Missionary Update: The Creiglows in Brazil [April 2013]
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,
Hudson and I made two major trips this past month. The first was up the Moa River. Even though the rivers are up this time of year, I decided to take a smaller boat and motor. The Moa can be out of its banks at the mouth, but be shallow up in the mountains. We ended up having pretty good water for the whole trip, but the 20HP outboard saved us on gas. We visited the congregations at the mountains and the congregation at the Nukini reservation.
The congregation at the mountains is actually in a national park. It was “created” in Brasília way back in 1989. It just exists on paper. Nevertheless the government has been pressuring the people who live there to get out. When I first preached the Gospel there in 1967, the state had a policeman stationed there. That family stayed there until last month. The last of the boys moved out the day I arrived for this visit. We still have about 40 believers there, but the group and population is shrinking. There is a humorous side to this tale. The Assembly of God has been jealous of our work there (as everywhere) and now they have announced that they are going to put up a building and start a work there! What vision these folks have! We won’t pull out until the last believers and settlers leave, but the handwriting is on the wall.
The congregation at the Nukini reservation is doing great. The population is more stable there. Our worker there is Aldenísio. He is in his 20’s, still single, but very dedicated young man. He just did house-to-house evangelism on the whole stretch of river from the reservation to the mountains. He also made a trip preaching house-to-house on the Zumira River. This is more of a creek than a river and not many folks live there, but they have all heard the gospel multiple times.
My last trip was along the Transamazon highway (highway = joke) to the city of Manoel Urbano. This town of 10,000 people is on the banks of the Purús River just about 3 miles downstream from the road. We have a team from our church that takes the Gospel and all kinds of activities to cities across our state and the state of Amazonas. Our team was 74 people strong. Besides the dozens of activities open to the public, the message of Christ was shared door to door in every house in the town.
Besides the souls that were saved, the most exciting thing about this trip was that all of the doctors, dentists and nurses were saved in our church. This was the first time that we did not have to fly a doctor or dentist from other cities of Brazil for this clinic. We had 2 doctors, 2 dentists and 3 nurses. One of the doctors and one of the dentists were born to church members and were later saved and actually grew up in First Baptist. We even have one more doctor in our church that was not able to make the trip. This has been in my prayers since we started these medical mission trips in 1996. When I stop and think about it, the answer to this prayer has been pretty swift.
Here is something most of you don’t know. When I was a teenager I had some very nasty health issues. I had some pretty close scrapes with death. At 15 I decided to become a doctor. Back then there were times that there weren’t any doctors at all in Cruzeiro do Sul. The Lord changed that plan when He called me to be his missionary. I was 17. Two things that I always wanted to do, be a doctor and work with the Indian tribes, are now a reality…through the others that He has called. I get to be there and see it all unfold, His way.
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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Missionary Update: The Creiglows in Brazil [February 2013]
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,
Our medical missions team just arrived from a long trip up the Juruá River. Hudson and I went up
river 5 days before the rest of the team.
Last year I had ordered lumber to build pews for our work in Tipisca, Peru. They only had a couple
of benches. The lumber I ordered was being used as improvised benches for the services. We
loaded up a bunch of my power tools and a generator and headed the 500km up stream. It rained for 2 days which brought the river way up. They only have lights for a few hours in the evening at Tipisca and it is 220volts. That is why I had to take the generator and all the power tools.
Bro. Mike Creiglow with his 9 year-old helper Carlos sitting on some of the pews they built at Tipisca, Peru.
Our missionary at Tipisca is Brother José Maia. He has a couple of Ashaninka Indian boys that do odd jobs for him. He had the younger brother, 9 year old Carlos, to help me. This kid is amazing! He is a hard worker and sharp as a tack. He watched me closely and would have tools, screws, glue, nails or whatever ready at each step of the process. I don’t speak much Spanish, but we got along just fine. We even had some good laughs. He was with me for at least 10 hours every day for 4 days. At the end of each day we would clean up the building; sweeping and mopping (on hands and knees). After all that he would still ask in Spanish, of course, “Quieres ayuda, Pastor?”
“Do you need help with anything else, pastor?” Wow! What a worker. We made 10 mahogany pews in 4 days. They are sanded and ready for varnish. Each night we had a few more seats for the services.
Our team arrived on day 6. This was the first time that we have had a medical team in a foreign country. We had 15 members. The great thing was that this was the first time after 17 years and over 40 clinics that all the members were just from our home church. We had 1 doctor, 2 dentists and 3 nurses on this team. We still have other nurses, 1 more doctor and 1 more dentist in our church. There are a doctor and 2 nurses in Tipisca. We included them in the project. They were amazed at the kindness and care our team gives. They were also astonished at the amount and variety of medicine that we have for the people.
The medical missions team
We cared for the folks and held services there for 3 days. Then we went back down river to Foz do Breu, on the Brazilian side for 2 more days. After that it was on to the village of Caipora for 2 more days of clinic before returning to Cruzeiro do Sul. No one was saved on this trip, but we cared for hundreds of bodies and shared the Gospel with many more. These projects cost a minimum of $10,000.00 each. Our folks here foot the bill. You’re allowed to help, too, if you like.
Dr. Suiane listening to a mom and her child at Caipora
We suffered through some extreme heat. One night was the hottest ever in my 52 years of life in the jungle. We were at Caipora. Camp was set up under a covered area, but no walls. At 3:00AM the generator was still running. The guys were playing games and telling jokes. It was too hot to sleep. Late that night I went out into the field to call Beverly on my satellite phone. There was a bright full moon, but it was just crazy hot! Sweat was dripping off my chin and rolling down my body. What I didn’t tell her at the time was that I was wearing only my underwear. Didn’t mean to spoil your day with that last line, but it REALLY was HOT! We are back in Cruzeiro and cold water never tasted so good. I’m already looking for an ice maker that I can hook up to my little generator.
Their nurse, Vieira, sorting medicine as the last day of the clinic began
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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