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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False Accusation Leads to Positive Opportunity
March 23, 2022
Dear Friends,
We are often looking for opportunities to get the message of the gospel out to people who wouldn’t ordinarily receive it, and we pray for guidance so that we can recognize those opportunities when they arise. The Lord recently answered those prayers with an opportunity that I couldn’t have imagined if I tried to for a hundred years.
In May of 2021 I wrote about a man who had been a Satan-worshiper for many years that had been won to Christ by the witness and behavior of his teenage daughter who attended our church. After his conversion and baptism, he had begun to study the Bible and was growing steadily in his walk with the Lord. An amazing orchestration of events turned that man into a vessel of God in getting the gospel to men incarcerated in the jail system here in our state. After living decades in sinful behavior, but never suffering legal repercussions, he was falsely accused of assaulting a young woman and ended up in jail for several months awaiting judgement. He had shared with me that he was not guilty of the accusation, and I had given him a small Bible that he could easily keep with him and read while incarcerated. After all the investigations and testimonies, he was released last month. The amazing opportunity that I mentioned earlier is that, while in jail, he began to devour the Word of God daily and his spiritual life developed tremendously. Instead of being angry and upset that he was falsely imprisoned, he saw that God had placed him in there for a reason, so he sought to serve the Lord faithfully in his predicament. He told me that his situation there helped him to more fully appreciate how Jesus willingly died our substitutionary death on the cross, though He himself had never committed a sin. His name is Francisco, and now he and I are developing a ministry where he’ll use his inside knowledge of life in jail to reach the inmates with the message of God’s grace and forgiveness in Christ. He is presently working on obtaining his chaplain’s license and he and I meet from time to time to discuss how to implement this new ministry most effectively. We are also combining our Projeto Vida team’s gospel skit presentations to accompany Francisco on some of his visits to the inmates. I would never have dreamed that a false accusation could turn out as such a positive opportunity, but I am extremely thankful that the Lord doesn’t need to wait on my creativity to provide doors for sharing the gospel. Francisco told me recently that being arrested and sent to jail is the second-best thing that has happened to him. The first, his being saved by God’s grace.
We finally “bit the bullet” so to speak and began having double worship services on Sundays. Our attendance had reached near standing room only, so we knew we had to make the decision soon. We had an excellent turnout on our first Sunday and a lot of our folks helped us by choosing to attend the service that wouldn’t normally be considered regular “church time.” By their doing this, space was freed up for both services’ attendance to grow without overcrowding. We are so thankful to the Lord for this growth “problem” and I’m grateful that our people are willing to step out of their comfort zone in order to grow God’s kingdom.
Charlene and I are grateful to you who pray for us and give so that we can focus on God’s calling on our lives to plant churches and disciple new converts.
In Christ’s love,
Bobby and Charlene Wacaser
Contact Info:
Bobby & Charlene Wacaser
Rua Laudelino Ferreira Lopes, 279
Sobrado 1, Novo Mundo
81050-310 Curitiba, PR. Brasil
Phone: 55-41-99899-2333
bobbymichael_1@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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True Hardship in Isolated Areas
May 18, 2020
Dear Brethren,
On March 18th, exactly 2 months ago, we held our last service. There were still no cases of covid-19 in our city and we would not have any for over a month, yet they shut us down anyway. Since we are so isolated and way behind the rest of the world in all things including the virus, we have a long wait ahead of us before we will be able to meet together again. That is bad enough news, but before I can give you some good news it must get worse.
On March 18th, exactly 2 months ago, we held our last service. There were still no cases of covid-19 in our city and we would not have any for over a month, yet they shut us down anyway. Since we are so isolated and way behind the rest of the world in all things including the virus, we have a long wait ahead of us before we will be able to meet together again. That is bad enough news, but before I can give you some good news it must get worse.
