Praises – Glory to God for safe travel, protection from area storms, provision, seeing renters enjoying the property, the beauty and rebirth in springtime
Prayers – Safety on scaffolding, roof leaks (spa room and our trailer), music ministry, recording and getting songs online
Question: Why would God limit the roads to heaven to just one? Because He doesn’t want us to guess the way there; Jesus is the only right direction. Jesus said, “I am the Road, also the Truth, also the Life. No one gets to the Father apart from me. John 14:6 The Message
Hello to our followers, family, and friends:
March – in like a lamb, out like a lion? Our final days at our Florida project included a few camp meals, a great Mountain Man breakfast cooked over charcoal in a Dutch oven, planning routes (including how to get out of our parking area), a final evening camp fire, and packing up. Another volunteer removed a low tree branch and great spotters made our exit uneventful. We were all watching the weather with high wind and storm forecasts; since we were headed west into the wind we left early on the 5th and only struggled a bit the last hour as winds increased and we turned north.
At the invitation of some Campers on Mission volunteers, we stayed a few days in the panhandle of Florida. John joined them for morning devotions and did some work sanding bunk bed rails and helping with porch construction while Connie remained in the RV enjoying the down time. We had 3 days of fellowship including supper when we arrived, and visiting SOWER friends in the area.
Our final recreation rest was an afternoon along the Gulf coast with a few stops at some Panama City beaches. Although it was breezy and cool, we started at access 54 (west) at a pier and watched people and waves. We ended at access 2 and found it quite different with clearer water, the surf seemed warmer, but the tide pools forming were still cold. Connie kept her jacket on and walked up and down with her kite picking up a few small shells (John found some as well) as the tide came in. There were red helicopters, trucks patrolling the beach, John recognized F35 stealth and F80 star fighters (Tyndall AFB to the east and Pensacola Naval Air Station to the west), and a patrol boat bouncing from the waves as it towed another boat. We found a Culver’s, yes in Florida, for supper and returned to the RV to prepare the cooler for traveling. We left early on the 8th knowing we had a very long day to get home to Mississippi. We gained an hour (CST in the Florida panhandle) and gained another hour with daylight savings time when we arrived home, a bit of ‘jet lag’ perhaps?
We were welcomed back to Journey Community Church, although we were a bit weary from our long travel day, and Connie joined right in with the keyboard for worship. It was good to be back, especially rejoining their Wednesday night study in Revelation. The 5th Sunday, the 30th, we traveled to our other ‘home’ church in Iuka for their Worship and Testimony service where we shared a few songs and what we did in Florida before enjoying the potluck lunch. That evening we celebrated the 18th birthday of the Pastor’s son with another meal at Journey Church. March also included a dessert celebration for Pastor’s Wives’ month, plenty of delicious food!
Our first week home was a lot of figuring, organizing, and shopping! First thing Monday was to retrieve our mail, stop for final adjustments for John’s hearing aids, purchase scaffolding at Harbor Freight, and our usual grocery stops. The scaffolding was assembled and stabilized using ladders, and John started removing the old ceiling panels, stapling the insulation, filling some gaps where birds were coming in, and figuring out how to properly mount the boxes for the pancake LED lights. We played the ‘scaffold vs hot tub location’ game for a few days, purchased plywood and tongue and groove boards for the ceiling (110 delivered thankfully), moved the boards inside, and started priming the ceiling boards. Some days Connie helped by cutting boards to length so John could stay on the scaffold. Not bad for our first week back!
God’s timing is good, even when it means more things to do! As we started our travels home, we received a call from a renter that their showerhead needed to be replaced; we were able to fix it ourselves. We now have a renter in the house and were able to meet her and ‘Hank’ her great Dane who love the walks in the woods. John was able to attend a “God’s Man Conference” along with the men of Journey Church; the timing was great even though the conference was cut short due to storms in the area. Before leaving Florida, we were greatly blessed in receiving cordless nail guns from a fellow SOWER and they are being used! We were spoiled while in Florida with great internet and lots of TV stations; that ended when we returned. Again, God’s Hand was in the timing and decisions as we visited the phone store, switched and added a line for unlimited hotspot, and came out money ahead every month. It has proved very useful, and being portable our visiting camper was able to have internet for his stay.
With all our travel and work this month there have been several days we’re just too tired to do much for exercise. We stayed pretty diligent with evening walks … for about a week, Connie started her morning exercises again … for about a week, and there were a few swims when the plywood wasn’t over the spa, but nothing consistent. One morning we were both looking forward to a swim but found, to our surprise, our floor mat in the spa was curling up on one end; by evening both ends were curling; and the next evening the whole mat was floating. Calls were made and a new mat is coming but we’ll have to drain the spa before we can position and stick it down – swimming and water exercise are much harder with no center line and a slippery surface. Other than several slivers, a few hammer slips, and some sore muscles we’ve enjoyed good health this month.
We had some special fellowship at the end of the month with a visit from a friend who travels full-time for nursing home music ministry and church visits. We connect every few years when our paths cross and finally he arrived, the first to use our full hookup RV site. Although a bit under the weather and not able to do any singing or speaking ministry, we were able to provide some meals, eat out a few times, deliver carry-out containers from the potluck, and had shower and laundry facilities. Date nights resumed on Friday evenings; we had missed this fellowship while away. Journey Church had a 2-day garage sale where we found a small blue microwave and deviled egg trays (no more recycled Chinese candy tray and John had commented 2 days earlier that he wanted a microwave to heat his coffee while working).
