Baptizing New Disciples Along the Moa River
February 12, 2024
Dear Brethren,
The trip to the upper Moa River was great. Seven of us went all the way from the port here in Cruzeiro do Sul to the foothills in one day. Missionary Geverton was our pilot. He is our itinerant missionary since 2020. The church had a 10-meter aluminum canoe made for his ministry. The boat has a top that is the full length of the boat and the benches have cushions. I was able to kick back and just enjoy the trip. We left at 6:00 AM and arrived at 5:00 PM. There was plenty of water in the river and we only got into one rain.
The building was packed for all services. One of the reasons we were there was to celebrate the 27 years since we sent Missionary Rivaldo. Way back in 1967, I started preaching the Gospel all along the Moa River. At that time, I was just an 18 year-old, single, seminary student who had just been called to be a missionary. Still preaching there after all these years, I preached twice and performed a baptism. The river dropped quite a bit while we were there, so I had to go half the width of the river to have enough water to baptize. The schoolteacher was saved and was baptized. Also, one lady and a couple of her children were part of the group. She has 7 children. Her husband is in a federal prison on drug charges. He burns up the “salary” that the government gives each inmate on drugs, so she has to make a living on her own. What a trouper!
One of our guys got sick on the trip. 24 hours after our return, it was my turn. I was sick for a whole week. I was still able to get some work done in spurts, but not very productive for the whole week. We suspect that the hygiene at our missionary’s house is not ideal. He has a very bad outhouse and no well. He drinks out of the local creek. All kinds of livestock are in and out of this creek. We are going to build him a septic system and proper bathroom. We have also selected a location to dig a well and install a pump. Don’t worry, I and the team did not drink the creek water! We took enough bottled water for the 6-day trip.
Our attendance has been recovering at a snail’s pace since COVID. We are now having over 600 both morning and night in both Sunday services. Last Wednesday we had 378. The average for this service has been just over 300 for 2023. We had another couple saved this week and several requests for baptism.
It is Carnival in Brazil. Fortunately, it is slowly dwindling as more Brazilians trust in Christ. Way back in 1977 we started having retreats for the youth to have an option to get away from the madness of Carnival. The youth are up at Camp Salém right now. There are over 130 teens and a team of about 20 adults who take care of them. This is the first of many retreats of the year. We are under pressure to build more cabins. We built 8 more bathrooms last week and installed a new water tower just in time for camp. I will be checking in on them later today.
Thanks for all of your prayers and support. God bless you as much as He has us.
In Christ,
Mike Creiglow
“You will see a pole behind me. That pole is what I use to clear the river bottom of fresh water sting rays before the candidates come in. You don’t want to get stung by one of those critters. The pain is indescribable.”
“The pics are from my trip up the Moa River. Have you ever had to stuff your pant legs into your socks and tie plastic bags over your shoes to go to church on a Sunday morning? Not likely. We had plenty of mud from all the rain, so you do what you have to do. The other 2 pics are of the baptism service. So good to be back on the rivers again.“
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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New Boat for Itinerant Missionary
August 15, 2023
Dear Brethren,
Hello from perfect weather Cruzeiro do Sul. We just had a cold front come through. There were 3 days of rain and temperatures in the low 70’s. We had just come off a 30-day drought. Now the grass is green again and clear blue skies. So good to be home. Speaking of being home: Bev and I have been back for exactly one month.
The church has been taking advantage of my return and put me to work big time. I have been preaching or teaching at least 3 times a week. Sometimes more. Besides these messages in our regular services, I have also been in the studio recording videos and have visited one of our chapels, too. This month they asked me to prepare a series of lessons about some of the “One to another” texts. I singled out 8 in the book of Romans. Sunday morning, I taught about having the “same mind” from Romans 12:16. Each lesson is supposed to be 1 hour. Mine took an hour and a half. When I closed, they broke into applause. My hope is that they enjoyed the lesson. Of course, there is always the possibility that they were just glad I shut up!
Bev and I visited Cruzeirinho last Sunday night to help them celebrate the Brazilian Father’s Day. Although it was raining, they had a really good crowd, and one lady came back into fellowship after being away for 3 years.
