My first cake bake

Daisy cupcakes a la Sister Smith - Connelsville, PA 1999

July 1999, I left the LDS Missionary Training Center (MTC) for an eighteen month mission in Pittsburgh, PA (nicknamed the PPM). I stepped out of my semi-adult life - of which I felt to be very much failing - and gave my free agency over to the Mormon Church.

Now, before you get all worked up, it was one of the best things I ever did for my personal and emotional growth. But yes, I hated every minute of it. At the time, I did not understand that I was less of a strict rule follower and more of a free(ish) range thinker. However, agreeing to spend 18 months following arbitrary - and sometimes downright oppressive - rules 24/7 gave me the skills to stick to something I had committed to, despite my desire to walk away. It didn’t hurt that I was partially (read: almost fully) motivated by the words of a friend who questioned my ability to complete the commitment, “…..it’s just that you start stuff all the time that you never finish…”

I’ll show him!

Anyway…..

I found various ways to avoid actual missionary work such as door knocking, street accosting, and spending several hours inside the ramshackle homes of the poor and lonely (usually, the only people who let perfect strangers homely dressed and sensibly shod into their living rooms). One such distraction was baking cupcakes for an “investigator”. Typically, we read verbatim from training books provided by the church leadership, but I felt I could express myself better with sugar.

They’re not bad for a first try….but, they also have a sort of 1970’s experimental cookbook look about them. I don’t recall how they tasted, but I have no doubt that the local congregational membership numbers went up by exactly zero due to this batch of sickly-looking foliage.