'Let freedom ring' | The missionaries

The Wenatchee World is asking residents a series of patriotic questions throughout July as the nation marks the 250th anniversary of the United States. This is the second installment.

Drew Dickson and Rylan Booth are serving missions for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints while living in the Wenatchee Valley. Dickson is from Spring Creek, Nevada, and Booth is from Sandy, Utah. Members of the church may begin serving missions at age 18.

The Wenatchee World: What does freedom mean to you?

Dickson: That's a very fair question. I guess freedom, to me, kind of comes down to the God-given points in the Constitution. We are given the freedom of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Personally, to me, I feel like we were put on this Earth so that we may learn, and part of learning includes being able to choose what we feel like is right and what we feel like is wrong… We have that ability in this country, and I'm very grateful for that: to be able to choose what kind of jobs we want to do, how we personally want to live our lives.

Booth: I'd probably say that there are some points of what freedom is to me that are most important, and that is to just be able to believe what I want to believe… to live in an environment where - you know, choice is a big part, because I feel like when, our agency, our choices are limited that's when we lose a lot of the beautifulness of humanity, especially, like, I don't know, I like to draw. I am a big artist. And limiting people's ideas and things like that is limiting what humanity can create. And so, I don't know, there's a whole lot that goes into what freedom is, but I think it's just being able to work together as people, as a community, and I don't know. That's just what's on my mind.

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This story was originally published July 7, 2026 at 2:09 AM.