In lieu of an annual celebration this year, Singapore A.A. was offered the opportunity to host Wally P., A.A. Archivist from Tucson Arizona, for a weekend of talks, workshops and guided prayer and meditation. As a fan of workshops, I made a point to set this in my diary.

I knew nothing of this gentleman and had not even heard his name before. As a result, I had no expectations. My plan was to simply suit up and show up and I eagerly looked forward to a weekend that would take me away from the hustle and bustle of everyday life.

The weekend began on Friday 15th November with Wally giving a talk on what A.A. was like in the 1940s. For me, this was fascinating as Wally brought us back to the pioneering days of the fellowship, when there were success rates of 50-70%.

Saturday 15th November marked the big ‘workshop’ day and, by now, I had a small inkling of what lay ahead. I knew it was a steps workshop, but was not aware of how it would all unfold. I can only talk of my own experience in taking part in the workshop. In a word, or two, I found it a game changer! Wally worked 40 plus people through all the 12 steps in a day. In fact, he set a record as he ran the workshop in a shorter time than he had ever done. Fellows had worked hard to ensure that we were all well catered for.

Sunday the 17th saw yet again a very healthy turnout from the fellowship as Wally guided us through quiet time and two way prayer. He showed us how the fellowship had drawn from the Oxford Group techniques to pray and listen to God, or the “indwelling spirit”. I feel like we were given more tools to put in the spiritual tool kit. The two way prayer does not need as much time as some formal meditation techniques. Powerful stuff.

This was a great weekend and I am very grateful to those who reached out to Wally and made it all happen. I am also very grateful to the service of the many fellows who secured a great location, provided meals and tasty snacks and kept us stocked with tea and coffee.

In the end, I came away with the understanding that there is no one way to do the steps and that maybe the only ‘wrong’ way is to …not do them! As Wally says, “do the steps quickly and often”!