Today, we’re taking a break from our typical Miracle Mondays and bringing you a testimony of remembrance from Brother Joe Nicosia. Perhaps it’ll spark memories of a special season that you’ve enjoyed in your service to the Lord.

From 1999 to 2006, I was blessed with the opportunity to participate in a male quartet called The Zioneers, along with Brother Ken Jones, Bob Sullivan, and Ken Buck. Nancy Buck was our musical director.

To give some background, we initially formed the group in 1999 and then spent about a year practicing and learning how to sing together as a group. Finally, we were ready for our first public performance as part of a fundraiser concert at the Anaheim Branch. The Lord blessed all of the performers, and over $6,000 was raised in one night!

The group so enjoyed singing together that we decided to continue singing. Our plan was to record the Songs of Zion on CDs and distribute them to anyone in the Church who wished to enjoy and learn them. We distributed them at our cost (no profit) or even free of charge to those who could not afford to pay.

Over the next few years, we produced four different CDs of the Songs of Zion:

• “Climb Higher” (2002)
• “Hear the Call” (2003)
• “Sing Me the Songs of Zion” (2005)
• “The Journey Was Easy” (2006)

We invited various guest singers to participate with us in recording the songs. What a fantastic job all our guests did for The Zioneers! In total, The Zioneers were able to record 58 Songs of Zion for our Church people’s listening pleasure.

During our years together as a quartet, we were able to travel to many branches and conferences to sing for the Saints. The Songs of Zion CDs have been sent or taken to other countries — including Canada, Mexico, Kenya, Nigeria, Guatemala, the Philippines, Israel, Italy, Nepal, and Dominica — as well as to Indian reservations in Arizona and California.

As you know, whenever you try to do something good, there is always opposition. We had our share of that, and I can’t tell you how many of our practices and recording sessions had to be interrupted to offer prayer. Thinking back, these were some of the best and most fulfilling years of my life. What a feeling to know that what you are doing is a blessing to someone else. I wish everyone can experience what we experienced in recording the Songs of Zion.

To all the brothers and sisters who called and wrote those wonderful thank you cards, expressing their gratitude and support for our efforts and to let us know that the CDs were a blessing, your thoughts and words made our journey easy and helped us to feel that the years we invested in promoting the Songs of Zion were well worth the effort. We were blessed by the Lord, and that made it all worthwhile!

This article has undergone ministry review and approval.