Our most isolated mission point is actually in Peru. Our missionaries at Tipisca, Peru are José Maia and his wife Silvânia. They are on the Juruá River, which has its headwaters in Peru, but flow to Brazil. The town there is mostly supplied by goods from Brazil and a little that can be flown in from Pucalpa, Peru. As soon as the pandemic hit Europe, the border (Brazil/Peru) was closed and all flights were cut off. That really caused instant suffering. There are still no cases of Coronavirus in Tipisca, but the authorities won’t allow the natives to fish or hunt. The order is to stay home! The population is mostly made up of people from 4 indian tribes. They can no longer sell or trade. There is nothing to buy in the 2 stores in town, even if they had any money. Now they can’t even fish or hunt? José Maia is ok for now since he does his shopping just twice a year and had just stocked his shelves in February. They are feeding 7 indian children. This is true hardship.
Our people here are used to being together all the time. Very social. This shelter in place stuff is very hard for them. In fact, even after the first 2 cases appeared here, the couple that brought it in let their teenage son throw a party with his friends. Even now with hundreds of cases, folks who have the illness continue to defy the authorities and mix and mingle, wandering all over town. We have a few members who are infected. These are being responsible.
Feeling the yearning that our church folks have to at least see each other, Bev and I decided to try to help a little. We put out the word on Facebook and Whatsapp that on the next Sunday morning we would be at one of the main doors of our building to wave and throw kisses to those who wished to drive by on the their motorcycles or in their cars. They showed up with banners, signs and even a ton of presents! We had some of policemen from church to be there, just in case. Of course, we all had to pull down our masks to see one another’s grins. The thing became an event and was even in the newspapers. The following week the bishop of the Roman Catholic church announced that he would be in front of the cathedral to sprinkle people with holy water as they drove by. We all got a good laugh out of that. Those Baptists still ahead of all the rest!
Greeting people at the front of the church. 
Greeting people at the front of the church.
I have been recording all of our regular lessons and messages to feed the folks and share the gospel. The lessons and messages go out over YouTube, Facebook and our radio programs. One of our pastors also does a live on Instagram. It seems to me that I am busier now than before.
Besides all the preaching and teaching, I have been able to continue some other projects. Jobs are under way at the new church property, camp, church and the shop. Maintenance is being caught up on all my equipment. A few projects I have farmed out to help some of our guys who have already lost their jobs. Bev and I are trying to help as many folks as possible. We are in good health and continue to have as much fun as can be expected. We are closer than ever.
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
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
Mothers Honored, Men Helping, Training Musicians
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.
May 26, 2017
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Well this past month was May, “Mother’s Day Month”. Maybe to most of you it is just a normal day. To me, it is a very special day and I like to celebrate this day with the mothers and their children in our church. I grew up never seeing my mother. She died when I was two years old. I did not have a mother to teach me everyday things, about God, or how to pray. Most of you did have your mother present in your life. So many times we take it for granted. For me it is great to have a special day for the mothers and their children, and this year was not different. How many of you have a special dish that only your mother can fix in a special way? And maybe in a special way only for you?
We planned a day with the mothers on a boat ride. We asked the mothers if they would like that and they all agreed. The mothers could take all their children. We had mothers that had the opportunity to take their children that had not even been to church before. That was great. All the fathers and children helped get the food ready. All the mothers had to do was enjoy themselves and relax. God gave us a beautiful great day.
We have been blessed with men who have started helping with the preaching. That really helps us because Kathy and I only have one day of the week free. We have so many communities that need to be reached, but we cannot do it alone. We have four men who have been helping. Please pray for them: Francisco, Raimundo, Divino, and Ivan. We are planning an evangelistic service in a community nearby. The mother church and the two other mission points are working together to make it a great evening. Pray for us as we reach out to this community of Lake Limao (lemon).
The works are going well and we have had people who have made decisions. We need to get a place in the community of Ubim as soon as possible. The land at this place is not expensive. Ten thousand dollars would get what we need. The work is really growing. We don’t even do visitation to bring more people because the space we use is small. The family that graciously lets us use their porch are not even saved.
The church that I pastor is growing and we are adding on to the building to have classrooms and an area for fellowship. We also have a group of ten learning how to play piano. We can use more musicians–that’s for sure. We are excited! The oldest one learning is 50 years old and the youngest is 5 years old.
We want to thank each of you that pray and support our ministry. May God richly bless each of you and your lives.
In Christ,
Odali and Kathy
Odali & Kathy Barros
Caixa Postal 1
Iranduba, Amazonas 69.415.000
Brasil, S.A.
odali_kathy[at]hotmail.com
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