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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Great Christmas Musical; Progress in Porto Walter
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 10, 2o18
Dear Brethren,
Our Christmas Musical was better than ever, if that is even possible. We had 7 nights this time. The building was full every night, but not always overflowing. The crime wave is keeping folks in their houses at night. We still had big crowds even when the restaurants and streets were empty, so it was all good. We did not have one night of rain, even though we are in the rainy season. Several people were saved and a number of other people asked to become members or requested baptism. Eight of my grandchildren live here. Of these, 6 were involved in important parts of the Musical. Adriel (Crissy’s second) played the main character and sang the conversion song. Alec was Gabriel. Melany and Kayla were angels. Heloisa and Caleb sang in the acapella quartet. We have been blessed with lots of talent in the church and our own family. Our stage was completely rebuilt this year. We wanted to really emphasize the birth of Christ this time, so I made a new manger scene that came down from the rafters during the play on a cable and winch system. In all we had almost 350 of our church people involved. We are thankful.
“Joseph, Mary and Jesus during the Christmas Musical. We always have a fresh batch of babies to portray Jesus every Christmas!”
Although we were not able to break our attendance record at Christmas (the building has its limits), we did break 2 other records. Last year we had 132 motorcycles in the parking garage. This year there were 179. I didn’t think this was possible, but they squeezed them in. That ministry leader got really creative this year. We have a special section in the garage for people to check in their helmets. It is already a challenge to care for some 300 helmets. Marcelo decided to go the extra mile. Any helmet that had a scratched visor got a brand new one with the church’s logo installed while the owner was at the service. Also, I had the guys count the cars parked along the four blocks around the church. For the first time ever, we had more cars than motorcycles.
The building at Porto Walter just before Sunday morning services.
The river has finally started back up. I took out about a week here and there to do all the maintenance on outboard motors and generators. In mid-December I took out a full weekend to visit our work at Porto Walter. We had hoped to formally organize the church at that time, but they are not quite ready. The visit was very good. Huge crowds and a few decisions. They just got the trusses up on the new building. Soon I am to be with them again to help put on the roofing. The new mayor has managed to get investment money and has paved almost all the streets. Looking really good. The congregation has continued to work at Vitória further up river and has started new works at California and another mission point inside the Grajaú River. All three are growing rapidly. Many have been saved over the last year.
The walls and roof are now up on the new building at Gama. Continue to pray with us that God will give us a missionary to move there permanently. Other doors are opening, but we are still short of missionaries and the funds to send them. Please pray with us.
Our mission at Foz do Breu just reported on their last mission trip to Pedra Pintada and Caipora. Attendance at these villages has been in the 50s. There were 4 saved at Caipora.
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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Missionary Update: Mike & Beverly Creiglow in Brazil [October 2012]
Mike and Beverly Creiglow have served the Lord in Cruzeiro do Sul, Acre, Brazil together for 40 years. 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,
The same day we arrived from Manaus was Crissy’s college graduation. No need to mention her top of the class grades. She also did all the gabbing to the crowd that night. Adam, Monica, Andrew and Crissy are all very good at what they do. They all get their good looks from Beverly. They get their success from the Lord. I just get to brag and enjoy it all.
A couple of days later I visited our church at Lagoinha and preached for them. They had well over 200 people present. Recently they built a brand new building and called a young man who was born and reared at our camp. Valdeci has got them back to doing missions and seems to be leading the church in a good direction. It had been almost dead not long ago. I feel better, now.
Pastor Pedro held our annual couple’s camp. There were 62 couples present. Many of them had to sleep in tents since we don’t have enough cabins. The ladies camp earlier last month had over 140 women. The men have gotten together and will be building at least 2 more cabins by December. I started the camp ministry in 1977 and just in the last few years has the church really seen the need and usefulness of the camp. These things take time and perseverance.
This week we got the last bracing out from the 2nd floor of the annex. Looking good. We are now going to be able to use the 9 class rooms, 3 bath rooms, storage room, sound room and 1500 square foot meeting hall. None of this is finished out, but we will go ahead and use it as we work. At the same time I am building 2 more bathrooms just off of the third floor and a pretty good size kitchen. I have already made the 14 steel columns. Tomorrow I start building the steel trusses to the third and final floor.
Hudson just got back from up river. He and 3 other of our evangelists did house to house, person to person evangelism on a section of the Juruá River. The section they covered is from the mouth of the Grajaú River to the mouth of the Cruzeiro do Vale River. Almost 50 miles of river. I don’t know how many people they witnessed to, but he said there were 23 professions of faith.
Here in town we haven’t had that many people saved, but continue to have one or 2 every week. Last Sunday a man who I’ve known for many years, Ivan, made his public profession of faith. He works for the state road department. For a long time he worked on the ferry, so we had plenty of little and sometimes longer chats over the years.
Our small group meetings have been great. We have people from all walks of life. We have everything from an ex convict (who we won through our prison ministry) to doctors, engineers, a district attorney, a judge and 3 businessmen. One of our guys even sells bananas to make a living. Everyone is treated alike and gets along just great in Christ. This is fun to see and be part of. Last night we met by the Moa River and grilled some burgers to go along with our Bible study. When we finally got home it was 92 degrees in our house at 11:30PM. Here’s the deal: If it gets too cold for you there in the States and you need some physical and spiritual warmth, then come on down.
Thanks for all of your prayers and support. God bless you as much as He has us.
In Christ,
Mike and Beverly Creiglow
Caixa Postal 24
Cruzeiro do Sul, Acre, Brazil 69980
mdcreig [at] hotmail.com
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