Helping Conservation FM

It was still too cold this week to work outside.  And the next shipment of plants didn't come, so we are caught up on planting. We did a lot of pot washing and greenhouse maintenance, watering, cleaning.  But we were available to help out in other areas.  I went to sewing on Tuesday, and helped Conservation with Spring cleaning on Wednesday and Thursday.
Conservation takes care of the artifacts on the sites, and has a store room of things we might need in our homes that we didn't bring, including pillows, blankets, and air mattresses for guests who visit. 

Sister Schmidt cleans upholstery through a screen to protect the fabric.

Cleaning the blacksmith shop was a dirty experience.  But we felt we'd accomplished something when we were done. 

When the blacksmithy was clean we stopped by Exodus point to play with the ice.  Still very cold here in Nauvoo. 

Our personal service project - getting the leaves out of the Cultural Hall stairwell. 

Mission Training on giving tours - by Sister Archibald

Sister Archibald, who is a professor of park management at BYU-I, and teaches classes on Interpretation, that's the tours that park rangers give, gave our training on Wednesday night.  She taught us to watch for the different types of visitors:

•  explorers, who want to learn a lot
•  facilitators, who are focused on sharing the experience with others
• professional/hobbyist, who know more about your topic than you do
• experience seekers, who just want to visit the site, look around, then move on
• spiritual rechargers - seeking a restorative experience

A visitor can be a combination of some of these.  I tend to be an explorer and spiritual recharger.   At museums I'm more of an experience seeker - let me see the stuff and I'll go home and read about it.  What kind of visitor are you usually? Tell me in the comment below what you think you are.  

If I'd known this a week before I'd have understood my last visitors better. They were definitely experience seekers - they just wanted a quick look/see and move on.  We get lots of facilitators - parents and grandparents who want their children to have a spiritual experience. 

Sister Archibald taught us a lot more. I'd love to take this class.  It's interesting how things work here.  She is an expert tour giver - literally - but she works with us in grounds.   Some site missionaries are scared about presenting things to visitors, but there they are.  Missions are often places where we are given the chance to explore our weaknesses and strengths.  I know being on grounds, doing physical labor for 5 - 6 hours is not my strength, but I did it in the fall and I'm sure, with the Lord's help,  I'll meet the challenge this summer.