Visiting Works in Gama, Santa Rosa, & Centrinho
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.
December 9, 2017
Dear Brethren,
Greetings from Cruzeiro do Sul. The rainy season has finally started for real and the river is up pretty high. It is time to get back on the river with some of the visits to our works a little further away.
Taking advantage of the prolonged dry season, I visited several works along the roads. Zico, Ezi and I visited the new work at Gama. While there I built the first trusses for their building. I took one of our men along to teach him how to build the rest. We are still praying for a couple to move there to take care of the work. Access is easy in the dry season. There is a 30 mile dirt road that winds through the jungle to the Gama River. In the rainy season the only vehicles that can get through are ATVs and with much effort and frustration!
I visited the work at Santa Rosa. We held one of our preachers meetings while I was there. The church is doing well. The pastor is Brother Sadraque. He is a young local who was saved and called right there. He accepted the pastorate after the last pastor left unexpectedly. That was a couple of years ago. Since then Sadraque has done a good job and the church has almost doubled in size. I have been working with him over the last few months to get him through a problem. He feels that he is in the position only temporarily. It still hasn’t soaked in that God put him there.
Bev went with me to visit the work at Centrinho for a weekend meeting. Pastor Marcelo and his wife Neire serve there. They have about 40 people. There were over 70 present for the services while we were there. They meet in a little wooden building, but doing well and growing slowly.
We had another baptism at church this month adding another 38 members.
Our seminary closed out the semester late November with 22 students attending classes. We offered 6 modules this last semester. I taught Bible geography. Lot of fun.
The violence here has gone down a little, but is still rampant. The state AG just put out the stats. Two things are worth quoting. First, the murder rate per 100,000 population is 56. Then if the State of Acre were an independent country it would be the 4th most violent country in the world. He went on to say that a person is more likely to be murdered in the Acre than in Syria. To top it off, the bad guys are now stopping boats on the river to rob and murder their victims. When our members heard about my next trip up river they were concerned. I can’t let this stop me though. Unfortunately, Brazil has the strictest gun laws in the world and I cannot have a weapon. The bad guys all have guns though. In a referendum 95% of the population wants the right to own a gun. Socialism is what it is though and there is not much hope for improvement here.
I am still dealing with health issues. I have continued to work long hard days, but it has not been easy. Not sure that the doctors here are going to find out what ails me. Please continue to pray.
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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Five Baptisms, a Successful Festival, and Property Found in Ubim!
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.
December 2, 2017
Well it is hard to believe that December is almost here. The month of November was great. The festival we had planned was a success. It was impossible to count, but by the numbers of places we had for people to sit, we had around 400 who attended. The goal was to bring people to meet our church. We had a short service with the plan of salvation. Then the next day, which was Sunday, we had church fellowship and baptism. We had 5 baptized: 2 adults and 3 teens. Praise the Lord!
This week I went to the community of UBIM, where we are needing a building. Well, we found the lots! Just in a perfect place—not very far from where Kathy has her children’s club. We hope we can purchase the lot by the end of the year. The prices range around $8,000.
The training of the new helpers is coming along. Kathy takes one of the new volunteers each week. She takes as many as her car holds. Pray that God will touch the hearts of more people willing to serve. More people means reaching more communities.
God bless each of you. Thanks for your support and prayers.
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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Church Planting in Multiple “Municipíos”
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.
May 16, 2017
Dear Brethren,
The state of Acre has 22 “counties”. Here they are called municípios (municipalities). We are trying to plant churches in all of them. So far, we have churches in 7 of the “county seats”. The 2 largest cities are the capital, Rio Branco, and Cruzeiro do Sul. These churches have been around for years. The other 5 churches are in smaller cities close to us. Now we are going for the most isolated towns that have no Baptist church. We sent a missionary family to the city of Jordão 2 years ago.
This month we made a visit to Jordão and a survey trip to Santa Rosa do Purús. We had to fly to these cities that are deep in the forest and along the Peruvian border. We chartered the New Tribes Mission plane. It was necessary to make and pay for 2 flights as the pilot had to come from way up north in Roraima to make our flights and others over a short 1 week period. New Tribes Mission has a plane here now and mechanics, but still don’t have a pilot stationed here.
