Young Ambassadors in Phnom Penh

After months of work the Young Ambassadors finally arrived for their performance in Phnom Penh. There were many obstacles to overcome in having them visit. So many things came up that had not been anticipated before they left the US. We are very grateful to all who helped us solve the many unexpected issues that came up every day!  The performance was outstanding. They did a remarkable job considering that half their equipment could not be shipped in from Thailand and many things had to be rented or done without. They loved the theater and said it was the largest they had ever performed on. There were over 2000 people in attendance and they loved the show. We had to work really hard to fill that many seats and gave tickets to a couple of orphanages to help fill the seats. We sold ticket s to the members at a special price so they could come if they wanted to. We had many VIP government type people that came and an empty hall would not have looked good.  We made some new contacts with government people and also many from companies that agreed to sponsor the event and donate to the hospital project. When we first tried to get sponsors by talking about the Young Ambassadors it didn't work because they are completely unknown here. So we made the decision to have it become a benefit performance for the Nokor Tep Women's hospital that is being sponsored and built by Tabitha Cambodia. We were then able to get sponsors who donated to the hospital. We were able to give a sizable amount toward the hospital and that made all the work worth the effort. We had great support and help promoting the event from the wonderful people at Tabitha. 

The best part of the YA visit was the Monday night FHE with the young single adults from Phnom Penh. We spent the first half hour in the chapel with singing by the YA and then went outside for dinner and dancing. We had a stage set up with speakers, keyboards, lights and a smoke machine. They YA taught the Cambodians some dances and then the Cambodians taught the YAs. It was so much fun!  We felt that the YAs visit was overall very successful and the Cambodians we talked to hope that BYU will send another group soon. (We plan to be gone!) We were so happy to tell them goodbye!