New Missionary Family + New Ministry at Annual Missions Conference
August 22, 2022
Dear Brethren,
We’re still here. It has been a while, but here we are with some more news from Cruzeiro do Sul.
We had all our missionaries come in with their families for a little break and to be honored during our annual mission conference. We started off on a Thursday night with a dinner for all our pastors, chapel pastors, missionaries and their wives.
For the next 3 days we had lots of training during the day and services with the whole church every night. Bringing everybody in from so far away is a big expense, but worth every “Real” (Brazilian dollar).
On Saturday night we gave all our official workers a new ID card issued by First Baptist Church. All of Latin America is big on formality (red tape, too). We decided to renew the credentials of all of our workers, for two reasons. 1. There are so many fake and false preachers around now that we wanted ours to be identified as approved by the home church. 2. Then, believe it or not, our ID card is even accepted at border crossings! We now have 33 workers officially under our authority. There are many other evangelists in our many congregations and mission points who did not get this official sanction.
Also, during the conference, we were able to present a longtime desire and dream to the whole church. For many years we have wanted to have a way to share the gospel with the deaf. For the past year and a half, we have had a big group in training to learn their language. The group has already been through three levels of training. They are in the fourth and final advanced course right now. We were able to present them and let them show the church more of how it works. They have been active for months, but this was another opportunity to get the whole church behind this important ministry. Just last night there were a few hearing impaired and our folks were preaching to them. The official launch is scheduled for November, but fortunately they are already serving this group in most services and during the week on a personal level.
During the last service of the conference, we took on a brand-new missionary family. Ronaldo, wife and daughter are now sponsored and authorized as missionaries out of First Baptist Church. They are from the Marubo tribe. He was first evangelized and taught by one of our long-time members who married a Brazilian lady from here. Ronaldo spent some time with us and then went to Rio to go to seminary. He came back and went right back to the tribe. He has started preaching points in 13 villages among his people. These villages are deep in the rainforest north of us. To get there it is a 6-hour boat trip down the Juruá River then a 2 day hike due north to the Ituí River. This is another tributary of the Amazon River. Very remote! Recently Pastor Ezi (one of our 7 pastors here at First Baptist) went to see what Ronaldo is doing. He was amazed. We now have works in 6 tribes. Two of our ten full-time missionaries are Indians.
Thanks for all your prayers and support. God bless you as much as He has us.
In Christ,
Mike Creiglow
The signing group at First Baptist Cruzeiro do Sul. 
The signing group at First Baptist Cruzeiro do Sul.
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
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
The Wild, Wild West of Brazil
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.
Dear Brethren,
Four months and counting. Cruzeiro do Sul is still two months behind the rest of the world as far as the evolution of the virus is concerned. Last month the city and state went crazy doing all kinds of traffic stops requiring masks even inside your car. In one of these stops the city official opened the door to my jeep without my permission and the lady cop already had her hand on her gun and I was resisting or didn’t even have a chance to resist. MY MASK WAS ON! It has gotten really scary here in the wild, wild west of Brazil. The state has finally rushed to finish a new wing of the hospital. There are 100 new beds, including 10 new intensive care units and 20 more semi-intensive care complete with all new respirators and equipment. All beds in all medical facilities are full. They have quit publishing data. No test materials are available, so no new tests are being run. The death toll continues to rise. We are New York (of 2 months ago) times X factor of chaos.
Then 2 weeks ago they let all the stores reopen and churches to meet. Well that ought to work out really fine! I called for a special meeting with the pastors to discuss what we would be doing. We are not opening any time soon. Other churches started meeting, but with empty buildings. The people aren’t as stupid as the bigwigs think. The rules for reopening were draconian. The most troublesome was the presence of government monitors (spies) to check for compliance. In the past we have seen that the media do not show up to cover our mission programs, social programs, rehab programs or even our big Christmas or other events. I am sure that they would have been crashing the doors to check out our reopening. We don’t intend to give them or the state the satisfaction. We will come back when we feel that the Lord has led us to, in His time and in His way. The church is solid and doing well. We have actually seen an improvement in our giving. Our missionaries are being taken care of in a timely way and we are still able to do some minor work on our buildings.
We have authorized our small groups to meet and the band/praise groups to practice. Hundreds of our people have had the virus already. Supposedly many are already immune. We sadly did lose Brother José Nunes to this disease. We have many hospitalized.
Given the situation, most people don’t even go to try to find a doctor or the hospital. Most are just self-medicating based on what they see on TV and the internet. Those medications that are most highly recommended are not available here.
As for the Creiglows, we are trusting the Lord. We are being careful. We are still working though. In fact, I have been keeping my grandsons busy working for me. Just a couple of weeks ago, Alec (one of Andrew’s boys) got a full-time job. Andrew’s wife Eline is still employed. She works for GOL airlines, but since there are no flights she is at home with the little ones. Andrew continues to work. Crissy’s school is shut down for now. Dauro and I continue to work at camp. Actually, I have several construction projects going simultaneously. These are providing work for my grandsons and a couple of our church members. I don’t know how long I will be able to keep this up. Staying busy helps me out, too.
We have had quite a bit of really good family time and this, too, has been helpful.
Well sorry to bring such a gloomy report, but it is how things are right now. I sure hope things are better for all of you. We pray for you all the time and hope that you will remember us often in your prayers. Thank you again for praying for us and continuing to support us financially.
In Christ,
Mike Creiglow
Mike & Beverly Creiglow
Caixa Postal 24
Cruzeiro do Sul, Acre, Brazil 69980
mdcreig@hotmail.com
Personal Site
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