This is church camp season. The preteens went to Camp Salém (our own 400 acre camp) three weekends ago. They had 55 kids. The next week was the men’s retreat. They had over 170. This past weekend was the youth group. Don’t know exactly how many went. I was up there yesterday, and I am sure they had well over 100.
The church bought a brand new aluminum boat and 23HP motor for our itinerant missionary Geverton. The boat and motor were unveiled in the church parking lot 2 Sundays ago. The boat will carry 12 people. He has been taking care of all the congregations and mission points between here and Porto Walter. His last trip covered Valparaiso, Nova Cintra, Valquiria, Profeta and Luzeiro.
Since my last letter our evangelists have been back to Gama and Ramal 7, plus Generoso on the Boa Fé River.
Besides all the meetings and work at church, I have been trying to squeeze in as much repair work as possible. It is unreal how many things broke down while I was away for 6 months. It seems like every day I find something else that needs to be fixed. I have started up some new building projects, too. Nothing major yet, but things are starting to get back into a rhythm.
My health has improved. I have lost 13lbs so far and am getting my exercise pretty regularly. The medical bills are still trickling in, but nothing big of late. Thanks to all who have prayed and given. Thanks for all 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.
Read more
Using Friend’s Boat for River Mission Trips
September 23, 2021
Greetings to all of you who have been a blessing in our lives and ministry! We thank each one of you for your prayers and support! May God continue to bless each of you!
We are doing well, and God has blessed us with health and protection from any harm. In the area that we live, there have been some problems with 25 prisoners who had escaped from prison. They were attacking cars and also stealing in homes, but things have calmed down. Praise the Lord!
The services at the church and the missions are back to normal, and more of the people are coming back.
We are excited that next month we are going to have a special day like we used to have four or five times per year before the virus appeared. October has a day that is called Children’s Day. We are going to take advantage of the date and have a special event. We will be bringing kids and families from around the area and mission points. We will have a special service for the kids with puppets.
We have a friend that has a boat that he has offered to be used for missions on the river. This coming weekend he has invited me to go with his church on a mission trip of 3 days to the Village of Gapoaçu. Looking forward to this trip and it will be exciting to plan others. There are many villages that can only be accessed by boat.
We are finishing the baptistery at the church. We always had baptism on the riverside, but it is somewhat of a problem getting everyone there. So, we decided to finish it. Soon we will be having baptisms there. There have been several saved. Praise the Lord!
God bless each of you!
Love in Christ,
Odali and Kathy Barros
Contact Info:
Odali & Kathy Barros
Iranduba, Amazonas
Brasil, SA
odali_kathy@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.
Read more
Good News from Southern Brazil!
April 26, 2021
Dear Brethren,
Hey, things are finally improving here in Cruzeiro do Sul. Yesterday we had zero new cases, no deaths in 12 days and only 3 locals in the ICU. We continue to have patients coming from out of town to our hospital here, but those, too, have dwindled. The state and local governments have lifted the lockdowns and curfews. Wednesday we plan to start back with services open to the public.
One of my guys went with me on another trip up river. We went back to Serra do Moa. This time I took a bunch of goodies to our missionary couple, Rivaldo and Leila. My small group donated dishes, silverware, pans, sheets, blankets, hammocks and a number of other household items. I bought a little gasoline generator, wires and LED bulbs, so that they can have lights in the evening. The first thing that I did when we got there was run wires and sockets for our first night. While I did that Manoel and Rivaldo installed hammock hooks in 3 rooms. We held services, too.
This was the first trip with the new 60HP Mercury outboard that was purchased by Calvary Baptist Church, Hurricane, West Virginia. The motor was installed last year, but because of the pandemic I had not been able to make any trips. I had just built a new top for my boat to keep me out of the rain and sun. The river was high and it was really enjoyable. Thanks so much to Calvary and her pastors. You have made the life of this old missionary so much easier!
