Boat Trips Building Dedication, & Baptisms at Nukini Indian Reservation
August 22, 2024
Dear Brethren,
Greetings from….Lexington, Kentucky? That’s right. I am back in the States for more cancer surgery. Was under the knife for 4 and a half hours a few days ago. All is well and I am recovering nicely. Hope you will be patient with me and continue to pray. One extra blessing is that I get to go over and see Dad every day. He just turned 98 and is in pretty good shape. Also, I am getting rested up and I am already desperate to get home and back to work. Patience is needed though as I still have 2 weeks of recovery before I can go back home.
Just before coming Stateside I was able to get one more river trip in. Missionary Geverton used our latest addition of boats to take me to the Nukini Indian reservation. Francisco (our canoe builder) just finished a new 8-meter aluminum canoe for the church. We took the 22HP Honda tail motor off of the much bigger 10-meter canoe and put it on the brand new boat for this trip. The river is at record low, so this new boat was just what we needed. It took us just 10 hours to get to the reservation.
We were there for just 4 days. We did a special service to dedicate the new building. It was full for all services and people who could not get in were standing outside. They are getting ready to do a 10-foot extension to their brand-new building. Rather than interpret this as lack of vision, I prefer to see it as “surprise” growth!
For the regular Sunday morning service Pastor Amós preached. He is pastor at the Poyanawa reservation at Barão. He brought a nice group of the church members from Barão for the weekend. While he was preaching, I taught a group of 9 candidates about what scriptural baptism is. Right after all of this I performed the baptism in a little creek down the hill from the new church building. We had a cold front come through a couple of days earlier and the water was COLD. The candidates were all young. The youngest was 8 and the oldest 13. It is still a thrill to be able to go to these places and serve these wonderful people.
You know that I don’t do this often, but I have a couple of projects that I need your help with. Of my 5 long river trips this year I have had to pull people, resources and equipment from the church here for 4 of these trips. Our missionary Geverton has taken time from his busy schedule to take me to places that I needed to go. He has been a huge help and made my life, in old age, much easier. He has been a God send. Hopefully this arrangement will last for a long time. However, I don’t like to take the church’s boats off their regular trips to cater to me. I am buying a 35HP tail motor and am ordering the materials to build a 20-foot jon boat for these hard-to-reach places. The motor costs just over $1,500.00 and the aluminum also costs $1,500.00. Andrew is going to help me with the plans. Francisco will help me with construction. I will build the tail and cover paint, labor, prop and whatever other expenses come along. I need your help with the engine and the aluminum. Please pray and give as He leads.
Thanks for all of your prayers and support. God bless you as much as He has us.
In Christ,
Mike Creiglow
CONTACT INFO
Mike & Beverly Creiglow
Caixa Postal 24
69980 Cruzeiro do Sul, Acre
Brasil, SA
mdcreig@hotmail.com
For ministry donations:
Pastor George Sledd, Treasurer of BFM
P.O. Box 471280 | Lake Monroe, FL 32747-1280
or click here to donate to BFM online.
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A Unique Story of the Church in Barão; New Engines Needed for Boat Missions
Mike and Beverly Creiglow have served the Lord in Cruzeiro do Sul, Acre, Brazil together since 1971. In addition to pastoring First Baptist of Cruzeiro do Sul, Mike builds his own boats and frequently travels up and down rivers to share the Gospel with those who have never heard.
November 15, 2019
Dear Brethren,
Let me begin with a prayer request this time: Cruzeiro do Sul and indeed Brazil is under the worse epidemic of dengue fever ever – please pray. A young woman from our church just died of hemorrhagic dengue and we have many in the hospital or recovering at home right now. In fact, I have been sick for the past couple of weeks and the doctor initially thought that I had dengue. Turns out that I had an infection and am taking antibiotics. Yesterday I finally started to feel a little bit better. The epidemic is so severe that I even got a letter from the U.S. Embassy telling us what precautions to take, etc.!
Since my return from the States a few months ago I had noticed that our attendance had been flat at First Baptist Church. I have been getting all 7 of the pastors together once or twice a week to discuss what is wrong. We have taken care of some disciplinary problems. I have been doing some much-needed teaching in several areas of concern. The attendance has been edging up again and we have had several more saved. In fact, we had our best Wednesday crowd of the year this week. Pastor Ezi brought a lesson about resolving conflicts between members. He had already called on prayer to close the service, when a man came forward and made a profession of faith! We held a baptism and Lord’s supper service earlier this month. We had a big crowd and added 27 new members.
Bev and I were with the Getsêmani congregation at Colônia São Francisco for a weekend meeting. Really big crowds and great services.
Bev also went with me to visit our church at Barão. This is one of our oldest churches. Its story is unique. The original founder of Cruzeiro do Sul, Mâncio Lima, a rubber baron, went up the Moa River, enslaved the Puyanawa Indians, and took over their lands. For years we had a church there, but he or his descendants would not allow the construction of a church building. When I was a boy they still met in the preacher’s home. Later the federal government gave the land back to the tribe. Now they have a nice big brick building. The reservation is now accessible by road. The pastor is Brother Amós, who is the chief’s son. Even though the church is in what is officially an Indian reservation, you really wouldn’t notice a whole lot of difference from any of our other towns. Bev and I visited them for a couple’s meeting on a Saturday night. It rained all afternoon and we did a lot of slipping and sliding in my jeep to get there. There were well over a hundred present.
Last week I was scheduled to be with Igreja Batista da Bíblia at Igarapé Pentecostes, but had to cancel because of my illness. They just lost their pastor, so pray for them.
South America is boiling with all kinds of political upheavals. Please pray for Venezuela, Argentina, Chile, Peru and Bolívia. Brazil has also had some setbacks and needs your prayer, too.
I am in the process of renewing my outboard motors. My 60HP and 25HP are both over 10 years old. Calvary Baptist Church of Hurricane, West Virginia has provided the new 60HP. It has been ordered and is on the road somewhere between São Paulo and Cruzeiro do Sul. It has taken well over a month to get this thing rolling. The trucking company says the engine won’t be delivered until December 6. I have saved back a little money toward the new 25HP motor. It will cost about $5,000.00 with shipping cost included. My first 2 trips with this new engine are to take place in January 2020. One of these trips is to the Purús River. We just sent a new missionary couple there and I need to survey the river from the bridge crossing to Santa Rosa. I will trailer my boat and motor east for 280 miles to the bridge then make my way almost 300 miles up the Purús stopping at some 45 villages just to gather data. That data will be shared with our missionary Lucas. He will then begin the actual mission work along the river. Would you help me buy the new 25HP outboard? These may well be the last engines we ever have to buy for Mike Creiglow. I am now 71 years old. If these 2 engines last 10 more years (like the old ones did) then I would be 81 and it might just be time to slow down and let others take over. We will see what the Lord wants to happen.
Thanks for all of your prayers and support. God bless you as much as He has us.
In Christ,
Mike Creiglow
Mike and Beverly Creiglow
Caixa Postal 24
Cruzeiro do Sul, Acre, Brazil 69980
mdcreig [at] hotmail.com
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