Praises – Rest and time off; good travel day; house rented; walks in God’s beautiful woods; taxes almost done
Prayers – Eviction process and prayers for this young man; renter for mobile home; RV repairs; contractor for multi-purpose house room beam
For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age. Titus 2:11-12 NIV
Hello to our family, friends, and followers:
Last month ended with “Life is certainly good and blessed!” and that remains true. We had great sermons and music opportunities in the small church we have been attending, watched some interesting videos on Noah’s Ark, a wonderful Palm Sunday including branches, and Easter Sunday back with Journey Church in Mississippi! God’s word reminded us throughout the month that we don’t have to live in fear. Our thoughts are where irrational fears originate but followers of Jesus have power, love, and self-control to replace those fears in our minds.
The usual monthly activities when we volunteer included an evening fire and lots of food: a few meals out together with other volunteers (Mexican, Deli, BBQ), meals at camp, and great potlucks almost every week. Connie’s special foods for the month included cheese cake, pudding cake, homemade noodles (again), yogurt, sausage balls, and the last resort macaroni and cheese with hotdogs. Our bedroom air conditioner acted up making the end of the bed wet while on high one hot and sunny afternoon. John was a big help getting the newsletter almost ready to go before his Emmaus Walk. Connie had many hours getting her new phone set up, “chatting” with agents when the phone quit working, and going a few weeks without any service while waiting for a replacement phone to arrive. More frustration ensued as she started our taxes, organizing and tracking down receipts for all the rental property expenses,
Continuing from February, our recording room had many hours of editing and getting reacquainted with our programs. John recorded some new guitar parts which use a direct plug in. We then set up for microphone recording for the autoharp. All was well until Connie marked the song “copyright” during editing and it locked up – no more editing or recording until we had “permission” from the song owner, with no help found for how to get this permission. Very discouraging, and ending our recording enthusiasm.
Bethlehem Camp again provided us with several meals, many leftovers, and a few chances to attend speakers and worship with groups that were there. Their new shooting range had many visitors, based on pops we heard from the Men’s Retreat. John was a “pilgrim” at an Emmaus Walk, sleeping in a dorm room and eating with the group, sequestered for 3.5 days to focus on personal and spiritual development. Connie got permission to scout out the grounds and dig up spiderwort plants to transplant to Mississippi; about 10 clusters were brought with us and, as of now, are healthy in their potting soil/yellow clay dirt.
With John sequestered for a long weekend, Connie had lots of time for herself. There was some exercise with a long walk and a bike ride, mostly uphill (how is that possible?) and a bit of plarn making (plastic bag yarn). Almost two days were spent without talking to anyone and she found her voice became very weak. Sunday morning brought two excellent sermons from “home” churches via the internet, and Sunday afternoon was picking up John’s bags and attending the final Emmaus Walk closing ceremony. Once he was back to the trailer there was a gathering of friends outside before we both crashed from socializing.
John spent a lot of time under “Gilbert” dorm working with PEX plumbing. It wasn’t fun but he had lots of above ground support and help! Of course, when working with plumbing there is always those pesky little leaks to fix once water pressure is back. Other volunteer work for the month included a few parts runs; finding needed wood and electrical supplies; building, painting and installing a few more bathroom doors; helping with a window replacement and concrete sidewalk; repairing a vacuum filter with an old sock; wire brushing block shower stalls for the ladies to paint; and lots of cleanup. We were the last SOWER group of volunteers so cleanup included picking up all our tools as well as making our work areas usable for summer camps – all the lumber, equipment, paint, etc. had to be put away in various sheds. While visiting these storage buildings John found some old ceiling fan blade holders and had the great idea to use them for some missing door handles; a little shaping and they look and work great!
Connie and another lady SOWER put their volunteer hours to use cleaning after guest visits, painting more bathroom doors, setting up for potlucks (16-20 people), putting a primer coat on 6 block showers in a dorm, and did I mention cleaning, multiple days? It is always great when something doubtful turns out well; one morning the task Connie accepted was to replace a ceiling fan. The old was disassembled, and while checking the wiring a loose connection was found, fixed, reassembled, and the old fan works fine now. That day there was lots of exercise, stretching, climbing, and walking back and forth for tools.
