Building Dedication on the Grajaú River
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.
April 24, 2018
Dear Brethren,
We have been back four more times to visit the Katukina Tribe. Every time I teach I use some kind of object to illustrate the main theme. They are so used to government people having “meeting” with them that they just tune out to blah, blah, blah. Most of the time these outsiders (anthropologists and other official busybodies) speak “down” to them. These folks (left wingers) know what is best for these lowly souls. Does that sound familiar? Also, not all of them are fluent in Portuguese, so I have to take it slow and make it easy to understand and follow. I never stand, but sit with them and engage them the whole time, getting them to participate in the lesson. This works really well with them….as it does with everybody in the world. Uh duh! We had 3 saved two weeks ago.
The meeting at Vila São José (Breu River) among the Hunikuim went very well. There were over 200 from several locations in attendance. Just after the meeting the young man who takes care of them, Aldenir, the chief’s brother, got a bad infection from a bad tooth. They had to rush him to Cruzeiro do Sul. He had to emergency surgeries. Zico and I have been visiting him. He can barely mumble. His wife is with him, but she can speak very little Portuguese. The infection got so out of control that they had to send him to Rio Branco. The word is that he is better, but please pray for him.
Our church has kids clubs that work on Saturday mornings. We have one at the home church and then there are also clubs at most of the chapels, too. A couple of months ago one of our young women approached me about starting a new and different club for the kids of the Lagoa neighborhood. This is a slum down by the river and is the most dangerous in town. Murders happen there almost weekly. Drugs are at the center of it all. One of the 3 major gangs controls who comes and goes. We decide that the best way to do this would be to bus the kids in to church on Saturday afternoons. She and a couple of others went to talk to the gang boss to get explain the project and get permission. He agreed. On the first Saturday one of our evangelism teams went in just to witness and invite. There were 3 professions of faith that first day. Last Saturday they already had the team trained and ready to begin (the basic training for all the clubs had already been underway for 6 weeks). They bused in 47 children. Now there are kids from 2 other neighborhoods along the river that want to come. Great things are happening.
This last weekend was the dedication of a brand new building at our newest congregation. This is on the Grajaú River. This is a large village about 170 miles up river. This work was started about 2 years ago by our missionary at Porto Walter, Alexandre. Many have been saved and they wanted to put up a building. Well they did just that and with no outside funds. They also have a generator and installed lights. They fed everybody from their village and others who came from all around. A hint that they might just be Baptists!
We added 39 new members at First Baptist this month. A few by letter, too. We had 10 people saved from Sunday to Sunday last week.
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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Training Teams and Praying for a Leader in Limão
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.
November 11, 2017
Hope all have had a good year! We have had a blessed year! We have had good times and hard times, but God has been there with us and for us. We serve a wonderful God!
We are in several places—there are still so many communities to be reached. This year we have seen God working in the lives of the members and bringing new people to know Him as Savior. Seeing the old members growing and reaching out to the people around them has been a real blessing.
We now have Sunday school at three of the churches. Kathy and I have been helping in two of the places. We are training the group from the mission in Iranduba. They are coming along and excited. The mission of Multirão already has a team that goes there. They are doing great and investing there with the people and the building. What a blessing! Now we are training and new team to go to the community of Limão (lemon). There is a great need for a church there. We are praying God will give us a man that will go. We will go in the beginning while they are being trained. Pray that God will raise up the right person.
We really need a building in the community where Kathy has the kids club. We run an average of 45 kids. That’s about all we can handle on the patio of the house. God has provided a church that will come and build, we just need to buy the land. A few days ago, Kathy found out that there are 2 lots that are being sold not far from the house where we have club. We have used this family’s home for over 2 years. We really are thankful, but we need our own place. Please pray that God will provide the money we need. From time to time we have different kinds of festivals to reach out to new people in the communities, so they can see who we are and so that we can meet them. This month we are having one and all the missions are going to come. We are excited and looking forward to what God has for us.
We would love to reach out more and more. We are praying that God will raise up more people that want to serve, and our other great need is a good car. We spend lots of time in the car. The mother church is close, but all others are at least 30 minutes away.
Thanks for your prayers and your gifts, God bless each of you!
Odali & Kathy Barros
Odali & Kathy Barros
Caixa Postal 1
Iranduba, Amazonas 69.415.000
Brasil, S.A.
odali_kathy[at]hotmail.com
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Ministries Thriving in Multiple Communities
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.
August 17, 2017
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
We praise God for each of you. We pray all is well with each church and each family. We are doing great. God has blessed the work and protected us each day.
The ministries are doing well and growing. The mission in the community of Multirão is doing great and growing. We have a group of 3 couples that work there. They had never done this kind of church ministry. It is exciting to them working and the work growing. The work had lots of children and now the parents are coming! So exciting to see God at work!
