Mike and Beverly Creiglow have served the Lord in Cruzeiro do Sul, Acre, Brazil together for 40 years. They serve at First Baptist Church in Cruzeiro do Sul, which Mike has pastored since 1978

January 9, 2012

Dear Brethren,

Home, at last! It has now been just over 3 weeks since we returned to Cruzeiro do Sul. I won’t bother you with the adventure that it was to get back home. It might scare some of you away, those of you who are considering a visit. We need your visit, so just let’s pretend that getting here is just a walk in the park.

The Christmas program was a huge success. The day after our arrival I was at church saw and hammer in hand. It was 10 straight days of long hours to get the stage and lighting ready, but we made it with a few hours to spare. We had overflow crowds for the 4 presentations. Although we did not have a public invitation, we still had 4 professions of faith, at least the ones that I witnessed personally after services.

A week later we had our New Year’s Eve service. Another overflow crowd. After the service, which ends sometime after midnight, Bev and I got together with family and friends for a meal. We finally got home after 3:00AM, tired and happy.

I have had 2 meetings with the leadership. The guys did an outstanding job and the church continued to grow. However, being away as long as I was, let a few things get out of focus. We will be working on getting things fine tuned again over the coming weeks and months.

In the last 27 days, since getting home we have had only 1 day without torrential rains. The river is almost out of its banks. Even so, we have had really good crowds in most services. On January 1 we had 3 professions of faith and last night we had 5 more. There had not been any in November and early December, so we are relieved that things are picking up again.

It has been 5 or 6 years (maybe more) since we started having an afternoon service to try to free up more space in our outgrown building. We have been trying all this time to get our regular members to make the switch to the afternoon service as to free up space for our visitors that come mostly to the night service. It has been a slow process. At first we had less than 100 people coming in the first service and always standing room only at night. Finally we are having about 500 in the afternoon. It is still full at night, but not always turning people away, so at long last we are getting a little relief. We had dozens of visitors last night. It crossed my mind that many pastors never spend 5 years in one place, yet they want things to change over night. Much prayer, patience and TIME is needed to see positive changes. A pat on the back to all you pastors who stick it out for the long haul. For those who are just getting started, hang in there, pray and be patient. The results will eventually come.

Last week was spent getting some of my equipment rebuilt, repaired and ready for the coming river trips. Tomorrow Hudson and I head up the Moa River. I’m pumped!

Please consider the 2 financial needs I mentioned last month: the renewal of the satellite phone and the purchase of the jet drive for the 25hp motor. The 2 items cost just over $2,000.00.

Thanks for all of your prayers and support. God bless you as much as He has us.

In Christ,
Mike Creiglow
Caixa Postal 24
69980 Cruzeiro do Sul, Acre, Brazil