by Sam Payne
At YourLDSRadio, we do our best to spend every day bringing our listeners the best in Latter-day Saint music. We love doing it, and we love hearing from listeners who have discovered and enjoyed what we’re doing. We’ve received emails from the Philippines, England, Indonesia, Sweden, Bulgaria, and other places, and we love putting pins in the map where we know we have new friends.
A few days ago, we got an email from John Egbert, serving in the United States Air Force. John is from Sandy, Utah, but he’s deployed at present (his sixth deployment) in Afghanistan. With John’s permission, I’ll copy here the content of his email to us:
“It is with a heart filled with thanks that I email you today. I learned of your services while at home in Sandy Utah. After hearing some of the great messages, I quickly bookmarked you on my laptop. Now, I find myself on my sixth tour of duty in Afghanistan listening to this wonderful music. You have brought me back from the woes of war, into the light of the gospel again and again. From the bottom of my heart I thank you and all your staff.
John Egbert
MSgt U.S.A.F.”
We were moved by Brother Egbert’s email. To think that the music on our station actually carried the power to lift a soul from the “woes of war” was something that we all understood intellectually — in fact, we count on it every day. But Brother Egbert’s message gave us a welcome infusion of perspective and purpose. In the days that followed his first email, we struck up a correspondence with Brother Egbert. It began with the photo at the top of this post. That’s John. A day or so later, we got this email:
“Brother Payne:
I have several U.S. flags I carry on our aircraft during combat missions. If you would like, I will fly a flag for you on my next combat mission. My wife and I can deliver it to you upon my return back to the States. Please advise.
Thank you again for all you do.
J.A. Egbert”
Again, the impact of having made such a difference under the very real circumstances of war was not lost on us. We told John that we’d consider it an honor to be thought of in that way. A few days later, John sent us another email, with a couple of photos attached:
“…we flew your flag, and I am inclosing a photo with my crew. Interesting note: Everyone in the photo but two are return missionaries. The other photo is of some of us in the Bagram Branch. There are about 75 of us here.
Thanks again for all you do.
J.A. Egbert”
It may go without saying, but here at YourLDSRadio we’ve been enriched by our correspondence with Brother Egbert, and the glimpse it’s given us into another world — a world in which the Lord’s kingdom has established itself in the hearts of faithful Latter-day Saints, even amid the woes of war. We find ourselves thankful for the music that allows us to connect with each other. We are all — no matter where — brothers and sisters.
