I walked into the single adult congregation in Arlington, VA one Sunday in April, 2019 and was VERY intimidated. It was HUGE! I had never before been in a LDS sacrament meeting that was standing room only, but this one was. On top of that, the AC was out, so I was hot and sweaty in my suit and being naturally introverted, I was super uncomfortable... So, for the first 4 weeks, I went to church, but as soon as it was over, I booked it out of there! Of course before I left, I scoped out the prospects, and saw one really REALLY pretty redhead. I didn't approach her, but I did think if we were in less intimidating circumstances, I would ask her out. Pretty soon after I started attending there, the congregation split, and it turned out that the girl was in the other ward. A couple months go by and I had gotten on an app for LDS singles. One day I was looking through some profiles, and I saw the pretty redhead girl from the combined ward!! She was even prettier than I remembered and the only thing that she had in her profile was "I like dad jokes"... This was the girl for me! I swiped up, and a couple days later, I got a notification that we had matched! I messaged her immediately! Even though I knew the answer, I asked if I knew her from the singles ward. She said "Its either that, or from your dreams." Little did I know how right she really was. We talked for a while and a bit later, I asked her out. We hit it off immediately. In the first couple dates, we just clicked. I took her to a movie and she laughed her wonderful, loud laugh through the whole thing and I couldn't help but be charmed by her (even through the snorts... hahaha). Things just fell into place with Rachel. And even though it has been fast, I feel like I have known her for years. Like we have been soul mates forever. I knew I wanted to be with this pretty redhead the rest of my life and for all eternity!

Sitting in church, there comes walking in a well-dressed tall drink of water, with a full head of hair! (which is rare at this age ;) He looked military and I hoped he was here to stay. However, week after week my extroverted self couldn't manage to find a way to meet him, he seemed to always disappear. Then the congregation split into two separate ones and I figured this mysterious man was out of my life forever. Flash forward a few months and I was questioning how to meet new men, as it seemed I had met all the eligible bachelors in the area and because online dating had produced quite a few busts, I had gotten off the apps. I was questioning why God had prompted me to move across the country. Reading my scriptures, I came across the verse "and God remembered Rachel" and felt a prompting that like the Rachel of old, after a long period of waiting, my time was near. While eating dinner with my roommates, I jokingly looked to Heaven and said "Ok, God, I'll give you one profile that's it." I opened the app Mutual and the first picture I see is the handsome, mystery man I had noticed at church months earlier. My heart pounded with anticipation and I swiped right to receive an instant match and a message from Ben only moments later. Ben immediately stood out by actually planning a real date, a week in advance. I remember telling my mom that I met my match when he text me a few days before with a link to the menu and told me exactly what he was wearing so I could dress appropriately--my dream man for being so thoughtful! Our conversations were so fun and easy that he shocked me by scheduling our second date a few days before we had even met in person. So by the time we went on our first date I knew this guy was someone willing to put forth the effort into dating intentionally. By small and simple means I knew I wanted to spend eternity with Ben, from peeling my orange without being asked to him sending me a daily love note, I knew it was our forever love.

Early on in dating, Ben took Rachel to Great Falls, MD to go on a hike. It is a really pretty series of trails along the Potomac north of DC. Along the way, they stopped at a little off-the-beaten-path waterfall and talked. While sitting, Ben noticed that there were spiderwebs on Rachel's hat. He took her hat and picked off all the webs and gave it back without saying a thing. Later, Rachel told him that it was that moment she thought "I could marry this boy!" A few weeks later, the two of them went to Philadelphia together. On the way home, Rachel played a song that she really likes by Ed Sheeran named "Tenerife Sea". Ben had never heard it, so Rachel played it over and over till he could sing along. Somewhat shortly after, Ben started planning the proposal. He called one of his good friends and asked if he would write and record a piano part to Tenerife Sea. He asked another friend to arrange horn and violin parts for it. He then asked several Marines he works with to help out by playing the music. Over the next few weeks, they learned the music and Ben planned out the sequence of events. He told Rachel to make sure to dress nice, but wear flats. He then cultivated a playlist for the drive. Then on the morning of Friday, September 20, Ben picked up Rachel and headed to Great Falls. They got there and started walking toward a platform overlooking Great Falls. It was a somewhat winding path, so you couldn't see the platform until you were there. When they arrived, the musicians began to play. There was a percussionist sitting on a cajòn, a guitar player, three trumpets, three trombones, and a violinist. And the piano part recording was played on a speaker. Then with the orchestra, Ben began to sing the song that had become so special to them, Tenerife Sea. When the song finished, Ben got down on one knee, pulled out the ring from his pocket and asked "Will you marry me?" Rachel said "For Forever" and they kissed while the musicians and spectators clapped.