Newsletter – March 2019

Greetings Friends & Fellow-laborers,

Praise the Lord for opportunities! 2019 has already been a very busy time here at the Home Office. Silent Word Ministries has two guest rooms available to traveling preachers, missionaries, and other guests. Already in January/February, these rooms have been used 10 times. I have been busy coordinating schedules and making sure rooms were cleaned and linens washed between guests. I am so thankful for the ladies who help me when they can.

Every two months, Ted Camp and Jon Barr spend two weeks laying out articles, church ads, photos, puzzles, and more to create a new issue of “The Silent Word,” a free newspaper for Deaf people. After the paper is proofread and printed, Carlene Camp checks addresses and prints labels. Diane Barr and I oversee volunteers on Monday & Tuesday mornings in stuffing packets and labeling individual papers. In January, Harvest Deaf Ministries sent volunteers to help get 11,000 copies ready to mail. What a blessing!

In February, SWM conducted our annual board meeting and luncheon. After the meeting, we surprised Ted & Carlene Camp with a special party celebrating their 60th wedding anniversary. Family members of the Camps were there along with friends. Also in February, SWM ladies conducted a special “fiesta” for ladies from two local supporting churches. It was a great time of fellowshipping and connecting.

Recently, I had the exciting opportunity to assist SWM missionaries Jon & Diane Barr, Reed & Donna Condra, and SWM Deaf evangelist Allen Snare at the first area-wide deaf meeting (Fantastic Saturday) of 2019. This was my first time to assist with this event in Florida, and I really enjoyed meeting new people and helping with book tables. In the morning, I also had an opportunity to interpret in the children’s class. Praise the Lord for the three people saved at the meeting!

SWM conducted another Fantastic Saturday, for the first time at Harvest Baptist Church of the Deaf in Ringgold, Georgia. The theme is “Open Doors of Opportunity.” I had the privilege of sharing a little bit of my testimony about how God closed many doors for me in one area before opening doors in another…

The Short Version: In 2002, I graduated from Bible college and began making plans to volunteer in Children’s Home ministry. But after trying several places and finding the doors closed, I discovered a different door open…and an opportunity to travel to the Philippines and help missionaries Bob & Brenda Himes with summer camp for the deaf. I had learned some signs as a teen. In the Philippines, I met a missionary (Bro. Jon Barr) from Silent Word Ministries who had come to preach at the camp. God eventually used the signs I had learned and that trip to lead me to join with SWM as a missionary and to enter full-time Deaf ministry. And He has continued to open doors for me in the almost 8 years since joining.

At the Fantastic Saturday in Ringgold, I was thrilled to learn that the Himes were in the States and attended the meeting! Please pray as SWM missionaries conduct Fantastic Saturdays in South Carolina, Florida, Arizona, California, & Pennsylvania.

This year, I have been reminded of how quickly things can change. Just a few days after Christmas, my family received word that my “Gram,” Peggy Campbell, had unexpectedly (to us) passed away. I joined my family for a quick trip to Florida for a memorial service in January. Gram was my supporter – financially, prayerfully, and by telling others about my ministry. She often forwarded my emails or prayer letters to others.

Shortly after I returned from my grandmother’s memorial service, we were shocked when Bro. Ted Camp’s brother passed away suddenly on a Sunday morning. He was a member of a local church and also a good friend of Silent Word Ministries & missionaries. He had been fixing a leak at the office the week before he went to Heaven. That same week, friend and deaf volunteer Vicki Shiffer drove to Pennsylvania to be with her father before he passed away. We will miss them, but we are so thankful that we will see them again in Heaven.

I currently have 57% of my support. The need is for an additional $774 per month. Please continue to pray that I will raise the rest of my support.

Truly Blessed,

Tabitha Beam