Bev and I gave two weeklong courses to couples who are getting ready to marry. We have done this for years, but a couple of years ago we completely revamped and reformatted the course. It has been a big success. One thing that the couples all really like is that we have it here at our house instead of a classroom. The first round was for 5 couples. Last week we had two more. Last Friday Dauro and I performed the ceremony for my granddaughter, Heloisa and her husband Jefter. She is my first grandchild to marry. I also married both her parents and his parents a long time ago. They were one of the couples that did the classes with us. Because of the pandemic we had to have the ceremony here at the house. They plan to have a church wedding when the lockdowns and curfews are totally lifted. Dauro is qualified to do the civil marriage and I did the religious part.
There is plenty of good news coming from our works far and near. I have talked to several of our missionaries. Some of them have rural telephones and so we talk weekly to those. The word from the border, Foz do Breu, is that they have been having services already. Some have been saved and several new families moved into the village. They have continued to visit their mission points although, without holding services due to the virus spread. They also visited the Indian reservations on the Breu River. Those works are growing big time. The main pastor among the Hunikuim tribe is a young man named Aldenir. He almost died with a terrible infection a while back, but now is doing better. He has actually gotten into 2 more Indian villages in the last few months.
Well actually I have quite a bit more news, but have run out of space. Quite different from last month, when I had nothing to report.
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.
Read more
First Mission Trip of 2021
January 27, 2021
Dear Brethren,
Things are far from normal. Yet the rainy season has started and the rivers are coming up. We are enjoying pretty good health. The church continues to meet, albeit with much lower than normal attendance. People have been saved in almost every service. Fear and panic is still widespread. We have lost many friends and brothers. Many more are still coming down with the virus. Vaccinations have started here in Brazil. So it is a mixed bag.
Pastor Ezi and I went on our first mission trip last week. We went up the Moa River to visit 2 of our works. We were in the open boat with smaller outboard. I was not sure how I would do manually starting and running the engine as my strength is still not where I was. On top of that we got rained on big time going and coming. Rain always presents a big challenge and even bigger on a small, winding river. All went very well though. God continues to give me strength and He is a great pilot.
Pastor Ezi and me with new motor on the river 
The new building 
Sunday morning service in the new building 
Baptism
We dedicated the new building at Serra do Moa (Mountains on the Moa River). We held 4 services with them. Missionary Rivaldo is doing great. He worked there when we first started the congregation. Later he took care of 2 other fields. Now he is back where he started his ministry 24 years ago. This is he fourth building that we have put up. The first three were tiny wood frame structures that didn’t last that long. This time they put in a concrete foundation and partial brick walls. The rest is wood, but this one should last much longer. The last building is still in good shape and is used for Sunday School.
There were over 200 people present. Most of these were from 5 of our other congregations downriver. There 4 professions of faith. I baptized 8 on Sunday morning. This was squeezed in between rainstorms. The rains hardly ever stopped. In fact, we were scheduled to be with our mission at República (Nukini Indian reservation), but the missionary and his family were not able to return because of the rain. We plan to visit them in a few more days.
One thing that was sad was seeing the reach of the panic over the virus reach all the way up river. They were handing out masks and spraying gel at the door of the new church building. Now, I am not against masks at the right place and time, but this was very disheartening to see. Many of them had their masks on upside down! The reach of tyranny seems to have no limit.
The new 25HP 4 stroke outboard worked very well. Thanks to all who have helped me purchase and maintain my boats and motors.
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.
Read more
Successful Surgery & Record Attendance at Christmas Musical
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.
January 21, 2020
Dear Brethren,
Grace and peace to all. 2019 ended and 2020 started with tons of work, but no real news. Sorry, it’s true! I have worked a lot, but don’t have much to report or little to show for all the activity. There are a few things that you may be wondering about, so let’s fill in those blanks.
Andrew is finally home and well. After over a year in and out of hospitals, fighting with said hospitals, doctors and insurance company, the Lord opened the door for the equipment to come to Manaus for his procedure. The word came down right as I was in the midst of the preparations for the Christmas Musical. Andrew went to Manaus and once the final dates were set for his surgery, I went to be with him. It was a huge success. In fact, it was the first procedure of this nature in all of northern Brazil. There were over 20 people (mostly doctors and other health care specialists) in the room to watch the procedure. The doctor was able to do all that we had been praying for and a couple of other things were corrected, also. You can’t imagine my joy 2 weeks later seeing my son on the front pew during the Christmas Musical smiling at his little boy, Devin, who was on stage. Thanks to all of you who have prayed for him. Thank You, Lord!
