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Docents give of time and self at Church History Museum
By Jamshid Askar
LDS Church News
Sunday, Nov. 15, 2009
The faces of the Church History Museum are its 270 volunteer docents.
Each of the docents is a Mormon Church service missionary. They emphasize the Restoration as part of a larger Temple Square experience. Their modus operandi isn't to present art to visitors as typical docents would at any other museum; rather, the Church History Museum's unique band of docents strives to express the faith of Latter-day Saints through artifacts and exhibits.
"Our purpose, our overall goal, is to help people have a desire to make and keep covenants," said Angela Ames, who oversees docent training at the Church History Museum. "The way that we teach docents to interact with people is through telling stories, the stories of the Restoration and stories that are faith-inspiring. If we tell stories using art and artifacts as illustrations of those stories, we can create a foundation upon which people can build their faith."
Docents serve for two years at a time but can extend for subsequent stints; some of them have been serving for more than 25 years.
"It is a blessing for anyone who can be a part of it," Ames said. "All of our docents are very dedicated people -- not only to the museum, but to anything church-related. A lot of them have experience with missions and other service callings. It's just really neat to get to interact with and know people who have done so many things and blessed so many people's lives."
See the full story on ldschurchnews.com.
This story is provided by the LDS Church News, an official publication of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It is produced weekly by the Deseret News.
Each of the docents is a Mormon Church service missionary. They emphasize the Restoration as part of a larger Temple Square experience. Their modus operandi isn't to present art to visitors as typical docents would at any other museum; rather, the Church History Museum's unique band of docents strives to express the faith of Latter-day Saints through artifacts and exhibits.
"Our purpose, our overall goal, is to help people have a desire to make and keep covenants," said Angela Ames, who oversees docent training at the Church History Museum. "The way that we teach docents to interact with people is through telling stories, the stories of the Restoration and stories that are faith-inspiring. If we tell stories using art and artifacts as illustrations of those stories, we can create a foundation upon which people can build their faith."
Docents serve for two years at a time but can extend for subsequent stints; some of them have been serving for more than 25 years.
"It is a blessing for anyone who can be a part of it," Ames said. "All of our docents are very dedicated people -- not only to the museum, but to anything church-related. A lot of them have experience with missions and other service callings. It's just really neat to get to interact with and know people who have done so many things and blessed so many people's lives."
See the full story on ldschurchnews.com.
This story is provided by the LDS Church News, an official publication of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It is produced weekly by the Deseret News.
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