Jordão is on the Tarauacá River. The population is 8000 and 60% of these are from the Jaminaus and Kaxinauwa tribes. Our missionary couple is Idevaldo, Queila and their daughters, Vitória and Ludmilla. They have already bought a house and rented a place to hold services. We had a low of 45 people and a high of over 70 in services. One young couple that they have won to Christ have already been trained to help with the music. The man did not play any kind of instrument. Idevaldo taught him to play bass in 3 months. Idevaldo plays guitar and actually made his own instrument! Very talented. Queila has started a kid’s club that has an average of 25 children attending. They have already acquired 2 lots for us to put up our first church building. They are also already doing mission work in the villages and along the streams out of town. I am so proud of them. On Sunday morning, I baptized the first 14 members.
Our visit to the town of Santa Rosa do Purús was exciting, too. This is the smallest town in the Acre: 6000 people. 70% of these are Kaxinauwa. It is almost 2 hours by air. For us to get there by land and river we have to go 250 miles east by road then up river from the bridge on the Purús River for another 225 miles. The Purús is another one of the major tributaries of the Amazon River that flows parallel to the Juruá River. It flows into the Amazon a few hundred miles downstream from the mouth of the Juruá River. In other words, we are getting into a completely new river valley.
There is already a small group of the Kaxinauwa who meet and hold services. The tribe is called “Kaxinauá” by most folks. The name means “people of the bat”, as in the animal. They call themselves “Huni Kuim”, which means “The True People”. Many of the tribes around us see themselves as the original people of the earth and superior to all others. Their “building” is really just a hut. There are 6 poles, thatch roof and dirt floor. We had 50+ in the one service we held. The singing and most of the service was in their native language. My message was NOT in Huni Kuim! They all understand Portuguese.
The town has 15 sects and cults, but no Baptist church, so we are going to try to open the work there soon. There are 46 villages along the river between the border and the bridge, so we have our work cut out for us.
I took Zico (our missions coordinator), Ruben (one of our businessmen), and Rondisson (one of our chapel pastors) along on this trip. Please pray for the new missionary that we need and the funds to support him, whoever he may be. So much to do and so few workers and funds.
Thanks for all of your prayers and support. God bless you as much as He has us.
Baptism in Jordão
Service with the indigenous folks at Santa Rosa do Purús
Baptism in Jordão
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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The God of Changing Circumstances
Jud and Raquel Hatcher serve the Lord in São Paulo, Brazil. They are part of the “SeedFactory” church planting initiative, which is a movement to plant churches in all 26 Brazilian capitals. Since 2006, 43 churches have been started in 5 states.
March 9, 2017
Dear Friends,
The Lord never ceases to amaze us as He demonstrates His sovereign control over all things. Circumstances come and go, and the result always gives glory to God. If it is not glorifying Him, it is not over yet. Always trust Him. So, during the last few months, the verse that has been ringing in my ears is “…the joy of the Lord is your strength.” Nehemiah 8:10b. We endure all things joyfully, so that He may receive the glory. He does strengthen us, everyday. How comforting it is to know there is nothing our Father cannot resolve. (Can I get an amen?)
Family
As mentioned in last month’s letter, we stopped homeschooling and enrolled our kids in a Brazilian public school for this school year. The educational calendar begins in February and goes through December, with a month break in July. Homeschooling just didn’t work out as we anticipated. We rejoice and are counting our blessings for these reasons: 1) the school is seven minutes away from home; 2) it is one of the best public schools in the country; 3) this change in plans did not incur extra monthly expenses (private schools in São Paulo are generally more expensive than in the States); 4) the kids like their teachers and friends – the are loving it; and, 5) We can interact with our neighborhood families more effectively. One thing is certain, we are so glad the Lord placed us in our current home, as we are within an exceptional school district.