The work where Kathy has a club is growing. We were praying about finding a place to buy or build. They use a family’s porch, and the space is getting small. We have an average of 50. Well last month, talking to a friend, he mentioned that his church in the USA wanted to build another church, and would I know who needed one!? I gladly said I do know someone, my wife and I! “Well,” he said, “please send me some pictures of the work there and I’ll send them to my church.” Well they have already given us an answer. All we need to do is buy the land. We have a little house in the city near us that we are trying to sell. Pray that it will sell!
The work at the mother church is growing. And each day, more of the members are getting involved. This Saturday we are having a festival to bring people from the communities near us to visit the church. We live in an area that is like farmland. People live scattered out. Also, many people do not have transportation. Since we have a bus, we pick up people for church.
All our work requires us to drive a lot each week. Therefore, we have a need for good transportation. We drive approximately 200 miles a week just going to church services. Please pray that God will provide the finances so we can get newer transportation.
Thanks for your love, support and your prayers! God bless each of you!
Love, Odali & Kathy Barros
Odali & Kathy Barros
Caixa Postal 1
Iranduba, Amazonas 69.415.000
Brasil, S.A.
odali_kathy[at]hotmail.com
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Missionary Update: Odali & Kathy Barros in Brazil [November 2014]
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.
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Greetings! Hope all of you are doing well. We are doing great and all are healthy. God has been so good to us. I just had my check up done and all is well. The boys and Kathy are doing well also.
The work is Ubim continues doing well. The children are faithful and are bringing others. The Adults are slower. The Assembly of God and Adventist churches are very strong in this community. Pray that God will open the doors so we can reach the adults and that through the children we can reach their parents.
We visited a community called Mutirão. It is about 30 minutes from where we live. We have been blessed with a lot to build a church. We went there last Sunday with my brother who knew where the lot was. We have made plans to get started. As we work on building we will look for a place that we can use to get started. They used to have services there so we are hoping to come across some of the people that used to come. There are so many little country roads around were we live. There is lots of work to do.
The work in Garca is doing well. One of the boys who lived with us, now a married man and a father, takes care of Alpha and Omega. Our son Titus is back there helping at the home and in the church. There are several that live there. Some of those who lived there when it was a children’s home and are now married and live there with their spouses. They are doing well. They had a special day for children and are now preparing for a Christmas special. Titus likes to visit the old people from the church. He goes to visit them and spends some time with them. They enjoy his visits.
We want to thank all of you that have been faithful through out this whole year, especially with your prayers and also with your support. Your prayers are a vital part of our ministry. May God bless each one of you.
Odali and Kathy
Odali and Kathy
Titus, Jonas and Gabriel
Odali & Kathy Barros
Caixa Postal 1
Iranduba, Amazonas 69.415.000
Brasil, S.A.
odali_kathy[at]hotmail.com
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Missionary Update: Odali & Kathy Barros in Brazil [October 2012]
Odali and Kathy Barros have served the Lord in Sao Paulo, Brazil for many years. In addition to leading their newest church, they also run “Alpha Omega Family Development,” which provides a home and stability for needy people, many of whom are recovering drug addicts, etc.
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Greetings! Hope all is well with all of you. We are doing great. God has been good to us and we are all in good health. I got to go visit my father in Manaus. My brothers took him to Manaus to take care of him. He is now 92 years old. Actually doing good for his age. Hope that I can see him again soon and enjoy him while I can. Our hope is that he actually has accepted Jesus as his Saviour.
The church here is doing great. We have had new adults coming and on Sunday mornings many kids and teens are coming. Every week we have new kids that are coming and we are not even doing visitation. The kids are bringing other kids. It has been such a joy to see the kids growing and changing each week. It is wonderful to see them with a desire to learn more about God. What is so fantastic is that about 70% of them are in their teens. The drug addicted teen we mentioned in the last letter is still coming. Pray for him. His name is Clayton. We run the bus pretty much just in to neighborhoods. And these neighborhoods are enemies and have been for years. Each Sunday we see and improvement in their behavior. Pray for us that God will give each one of us wisdom to work with these children.
We have been working in getting each member involved in some area of the church ministries. Some have really taken action and are growing and others a little slower. But we praise God for those that have made the difference.
Here at the home we have 5 mothers with their children. The last mother who came for help has 3 children. The little boy who is 6 years old has cancer. He has been in treatment for 2 years. Hope that he will along with his family look to the Lord for salvation.
We want to thank all of those who have been faithful in your giving to BFM and for your constant prayers for each missionary families and our ministries. Your prayers are greatly appreciated. God bless each one of you.
We do not have any permanent plans for our furlough at this moment. We are still waiting for our children’s documents to get back to us. But I think that the documents are going to go all over the US before they get back to us. We first sent them to Chicago where we were told to send them, from there they went to California, and this week we got a letter that they went to Missouri. Well I guess we will have to be patient and wait on the Lord.
We will keep you informed on what is going on and our plans.
God Bless,
Odali & Kathy
**Please be sure to visit the BFM Facebook page to view a video of their kids at church singing. It’s a blessing and a half!**
Odali & Kathy Barros
odali_kathy[at]hotmail.com
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Caixa Postal 182
17400-000 Garca, SP
Brasil, S.A.
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