"The Church has helped me more than anyone will ever know," exclaimed Tracy Arnette Thompson from Los Angeles, Calif., a recent convert to the Church.
Tracy, a vivacious 19-year-old singer and dancer, is a freshman at BYU and a first-year member of the Young Ambassadors.Attending a music academy in Los Angeles, Tracy met Maureen Turley, also a student at BYU and now her close friend who told her about the Church.
"I'll be forever indebted to her," Tracy said.
"Many opportunities have come to me that I never would have had without the Church contact," Tracy related. "The Church helped me get out of the neighborhood that I grew up in and to get into school here. And I'm so excited to be a member of the Young Ambassadors and to perform in `Celebrating the Light.' "
Troy Hobbs of Franklin, Idaho, said, "I've wanted to be in the Young Ambassadors since I was a little boy. To me, it is a dream come true and a real spiritual boost."
Troy, who has been home from his mission in Taipei, Taiwan, for just a year, said his chief forte is singing, "although I can dance a little."
Provo native Richard Higbee had no interest in the Young Ambassadors until about three months before he concluded his mission in Birmingham, Ala.
"I received a strong feeling that I should return home and try out for the Young Ambassadors," he remembered. "As a member of the group, I'd be able to continue my missionary work. I've had nothing but great experiences with these young people."
These gifted young performers are now preparing for opening night at Promised Valley Playhouse of "Celebrating the Light" on June 25.
"Wherever they perform in the world, people are attracted to the Young Ambassadors because they represent goodness," said the group's director, Randy Booth. "People like the excellence of character, the morals, the generous and kindly feelings demonstrated in the vibrant performances, the singing and dancing of the young students and the spoken story which unfolds during the show.
"When the young performers go into the audience and mingle with the people, the goodness rubs off."
During May, the Young Ambassadors won wide acclaim in the United States' central and eastern regions with their inspirational production of "The Music Makers."
Director Booth believes the Young Ambassadors have more impact than visiting politicians when they perform in foreign countries. In China, where the young students performed a few years ago, they received torrents of applause, and the same was true in the Soviet Union. He thinks the Young Ambassadors are known internationally more than they are along Utah's Wasatch Front.
Reasons for the good impression made by the performers are many. Perhaps one is the influence of returned missionaries in the group. Of this year's cast of 16, all eight of the young men have served missions. Another, according to Jennifer Christensen, president of this year's organization, is the daily devotional highlighted with a spiritual message by one of the group before each rehearsal and show.
Names of returned missionaries also dot the rosters of the band and the technical staff.