Self-Reliance For The YSA

A couple of months ago as we heard that they were preparing for this year's YSA Conference we asked for Self-Reliance and Perpetual Education Fund to be included in some way. Elder & Sister Meinzer, who were on the committee, suggested that we should show up for the planning meetings, so we did. We are very glad that they gave us that advice because it really paid off for us in the long run. The committee decided that instead of formal classes they wanted it more casual where the YSA could go in and learn about something and not feel constrained to a specific schedule. That was just fine with us because in many ways it is a lot easier to visit with them one on one and find out what they really wanted. The other nice part about being in the committee meetings, we were able to request that we be in the Cultural Hall for our group. The Cultural Hall turned out to be the coolest place with the softest chairs, soft is a relative term for Cambodia.

Because of the YSA Conference we did not have our Institute Class this morning, but we were still to the South Stake Center by 7:00 a.m. to setup our space. We got it all setup and it looked great and then we tried to play the video we had as part of the presentation and there was no sound. We got the sound to work the other day at the office, but no luck at all. One of the District Presidents that knows a lot about computers could not figure it out either. Sister Oveson suggested a team prayer, which was great and calming, but still no sound. About twenty minutes into the two hour period Phanna figured it out.

Our job today was mainly to hand out the bookmarks that Sister Oveson helped create and greet the YSA as they came into our area. Phanna and Sameth did all of the presentations. There were about 350 that came through our nice cool area, we are hoping that we had some effect on them while they were enjoying a nice place to hang out.

This afternoon the head of the Admission Office for BYU-Hawaii did a presentation for  anyone interested in going there. There are currently not any Cambodians going there which is really too bad, the youth here need a good university education. Too many of those who went to BYU-H in the past did not come back to Cambodia, so BYU-H stopped allowing more to come. They are willing to try again, but they will really be screened before they are accepted.