I told them, I said, you call me every day and he did for about three weeks then he didn't call me for about two weeks for about three months and he came to that Wednesday night meeting and after the Wednesday night meeting was over he tried to corner me outside and you're not going to corner my outside. I said what do you want? And he said well you know you think you could maybe before you could even say anything else I said listen here asshole that's what I told him. I said I've been in this meeting every single Wednesday night sitting in that same seat staying clean and sober, working with guys while you've been out screwing around. If you really want this thing call me tomorrow. And I walked away. You know? Make the decision, dude. You know, and that's the way they did it with me. See? And he made the decision that he wanted to stay. In his life, I've watched his life you know, just like the rest of these guys. Mark and Dave and Troy on the end, you know. He goes, hey, what was I like when I was new? I said, you were just a newcomer, dude. You weren't crazy or out of control. You were just drunk trying to stay sober, see. And, you now, Dave helped me out. Just before I came out here to Las Vegas, I was going through some hard times. I was, you know, like we do. And financially and work-wise and relationships, it was just crazy. My life was pretty crazy. And I think maybe that's why I had an opportunity to come out here and go to a really crazy place when you're nuts or whatever. But Dave stuck his hand out, and he helped me. And I was open-minded. And then I ended up having an opportunity, like I said, to move out here to Las Vegas. And I got to do that. And I Was 16 Years Sober When That Happened. And I'm grateful I was. I don't think God would have allowed that to happen prior to that. Spiritually, I hit a really big bottom when I moved out here And to the point where, you know, I thought I had a God in my life. I thoughtI knew about God. But when I hit that bottom out here at 16 years sober, I found God like I'd never found before. And something changed in me. And, you now, I can't really explain it. I just know it did. And it was an inside thing. And the reason I know that something's changed is because my sponsors always told me that, and it's in this book, is material stuff won't stay in your life until you're spiritually fit. Your spirituality has got to be number one. And the way I know that things are working the way they're supposed to be working is today I'm a program of attraction, see? And the program of traction is there's guys that want what I have. And that wasn't happening before, see. And so the only thing I can, you know, equate that to is staying here, staying sober, working with a sponsor, working the steps, working the traditions, and never missing a beat. See? Never missing abeat. You know? I didn't come here just to, you now, spend some time in Alcoholics Anonymous. I came here to change my life. See? I needed help. You know, and you guys have always been, the doors have always be open, and you guys have always been here, you know. And like you heard in here tonight, if you don't have a group and a sponsor, I think you're going to have a really hard time. The book tells us, it's in the book, rarely have we seen, or not rarely, but very seldom do we see people stay sober without a group. It's inthebook, you now. And a sponsor is just somebody that helps you get down the road, you kno. And I'm grateful for that, you know. I'm thankful for the panel. I'm Grateful that we were allowed to do this, and that's all I got. Thanks. All right. Well, we want to thank everybody for allowing us to participate tonight, and the WACIPA 15 host committee would like to thank you too. And next panel in this room will begin at 930. The topic is general service. And after a moment of silence for the alcoholic who still suffers, will Andy W. lead us out in the prayer of his choice?