You Can’t Keep a Good Dog Down

“I’ve seen pain and hurt; I’ve eaten dirt… but look pal I’m still around, ‘cause you can’t keep a good dog down.” – All Dogs Go To Heaven

Last night I had one of the oddest “missionary experiences” ever. Our stake is doing a 40 day fast where 40 families each take 24 hours to fast for the missionaries in our area and for personal missionary experiences. Josh and I started our fast at 6:00 PM on Wednesday night and ended it Thursday at 6:00 PM. At 6:47 PM I got a call from the sister missionaries asking if I could go to an 8:00 PM appointment with them. I was shocked at how quickly my prayer had been answered.
I picked up the sisters just before 8:00 PM at the Visitor’s Center (VC) near the Idaho Falls Temple. As we drove away Sister Harrison pointed out that there was a stray dog wandering on the temple grounds. We didn’t think much of it and assumed that it would be shooed out when security locked the gates that night. As missionary appointments often go, the 8:00 PM cancelled and attempts to make visits to five other individuals turned out to be futile. So at 8:30 the sisters asked me to take them back to the VC so they could pick up some member referral cards. When we got there we noticed that the dog was still wandering. Upon further inspection of the dog it had no collar or tags, it was limping, it’s eyes looked as if it were completely blind and it looked very, very hungry. Since we hadn’t had any luck saving human souls the sister missionaries and I decided to save the stray.
We alerted temple security, who seemed completely baffled as to what they should do. We then called the animal shelter, which was closed, and next the police station. We found out that the animal shelter has drop boxes that we could leave the dog in if we were willing to transport it. By this time it was almost 9:00 PM and the sister’s curfew was quickly approaching, so I offered to take them home and come back with my husband to move the dog. When I arrived at the temple for the third time that evening I was sure that a quick trip to the shelter was all I had to invest and I could get home to bed. However, when we got to the shelter we found that there were only six drop off kennels and all of them were full. Our approach to the building started a cascade of whining from the dogs that had previously been dropped off and we were baffled as to what to do next.
My kind, sweet husband, who would have adopted the dog right then and there if he had been able, suggested that we take it home. I am not a pet person and the idea of taking this dying stray home was not appealing to me but at 9:30 at night we had no other option, short of leaving it on the street, which didn’t seem right. So we brought the dog home and gave it some food and a warm bed for the night. It wasn’t much but it was the least we could do before we shipped her off with animal control the next morning.
The dog is now gone and with the condition she was in I wouldn’t be surprised if she finds her way to doggie heaven soon. However, through our strange encounter I learned a valuable missionary lesson: The Lord wants all of his creations to return home to Him but sometimes He needs us to find them and help them get where they need to be.