Health wise, Raquel and I are doing well. The children had it rough this last month, everyone was sick with different issues. Laura and Melissa still have an infection and Benjamin continues to have mild stomach pains. All four of them are doing blood work and doctor’s follow-up visits.
Ministry
I was in the States for 9 days during February. I meet with Bros. Randy Jones, Dave Parks and Steve Wainright and was highly encouraged by changes being implemented within Baptist Faith Missions. While in Lexington I also met with several pastor friends – Russel Zik, Donovan Stewart, Tim Parsons and Todd Thomas. Then, drove down to Tennessee and onto Virginia where I participated in the Pastoral Leadership Advisory Board at Liberty University, led by Dr. Dave Adams. There were 41 pastors from across the country, with lectures from Pastors Jonathan Falwell, Ed Hindson, Dave Adams, Troy Temple and Elmer Towns. We also had small group discussions coordinated by Jason Suitt. I connected with pastor friends Russ Dean, Matt Willmington, Tim Grandstaff Sr., Daniel Broyles, Danny Campbell, and Joey Bray. A special thank you to Scott and Cindy Phillips for hosting me in their home. I enjoyed visiting Scott Phillips’ SS class and the folks at Thomas Road B.C. and Living Word B.C.
The Lord has opened incredible doors for sharing the Gospel and mentoring here in São Paulo. We are praying as the Lord is confirming in our hearts where to start the next new works, including something within our own neighborhood. In preparation for this, we need to purchase 100 chairs – each at roughly 40 dollars. As you read this (and, if the Lord lays on your heart), would you consider a financial contribution for chairs? I am thankful for your consideration on this matter.
Adjusting
We are grateful as the Lord has taught us so much over the last 6 months and has guided us over hurdles. As mentioned earlier, our children’s education has been a major adjustment to our original plans. We are also grateful for the local community of English-speaking Expatriates – an informal association of English speakers who meet each month and organize family activities. We all share similar experiences in adjusting to life in this massive metropolis. Raquel and I were glad to be the host home for February’s monthly brunch. We have met so many wonderful people and our kids love interacting with other children who also speak English. Friends are always an encouragement.
Prayer Requests
- Children’s health and education
- Opening new doors for church planting
- 100 chairs
- Personal finances
- Missions Conference at Thompson Road B.C. in Lexington, KY in April
Please, continue to pray for us. We are grateful for every prayer invested on our behalf.
Thankful always,
Jud Hatcher
Judson & Raquel Hatcher
(859) 608-4742
judsonhatcher@gmail.com
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In the Height of Ministry 30 Years Later
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.
February 21, 2017
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
We pray and hope that all have been blessed and are rejoicing in God’s care over each one of us. We have been doing great. It is hard to believe February is just about over. Kathy and I have been in the ministry for over 36 years and missionaries for 30 years. It is hard to believe that much time has gone by. Nearing the age of 60, I believe we are in the height of our ministry. We completed 3 years living back in the Amazon. We have been blessed and truly enjoy our ministry here. At this moment, we have one night free during the week. All the other days, we have some kind of ministry going on and on Sundays we have 3 services. We are really excited and thankful for what God is doing.
Our newest community where we are working, is Açutuba. What has been so wonderful is that God has placed people in our ministry that have opened the doors of their home to be used for reaching people. We started 4 weeks ago in this place. This week we had 22 that attended. What a wonderful blessing.
Not long ago a young man came to our services at the Living Rocks Baptist Church (Igreja Batista Pedras Vivas) and has been coming every week since. This week he told me that he had invited some young people from his community to come. He had 8 visitors and asked if someone could pick them up. Here it’s like living in farm country—people live far away and not everyone has cars. So, we help with transportation for those who need it.
The youth groups are doing great and growing. Kathy and I work with the youth in the city of Iranduba, where we have a mission. It is doing well and growing. This is the only mission that’s really in a small city. Inside the city limits there are probably a population of 20,000 people. This city is about 30 minutes away from our home. We have services there 3 times a week.
At the community of Ubim we are really needing a bigger place. We are meeting on the patio of a house that a family has opened for us to use. We are running an average of 45 kids from ages 1½ years old to 15 years old. We would like to be able to work with this group the best we can. Please pray that God will give us a larger place to work.
