Two Native Missionary Families Sent Out as First Baptist Cruzeiro do Sul Celebrates 88th Anniversary
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.
June 8, 2017
Dear Brethren,
First Baptist Church turned 88 on May 12. The church was organized on May 12, 1929 by missionary Joe Brandon with 13 members. God has blessed her and brought growth in many areas. For many years we held our missions conference during the last week of July. This was mostly due to the weather! That is our dry season and made it easier for our workers to get to town. The roads have improved (a little) so we decided to make our conference coincide with the church’s anniversary. For the past three years we have held our annual missions conference in mid-May. This year it was May 12 through 14.
The Sunday morning service was a red-letter day. We started out by adding 26 new members by baptism followed by the celebration of the Lord’s Supper. We also had reports from more of our missionaries. The big deal though was the approval of 2 new missionaries. One is a Brazilian who will be taking care of the field at Foz do Breu on the upper Juruá River at the Peruvian border. José Costa and wife are already installed and will be taking care of the congregation there and the preaching points down stream as far as São João. The other new missionary is Freddy and Felicinda. They are Peruvian and also of the Kaxinauá people. They are now in Tipisca, Peru. They have 2 major tasks: working to win people from the several ethnic groups in Tipisca and to continue to reach the 5 Kaxinauá villages on the Breu River. We already had inroads into 3 of the villages through Cosma and Damiana’s family. Now we are in all 5 villages.
As you may recall, we already have a Brazilian couple working in Tipisca: José Maia and Silvânia. The work is really tough there. The town is only a thousand or so people. There is a Peruvian army outpost there. The soldiers make very meager salaries. Most of them spend their money on drinking and prostitutes. None of them come to church. They are isolated and hard to reach. There is a handful of native Peruvians who work mostly in government jobs. These, too, stay closed away. Then there are the folks from the tribes. There are Ashaninka, Jaminauas, Kaxinaua, Amauaca and Arara. The Ashaninka have one linguistic line. The other 4 tribes speak different dialects of a completely different language strain. You walk just a few feet in the town and hear Spanish and the indian languages. What a mess. These different tribal groups are open to the Gospel, but how to communicate? Progress is being made, but very slowly.
It had been some time since I checked on the works on the lower Juruá River. Pastor Rondisson went with me to visit Ipixuna. This town is in the state of Amazonas and is over 150 miles downstream. The river is still pretty high, so we had an easy 5-hour trip. There is a Baptist convention church there, but it is Pentecostal. The pastor is from the Assembly of God! We don’t have any contact or involvement with them. There is also an evangelical church that is identical to us in every way except it just isn’t Baptist. They are mission-minded and we have encouraged them and got them going on several mission projects. We started 3 congregations that they visit regularly. We don’t have a missionary to send there, so we do what we can to help. There is a large village called Pernanbuco a few miles further down the river that has over 100 families. We plan to take our medical team there soon as a first step to getting a work started in the village.
Thanks for all 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: 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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