There was a time I loved dogs

All the movies always depict the pound as this scary evil place that snatches up the dogs. I am very grateful to be from the United States where we have a pound. I have been trying to count how many dogs more or less "live" on my street. I have counted up past 40 and I am done counting. There are more. This dog lover is starting to lose his patience. Last night at 3 in the morning they decided to have a concert. I tried counting the different barks there were. There were over 15. But counting dog barks is not like counting sheep; it does not help you sleep at all. I found myself fantasizing that if I only had a gun... I am sure a good few weeks in the states and I will love dogs again, but I am kind of sick of them to be honest.

There isn’t much to tell. We gave a 14 year old girl that has been going to church with her friend for 5 months a baptismal date. We are dropping the investigators that failed to go to church 3 weeks in a row. We are on the hunt.

One thing that makes me sad is that SO many missionaries, upon being rejected, take the attitude: "well, I gave them their chance. Too bad for them. My hands are clean of their blood." And I understand that thought process; I am not free of it at times. Paul in the New Testament was that way when he taught the Jews. "My hands are clean of your blood! I am going now to the gentiles!" My only problem with it is it sometimes seems very uncharitable. I want nothing to do with any type of thought process that doesn’t show love for my fellow men. It is hard when you teach someone, and you know they feel it, and you know they believe it, but they are just too lazy to change their lives. It hurts because we want SOO bad that they can make their lives better through the church and through faith in Jesus Christ. In my interviews with the president I mentioned, "I am fine, it makes me sad sometimes when people hate us before we even talk to them..." And what he said to me was, "The Savior said ‘They Hated Me before they hated you’." I was thinking about that, and that advice does me no good. I don’t want them to hate Him, my Savior. That actually makes me sadder than them hating me. I am really placing an emphasis this week on remembering charity. I found myself as we dropped some investigators thinking, "they will regret that someday." I didn’t like it. That isn’t me. So I have taken to reading Corinthians 13 every morning.

Anyway, I hope everyone is doing well. I gotta go. Take care and remember to love them that hate you and do good to them that despitefully use you, etc... I love you all!!

Andy