Making an impact on the world ultimately happens in seemingly very insignificant ways, with each event, each encounter, one by one.

Allison Bingham, Director for Youth Services, received a call recently from a young man named Dave (not his real name) who lives in a neighboring community. It seems he saw Affirmation's banner in the Pride Parade and tried to find the group afterwards, but alas, got lost in the crowd. The local chapter did not have a booth this year, but, his partner, remembering the name "Affirmation," looked up their web site, found Allison as a Connecticut contact, and gave her name to Dave. Dave said it took 3 days to get up the nerve to call her. One of his comments sounded familiar to Affirmation members: "I thought I was the only gay Mormon in the world." Dave converted to the church in 1992, and his conversion story is quite fascinating. While in school, he developed his own "study of religions" course, and after spending a semester studying all the major religions, decided that the LDS church had what he was seeking after — so investigated and joined.

But following his heart, he realized he was gay, which has left him tormented because he believes in the gospel with his heart and has a personal testimony of God and Jesus Christ, except for one thing.

Allison shared how "he was so grateful to have found me, and learn of the organization, of Q Saints, and that there are 100's of others out there. We are meeting on Saturday for coffee/hot chocolate, and we will begin to include him in our regional gallivants. I will be giving him the book Peculiar People, and other reading materials which he is excited to receive. He said he'd love to see a Connecticut group start meeting, that he 'needs' a spiritual and support community, that he really misses the LDS community and was overwhelmed with joy when he saw my banner." They talked for over an hour about religion, struggles, and how hard its been for him, still really embracing the basic tenets of the gospel, but feeling so alone.

So, the lesson here, is VISIBILITY VISIBILITY VISIBILITY to fulfill our mission of service. Allison almost didn't go on Saturday for personal reasons, and told him that. His reply was that someone was looking after us and that she had to go because it was destined that he see the banner, so they could meet up.

A humbling experience to say the least.