The musical was a lot of work as usual, but really great. We had 6 presentations (6 nights) ending on Christmas night. We are now in our new building and set several attendance records. We averaged just under 1200. On Christmas night we had 1718 in the building. Many people were not able to get in. A few more people were saved.
I only made one short trip out of town so far this year. I visited the congregation at Canela Fina. This work was started by Igreja Batista Betel, which is one of our daughter churches. It rained big time and it was pretty muddy, but the building was packed with over 200 people.
The first weeks of the year have been mostly just plain ole hard manual labor. I have been building a new office for me in our garage. Beverly needed a space for her crafts, so I gave up my office in the house and built my new space. It is not quite finished, but getting there. Yesterday I finally installed a new router to be able to have internet service. Now all I “need” is a lazy boy and big screen TV for my man cave to be complete! Waiting for Beverly to approve those last 2 items. It may be a while.
In my spare time (?) I have been working on my boats and motors getting ready for the upcoming mission trips of the rainy season. The new 60HP and 25HP outboards have finally arrived. My old motors were 11 years old. Thanks to the churches and friends who have helped to purchase the new engines. It took months to get them here, but now it will only take a few more days to have the boats ready. There are a number of repairs to do on the boats. The 25HP is already installed on the jon boat, but waiting for water in the river to do the break in. In fact, last week I was supposed to go up the Moa River, but the rains stopped suddenly, and all the rivers are shallow and clogged with stumps. The bigger boat needs several repairs and the installation is much more complex. Right now, I am waiting on new control cables. The old ones off the old motor are different, so I had to order new ones.
Bev and I have had some health issues. She had dengue fever! Fortunately, she had a mild version of it or maybe she is just plain tough. Probably the latter. I have had 2 kinds of infections over the last few weeks. Routine stuff, but very painful and debilitating. Had to go through rounds of antibiotics. Even though health care here in Cruzeiro do Sul is rather precarious, I have the advantage of having folks in the church that are doctors, nurses and lab owners. One lady that has a lab, came to the house to take my blood sample, did the full round of tests and even brought the results to me. One of our doctors took care of me by cell phone. I did have to go out, get a shot at the ER and buy medicine, but our folks take good care of me.
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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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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Tourism Boat Offered for Missions; Difficult Moments
Odali and Kathy Barros served the Lord in Sao Paulo, Brazil together from 1987-2013. In late 2013, they transitioned to Manaus in Northern Brazil to start sharing the Gospel and planting churches in villages along the river.
July 30, 2019
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Time goes by so fast that it is hard to believe August is here. We pray and hope all is well with each of you. We have had wonderful moments and some difficult ones, but we know that God is in control and all we need is to trust Him.
Our son Jonas and his wife Kelly were expecting their first child, due at any moment, then the baby stopped moving. Well, they went to the doctor and there was no more heartbeat. The baby was born naturally at 9:45 pm tonight at the hospital and the mother is well. Pray for them that God will comfort their hearts.
Boat used for tourism that will be used for missions off-season
New building at Iranduba
John A. Hatcher back in Manaus with sons
Paul (left) and David (right)
We are so thankful for all the friends and supporters that gave special offerings for the needs we had. The freezers for camp and us and the money for the car documents and truck to be fixed. God bless each one.
There is a Christian man in the city nearby that works with fishing tourism. They are building a new boat to use, and I am helping with the woodwork. This boat is not used the whole year so the man said that we can use it for mission trips when it is not being used! That will give us about 5 months to use it! Pray that God will guide us in the ministry.
The work in Iranduba at the new building has started back. Looks like this new area will be really great to reach out to more people. There are many children in this neighborhood. Pray that God will help and guide us as we reach out to this new area.
Also, we had a great surprise with the return of Paul and Wanda to Manaus. This makes Dad be close to the three of his children! Dad enjoys having us near him!
Thanks for your prayers and support! God bless each of you.
Odali and Kathy
Odali & Kathy Barros
Iranduba, Amazonas
Brasil, S.A.
odali_kathy[at]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
Read more
