Praises – Fellowship with fellow workers, music we’ve been able to share
Prayers – Renters – house still not rented and mobile home behind with rent; recording problems and setbacks; John’s knee to hold up for March
Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise prophecies, but test everything; hold fast what is good. Abstain from every form of evil. 1 Thessalonians 5:16-22 English Standard Version
Hello to our followers, friends, and family:
We had a great month of fellowship with 4 SOWER couples on site. We gathered around the neighbors’ fire pit twice (the last time with a late-rising full moon), and had a real fire complete with brats, beans, chips, and salsa; the chilly evening air usually disbanded the group. Tuesday night was potluck and games; great food after which John would retreat to the RV while Connie enjoyed games and won the 1.5-hour card game one evening. There were two prayer circles as two of our couples headed out to other places for March.
We continued to attend Sunday School and church in Bonifay the first two weeks. The HVAC person at camp had passed our name out to several area pastors and we received a call from one so we visited Restoration UMC in Cottondale, FL where we enjoyed a great message and wonderful piano playing at this very small new/old church. This old church was vacant for several years and it reopened in January 2023 with a beautiful restored sanctuary, ongoing upgrades planned, and a recovery ministry. We were invited back the following week for the offertory and special music, and stayed for the potluck following. It was nice to be a part of a more traditional service with an emphasis on Lent and congregation readings.
We are thankful to have had only one tornado watch this month and it was in daylight. We’ve had the gas furnace on for some chilly nights and the air conditioners for some upper 70’s sunny days, definitely spring. Each night brings the official weather check to know how to set the thermostats and auxiliary heaters! Many beautiful sunny and breezy days, a few cloudy and rainy days, and a couple of really windy days. We continue to enjoy the pets of others, having 3 dogs in campers this month along with the manager’s cat and SOWER Maine coon cat.
John made time on several occasions to practice with his new amp, looping and recording a track to play along with. His rhythm has improved a lot and he is able to add some really great sounding runs and embellishments. His birthday brought a Walmart online order and he chilled that night with 2 hours of The Three Stooges followed by Svengoolie (typically an old black and white monster movie) while Connie retreated to the bedroom. He received a gift a bit early in the mail and enjoyed wearing his new hat and the mug, full of coffee. Superbowl Sunday is also in February and John drove to church for their party, enjoying the chili supper and game with snacks. He came home early though, there was no interaction with others from the church and the chairs were too hard, but he did see the end of the game here at home.
February has been pretty good with our health; no major issues although changing weather made us aware of some achy joints. By mid-month John had to use his knee brace more and that is causing some rash where it rubs against his skin. While working on the phones Connie had some vision problems (she calls it swirly eye sparkles). It doesn’t hurt at first, she just can’t see, but within a few hours a migraine-type headache sets in that is very painful. Bright light seems to be the trigger and computer/phone screens can be obnoxious that way at times. We did manage to take a 25-minute bike ride including a few hills one day; it felt really good until the stiff muscles came the next day!
Connie went a bit extra in our kitchen this month making homemade noodles, split pea soup with jalapeno cornbread, another batch of sausage balls, and some Spanish rice (a bit too spicy for her). We had a request for some CD’s to be sent to Wisconsin requiring us to get a new CD burner – she got that connected and made more ‘Tis A Gift recordings so we have a few on hand. We now have to figure out how to get the track names to show up rather than the track numbers; guess all our CD’s have had this quirk. There was more tax preparation with lots more to do in March, our goal for filing rather than the last minute which is typical for us. Our new phones are now both updated and some quirks worked out; however, all the effort only slightly improved our weak reception. John’s new phone does allow WiFi calling, that is a big help
Connie had another month of lots of painting, which she enjoys. The dining room touch-up was finished along with an annex room. Our other SOWER ladies focused on 17 doors (3 coats each side) while Connie did the added supports in the dorm stalls. In addition, there were several doors to be sanded and some cleaning for groups coming in.
