The Work and the Glory

So I am reading the Work and the Glory books for about the 100th time...ok maybe not 100 but it is at least my 5th time reading them. There are nine books and I am currently on the fourth book. The saints are now living in Missouri again (this is the 2nd time after they had been kicked out of Ohio...or rather chose to leave because there was so much opposition to the church). Govoner Bodds has just issued the Extermination Order and the Missouri milita is surrounding the Saints in Far West. I just got through reading about the Massacre at Haun's Mill. This event is horrific...it is really the only way I can describe it. Basically there was a settlement outside of the main body of Saints in Missouri and one day a group of Missourians with painted faces like Indians storm into the settlement on horseback and massacrea many of the saints living there. The author talks about how many of the men and boys run to the Blacksmith shop because they could not make it back to their home before the mob hit. So they thought they would be protected there but it actually turned out to be a really bad idea. There were 3-4 inch holes between some of the logs, just enough space for the mob to put their guns in. So many men adn boys were shot in the Blacksmith shop and were not able to get out. The author also tells of a few other stories such as on older man being killed with a corn sheer. The mob was just vicious and murderous.
Every time I get to this part of the series I know ahead of time that I have to be in a quiet place where no one else is. Whenever I read this part it is definitely a cathartic moment. Tears are inevitable. And although a lot of those tears are from the fact that the men who attacked Haun's Mill killed innocent children, men and women, I also cry because of the poor Women who lost husbands and for the children who lost their fathers. I cannot begin to imagine what would posses someone to shoot a child but thats what happened at Haun's Mill. It is also hard to imagine that something this attrocious happened in the United States of America.
I am so thankful that things like this don't happen to Latter-Day Saints in America anymore. I know how blessed I am to live in America and have all of the freedoms that I do. I know that America is not perfect and that we don't have perfect leaders but we are still more blessed than other countries. It is very comforting to know that we are completely free to to believe what we want and worship whom we want.