Connie spent some time almost every day priming the ceiling boards, usually 10 at a time, and gets more efficient each batch. John got the first 2 ceiling rows up and leveled (the hardest part), finding rafters a bit off and creating more waste than we figured because each end has a few inches added to accommodate the overhang. By the 22nd we had the ‘short’ side of the ceiling done, all using the scaffold, and the hot tub ready to fill and heat; that’s real motivation! The next thing was getting the 12’ 4×4 support post fastened to support one end of the ceiling beam – after a few sketches, some materials, and a few prayers we were able to get it fit and in place. John cut boards for the inside window trim and ripped some 2×4’s for 3” ceiling/wall molding trim. Connie sanded some furring strips, all of which were primed along with the trim boards. The longer side of the ceiling was started, again having to get it leveled first, working from ladders for the first 3’ then moving to the ‘easy’ stuff with plywood on top of the spa. More motivation, no swimming until another 8’ of ceiling is finished!
We seemed to bring storms and weather with us. It was cool, rainy, with wind gusts above 30 mph leaving Gainesville, FL. It was in the upper 40’s when we left Bonifay, FL with some sprinkles along the way home. Once back we had some really nice spring days, our plum and apple trees blossomed, the tree leaves started opening, and we needed the air conditioner a few times. There were many more days however that were cloudy, thunder storms, tornado watches and warnings, overcast, damp and chilly, lots of rain and flash flood watches, pollen turning everything yellow-green, and the plum blossoms blew off the same day they opened. Definitely good to have the inside work. A few days started in the mid-30’s with mid-70’s for a high. We did enjoy the night sky on the 1st with a silhouette moon sliver and Venus shining bright, and John was up for the eclipse on the 14th.
Before leaving our Florida volunteer project we made an afternoon trip to the Santa Fe College Teaching Zoo (Gainesville, FL) and had a beautiful relaxing day. We wandered around for over 2 hours enjoying animals, birds, otter training, a wandering peacock display, gibbons creating a noisy ruckus, trying to see the new ‘joey’ tree kangaroo, and meeting a wandering injured turkey vulture that has claimed this spot as home. Although a small zoo, the grounds and winding paths are beautiful. The zoology students had just started a new semester and were willing to answer questions, even though they weren’t that familiar with their new subjects.
On one of our last days in Florida, Connie spotted an air plant on the ground, picked it up, and it ‘bloomed’ releasing lots of tiny seeds with fuzzies (like miniature dandelions). Although none of the seeds have grown, she separated the main plant, tied pieces to drift wood, and amazingly they are still alive! Connie started daily posts for 40 days of prayer, finished a sample flower shaped dish rag scrubber (with a few modifications it will work perfect), and procrastinated on the taxes finally getting serious the last week of the month.
It was good to be back with the Booneville Dulcimer Club and the programs at the care facilities. We are now official members with our new T-shirts! There was a music celebration one Wednesday evening at church with us using the hammer dulcimer (by request). Our church friends had special friends visiting so there was lots of music, including great 4-part harmony hymns which Connie was able to play (without practice) on the piano. We have recently been encouraged by others and believe we are entering a new season of music ministry; we need to pray, search for open doors, and allow God to use us through our music.
(Jesus speaking) “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.” Matthew 7:7 New International Version
Thought for the month: From a devotion ~ Despair will cast you down, keeping you from standing. Fear will tell you to retreat. Impatience will tell you to do something now. Presumption will tell you jump before your landing is ready. God often tells us to simply stand still as He reveals His plan.
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
30A Hwy 367
Burnsville, MS 38833
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
** May 14-early June – Aiken, SC and Fredericksburg, VA for music and family
** August-Sept – Music, Volunteer work, Family Camp, Clinton, IL area
** September – Illinois and Wisconsin family visits
Connie took advantage of the empty table from traveling to start her Coco-Cola jigsaw puzzle Sunday after church, finishing it Monday afternoon. It was taken apart in sections and stacked in a bag for thrift store donation and the table was ready for office space the next day.
Our first week found John under the weather with a flu bug of some sort. He attended devotions and “worked” the first day, then spent the rest of the week and weekend resting and recovering. He even quit drinking coffee for several days! Connie mustered the courage to drive alone in the Phoenix traffic to take the van to north Phoenix for windshield repairs and get groceries. It is amazing how much we do together and get used to having the extra eyes, ears, and hands in navigating detours and such.
We had our devotions every morning in the teachers’ lounge with our other volunteer couples, combining 3 tables and most of the chairs, causing some heads to turn as they hurried in for their morning coffee. We joined with our other volunteers on Tuesday evenings for a “social” night and Wednesday evenings for Bible Study which was typically provided by one of the school staff. It was interesting hearing some stories about the staff people and their roles at the school. There was a magician from the RVIC group that entertained one social night and we were able to provide a short concert for the volunteers the last social night. All had a great time as we shared some of our songs, some familiar hymns and sing-alongs, and even a brand-new, never before played in public song (even getting good feedback!). It energized us to work at recording as well as making some time to maybe get some video clips to our web site.
Thursday, January 30, found us having our final lunch with our son at “My Mother’s Place” where they are known for their prime rib, which Connie greatly enjoyed before starting to pack up for our trip to southern California.