We still have 2 children at home with us. They both help in the ministry. Jonas has been great in helping with the children on Sunday mornings and with the youth, and Gabriel with the church band. They have been a great help to me while Kathy is in the US visiting her parents and our other children. We’re thankful that God has used all our children in many different ministries.
THE GREATEST THING YOU CAN DO FOR A PERSON IS THE INVEST IN THEIR LIFE. FROM KNOWING THE LORD AS SAVIOR AND GROWING IS WISDOM FROM GOD! We thank God for calling us to invest in people’s lives day by day—an investment like no other. It will last for eternity. This has been our life and our ministry. May God Continue to guide and bless us each day. We thank each one of you for your love, prayers and support. God bless y’all.
Odali & Kathy Barros
Caixa Postal 1
Iranduba, Amazonas 69.415.000
Brasil, S.A.
odali_kathy[at]hotmail.com
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Praying for New Meeting Places in Ubim & Iranduba
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.
December 30, 2016
Hope all of you have had wonderful holiday season. We have had a great and busy time.
At the main church, Pedras Vivas, things are doing great. We have been working with members of the church that have been there for a long time, to get them involved in ministries and to reach out to the lost. The church has a bus which has started running in the community where we live and in two new communities past the church. These communities are actually big enough to have a mission. We are limited with workers so for now we will continue to bring them on the bus. Our church has built an addition on to the church building for classes fellowship and also put in air conditioning.
The ministry in the community of Ubim is doing really wonderful. It has grown and the area we work in has reached its limit. We use a patio that a family lets us use, but we have so many small children coming that we need room to work with them so we can better work with the older people. We are asking God to provide a new place. Many teens are coming and need to be worked with to reach them. There is not much in this community for them to do, but there are a lot of bad things as an option. Pray with us that God would show us a place.
At the Iranduba mission we did a special emphasis in reaching out to the youth. The city has so many young people. Prostitution and drugs are very strong there. We hope that this coming year they will continue to reach out to friends. We also are looking for another building there. The building is rented, does not offer options, and is small.
The mission at Multirao community is doing great. We have a team that is working there. They are having four services a week. They are doing well—they have meetings and are making new plans for next year. They are making plans to build a wall around the building. There was a banana tree in the back and someone stole it—can you believe that? Well that wasn’t all…they stole the toilets out of the bathrooms. They didn’t get into the church because there are iron bars on the door and windows. Pray for this team that God will bless them.
We want to thank each of you who have prayed for us and our ministry and have given so faithfully. We appreciate and love each of you. God bless you tremendously.
Odali & Kathy Barros
Caixa Postal 1
Iranduba, Amazonas 69.415.000
Brasil, S.A.
odali_kathy[at]hotmail.com
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New Full-Time Missionary in Tipisca; Two More Ready to Go
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.
July 9, 2016
Dear Brethren,
Our missionary to Peru, Brother José Maia, just made another visit to the Kaxinauá tribe on the Breu River. This river is the border between Peru and Brazil. The tribe lives 35 miles upstream. This is a very hard trip this time of year. The river is tiny, shallow and full of log jams. He took a young and new arrival from another reservation on the Purús River. This missionary was recommended by a former worker, Eduardo Puricho, who is now working in Pucalpa, Peru. The new guy is Brother Fred. As you may recall, José always has to preach through an interpreter. This time Fred did the preaching in the native language. Seven made professions of faith. Two of these were the twins, Cosma and Damiana’s, parents. Fred has now gone back to bring his wife and children back to Tipisca. He will be our newest full time missionary. Now we are trying to get his support together. With the economic crisis that Brazil is going through, it will be a big challenge. The Lord will provide. We have two other missionaries ready to go to two other fields. They are also waiting for us to get their support together. Pray for us.
