Once upon a time, there was a boy and his dragon...

I recently had cause to recall an experience from my mission. As a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, I had the opportunity to go to Tokyo, Japan, to teach people about what we believe in. Missionaries are always in pairs: two men or two women, and are called a "companionship." This story is about one of my companions, Elder Cavallo.

LDS missionaries are given one day a week to take care of laundry, shopping and other personal things. One day, We went to the international market to buy a few things that you normally couldn't find in Japan. In the dairy section, Elder Cavallo found some cheese. Yes, cheese. Now, this wasn't ordinary cheese. The cheese came in these little, wax wheels. For 10 or 12 dollars he purchased an entire mesh sack of these cheese wheels, and, with the excitement of a post-menopausal woman at a taping of "Oprah," he skipped and sang and consumed those rounded cheeses all the way home.

The next morning, during the time that we were supposed to be studying the scriptures, I heard these strange shuffling noises. I looked over to investigate further and, to my surprise, Elder Cavallo had spent an obviously great amount of time molding the wax wheels, which until just recently contained his precious cheeses, into an intricate dragon. I would have gotten mad at him and told him to put the wax away and study, if it weren't for the fact that it was really a good dragon. Teeth and a furled eyebrow and everything.

I laughed and said, "What are you doing?" He realized what he had been doing and how foolish it was and replied, "I've made a dragon."
"I can see that you've made a dragon. Why have you made a dragon?"
"I didn't have anything else to do."
"What about studying?"
"Oh, ya."
"Well, if you're not going to study, whatever you do, do something spiritual."
"Okay."

I went back to my books, laughing hysterically in my mind, but not showing it on my face. Another half hour went by and it was time to talk about our plans for the day. I looked over to find Elder Cavallo had used his markers and other odds and ends around his desk to create a home for his dragon. Not only that, but he had also fashioned the dragon to fold its arms (claws) and kneel down.
"Elder Cavallo! What is this?" At this point, I was no longer able to hide my laughter.
"You told me to do something spiritual. So, I've created the Prayer Dragon!"
At the center of a surprisingly impressive desert scene was the Prayer Dragon: eyes closed, hands together with fingers interlocking, kneeling seiza-style, mouth open. Painted on the base were the words, "部屋を出るまえに..." Japanese for, "Ere you left your room this morning...," the opening line to the hymn, Did You Think To Pray?

The other companionship with whom we shared the apartment were immediately summoned and it was agreed that the Prayer Dragon would have a place above our doorway to remind us to pray before we left everyday.

The story continues. Our mission president decided to visit our apartment one day, just to make sure we weren't destroying the place. Mission presidents do this from time to time. As he left, his eye was drawn to our wax friend above the door. I think he was concerned that we perhaps were praying to the dragon, but we were quick to explain. Actually, we were quick to have Elder Cavallo explain. He didn't say anything out loud, but I'm sure he was thinking it: "that's a good dragon!"