John’s back was great this month, even with many tired days crawling around under a dorm. His knee held up physically but with the heat and knee brace a rash started that was aggravating. Connie has not been as good, starting the month with a morning of “swirly” eyes that turn into a migraine-type headache thankfully fading by the end of the day. Our last week she developed a sinus cold, stuffy head, and some occasional dizziness. By travel day she had both sides of her head stuffed up (lots of overnight snoring as well) and we kept our behind the wheel time short as we traveled. Of course, it passed to John after we got “home” causing him to miss Easter Sunday at church.
There are several “cottages” on the camp grounds that are maintained by their owners with volunteer help at times. John worked on the back porch of this house, rebuilding and repairing the soggy wood, and then picked up shingle pieces from the roof replacement. Connie helped out as well, in the kitchen, helping the owner fix an excellent meal for all the workers. Our last week we finished up a couple of projects in the works, mainly the finish paint in the showers.
It was another busy month for Salty Strings. We provided special music for two Sundays at Restoration UMC in Cottondale, learning a new song for Palm Sunday. The camp had a potluck and midweek concert for St. Patrick’s Day; we worked a half-day then cooked, practiced and tuned for a wonderful evening. We also brought some instruments for our final devotion theme of the hope that Christian believers have using our song “Well Done” for closing. The camp, through us, hosted an evening jam session where we enjoyed fried chicken with sides and potluck desserts before going ‘round the circle of musicians. Lots of picking, grinning, and singing in multiple styles for slightly over an hour before the crowd started dispersing.
We planned ahead, started packing things up gradually a few days before, and had a good day of travel back to our Mississippi home. John checked the trailer and truck tires and packed up all but the electric the day before. Connie had the inside packing almost done and the snacks and sandwiches prepared as well. Although we planned on leaving by 8:30 there was a slight delay in getting one slide to come in. We have been having some issues anyway, so the hesitation was expected however this time it was an awning slide cover that was full of water, starting to tear, and not rolling up with the slide. John noticed it and had to crawl on the roof to help empty it and coax it to roll up. Once on the road it was a fairly smooth trip, we avoided a near miss accident when a pickup truck pulling an empty trailer switched lanes and hit the brakes right in front of us (don’t think they remembered they were pulling a trailer), and managed to get to the diesel pump before running out in rural Mississippi. Our first large yellow butterfly sighting was at the Mississippi Welcome Center when one flew up from behind John’s hat. We arrived around 5:15 to easy parking and set up and were ready for TV by 6 pm; what a great parking spot!
After getting set up for the night we realized we still had weak access to internet for some relaxing television our first night, however Connie had to go without her usual tablet games and devotions before bed. John’s phone was switched to ATT service and that is working great here. We set up his hotspot the next day and have all the luxuries now. We still have a phone booster to connect if needed once Connie gets her phone (Verizon network). Our first trip out was to the post office in Burnsville to check on getting an address and mailbox for us since the house is now rented. We made a second trip out that evening, joining our other couples here for Friday Date Night. It was wonderful to reconnect and enjoy their company again.
Florida weather in March is unpredictable, much like spring anywhere. Several rainy days, a few very windy days, a few very pleasant days, and one hot humid day marked by Connie’s frizzy hair. We had a thunder storm in the early evening with heavy rain and some very close lightening followed by huge booms. One shopping day we had sprinkles leaving the camp, rain in Bonifay (FL) for lunch, and sunshine on our way home from Dothan (AL) shopping! Our few days back in northeast Mississippi were overcast, slightly cooler, and from our living room window the apple tree in full blossom surrounded by big yellow butterflies. Connie enjoyed our swing with a bit of sunshine and a book, and again marveled at so many butterflies and apple blossoms; always bringing a smile and thankfulness for the beauty of God’s creation.
QUOTE FOR THE MONTH: Mark Twain said, “Don’t complain or talk about your problems; 80% of people don’t care, and the other 20% think you probably deserve them.”
He has made everything beautiful in its time. He also has planted eternity in men’s hearts and minds (a divinely implanted sense of a purpose working through the ages which nothing under the sun but God alone can satisfy), yet so that men cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end. Ecclesiastes 3:11 AMPC
Thanks for traveling with us and being part of our family too!
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 28-July 31 – Burnsville MS property upgrades; possible travels
- August 1-26 – Wisconsin Tentative SOWER Project and family visits
- August 27-September ?? – Clinton, IL – Little Galilee volunteer work
Salty Strings Music Ministry 