John was in charge of the group this month, answering questions, giving direction, and assigning the volunteer work. The push was to complete doors for toilet and shower stalls in 2 dorm bathrooms – 18 doors were custom made (very few were the same size), sanded, painted (with the ladies’ help) and put up complete with hinges and latches. Another 12 were made to continue the process in March. There were 2 window replacements and John observed and helped with mini-split HVAC unit installs, doing some others after learning the process. In addition, there were thermostat covers to install, 3 mattresses were replaced, and the exterior mini-split units were secured to the concrete with tap cons (including a trip to town to get more cement bits). The final day, as usual, is putting your personal tools away along with camp equipment and cleaning up.
We found a parking spot right next door for our musician friend Larry Stevens to stay a couple of nights. He arrived in time to enjoy one of our potluck nights, visited nursing homes the next day, enjoyed Connie’s homemade pancakes for supper, and left the following morning (with leftover ‘toaster’ pancakes) after sharing his ministry with our group for morning devotion. He did a little interview with us before leaving, to be edited and published with his ministry updates.
We enjoyed our “first Saturday” every Friday (our work week ends on Thursday) by doing a bit of shopping, always at least 20 minutes away. This seems to be an opportunity for us to have some good conversations for our future hopes and dreams as we drive and sometimes have lunch out. We stopped at “Amazing Grace Thrift Store” on one of our trips and John found a nice pale pink top for Connie. Weekends usually include a couple of movie times and we enjoyed “His Only Son” one afternoon, a great production centered on Abraham and Isaac. There were several days where we heard and eventually saw Blackhawk and other helicopters overhead (and a few nights as well). There is a small tuft of some sort of broom grass that has become our weather vane – we can tell the wind speed and direction from watching it out our dining table window. We have our binoculars on the table to bird watch the numerous cardinals and an oriole one day. There was an interesting buzzard walking around one afternoon, acting a bit slow or drunk; we concluded it was likely an adolescent getting a feel for flying, it took opening our door and starting towards it before it finally flew off. Spring and rain are here, evidenced by our first amphibious friend found outside in a folded up chair.
Thank you for your prayers – Salty Strings has been very active this month!! The first Saturday we were asked in the morning to share a few songs after lunch for the camp board of directors work day. Then came a concert for a small Assembly of God Church in Westville, FL after their Community Spaghetti Dinner and our fellow SOWERs came along. We shared some songs and a bit of our lives with those attending (children had game time outside) and we had a great time. Valentine’s Day, after a great steak and shrimp meal, we shared songs again with 7 couples, one celebrating their 53’rd wedding anniversary. We skipped a week and ended the month with a special song and offertory music at Restoration UMC, about 30 minutes away. We finally got out our “sound proofing” material and set up our music room for recording, starting with refreshing our editing skills for some good tracks – more on that next month.
Looking back, we had a lot of meals “out.” There was a chili lunch with another couple at the local Christian coffee shop (Fresh Grounds), Mexican lunch with 8 after church and 12 at the end of this project (Cancun’s), Valentine’s Dinner for 14 at the camp fixed by the guys for their sweethearts, finally a Chinese lunch with leftovers after church, all the potlucks, plus a few lunches on our own. Life is certainly good and blessed!
“A Texas pastor once said that worry is like sitting in a rocking chair – you can get it moving but it isn’t going anywhere!” And, our second thought for the month: “A detour is someplace where discoveries are made that you would not have seen any other way.”
Commit your works to the Lord {submit and trust them to Him}, and your plans will succeed {if you respond to His will and guidance}. Proverbs 16:3 Amplified Bible
Thanks for traveling with us!
We so appreciate your prayers and notes of encouragement!!
John and Connie Nicholas
Salty Strings Music Ministry
Contact Information:
Mail: John & Connie Nicholas
Salty Strings Music Ministry
3916 N. Potsdam Ave. #3962
Sioux Falls, SD 57104
Phone – John 909-336-8910 or Connie 909-336-8912
Email – SaltyStrings@hotmail.com
Facebook – Salty Strings Music Ministry
Web site – SaltyStrings.com
ONLINE DONATIONS via PayPal through our web site
TRAVEL PLANS AND UPCOMING LOCATIONS
- March 5-27 – SOWER Project, Bonifay, FL
- March 28-July 31 – Travel to property, Jacinto, Mississippi; travels IL, WI, SD
- August 1-26 – SOWER Project, East Troy, WI and family visits
- August 27-September ?? – Clinton, IL – Little Galilee
Salty Strings Music Ministry 