Last month I made a visit to our congregation at Serra do Moa on the upper reaches of the Moa River near the mountains. Two of my grandsons went with me. These are 2 of Crissy and Dauro’s boys. Caleb, their oldest, is 11 years old and Adriel is 8. The river is already at its lowest, so we went in and open boat with a jet drive outboard. The going was slow, but easy to get over the logs and shallows. They were really good travelling buddies. On Sunday morning we had a really big crowd. The building was as full as it could get, the porch was full and many standing in the field outside. We had folks from four of our congregations from three other tributaries of the Moa River. After the regular service we went down to the river for a baptism. The river is plenty wide, but very shallow. There is a beach on the church side of the river. The crowd was standing on the beach. I was almost on the other side of the river to find enough depth. Five were baptized. Some of these were Nukini Indians. For the first time ever I took a water proof camera out into the river with me and was able to take a picture of the congregation back on the beach. Pretty neat and I will send you one of those shots along with a picture of the candidates.
We held a baptism and Lord’s supper service at First Baptist Church on Sunday, June 26. There were 21 new members added. The crowds were as big as they could be for our “little” building, both in the morning and at night. It has been a while since both of these services have been this big.
Bev and I are in Rio Branco right now. She underwent some minor surgery and is recovering well. I am here to take care of her. We hope that the doctor will let us go home next Thursday.
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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Blessed with 50 Years of Marriage
The Hensleys have spent nearly 20 years serving in Brazil. They have established a church in Caraguatatuba and mission points throughout the city. They have also recently started a seminary to train pastors.
June 9, 2016
A month that is moving quickly!!!
Friends and family, Well, for it not to be a busy month we have not had time to breathe. First we have poured cement for the pulpit area. We formed it up and had lots of help mixing the cement by hand. With over 12 men working we made fast work of it. It only took 6 hours or a little more. God is AWESOME!!!!!!! This area along with the floor of the sanctuary is now ready for the tile workers that will come in July.
We want to say a special THANKS to those of you who helped with the cost of the stuccoing of the walls. They are now done and sealed and painted. The man who painted for us is a recent convert. You see, we had a vision campaign and Jerry came to have his eyes checked and got more than he came for. Pastor Walmir talked with him while he was waiting for his eye exam and he came to church the next week. He accepted Christ as his personal Savior and is now being discipled by Pastor Walmir. Along with a new heart, he got new glasses to help his vision. He, along with 3 others, will be baptized in July. How AWESOME is the God we serve!
We were needing some upgrades on our sound system, so this past week we purchased a snake and outlet box with 20 outlets. We were able to use it this week. It will need lots of refining and we need lots of prayers. We have had lots of help getting this system together and especially lots of help in the purchasing part. God is good.
Our Sunday School areas upstairs are being readied for painting and we are completing two bathrooms also. We are at a standstill waiting for the money for the fixtures for the bathrooms. Just another month here on the mission field. You have to decide which of your projects are the most pressing and wait to see which one God provides the money for. Speaking of money: our church sits on the very edge of the road and when we open the overhead doors we get lots of road noise. This creates the need for glass doors to cut some of this noise so we can have a service with less distractions. We have priced these types of doors and the cost will be $1,500.00. Pray with us for this need and if God leads you to help with this need we want to thank you in advance.
The Hensleys surprise presentation for their 50th wedding anniversary at Igreja Batista Caraguá.
Well, for Barb and I, the 4th of June was a milestone—an AWESOME milestone. We celebrated our 50th wedding Anniversary!!! We are totally blessed. The Lord has blessed us tremendously: raising a family, working, retiring, serving the Lord as missionaries here in Brasil after retirement. God is totally AWESOME!!!!!
For those of you who are nearing retirement, or are retired, talk to me about how you can be a bigger part of God’s work on the mission field. It could be full-time or part-time. God can always use you in His work.
I think I am recovering well from my surgery and I think that I will be ready for the radiation treatments in August. Continue to pray for this to be the case. We are trying to get tickets for the last of July or the first of August.
Vacation time has gotten here and if you don’t have plans for yours, we are always looking for some idle hands to put to work. The bed is turned down and I will turn the light on on the front porch. Come on down.
In His service,
Aj and Barbara
Aj and Barbara Hensley
ajcaragua[at]gmail.com
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