Evidence of Transformed Lives in Schools
November 2, 2016
Dear Friends,
Last month I shared that our outreach partner, Projeto Vida, was able to obtain its first travel van. Overcoming that hurdle was a great victory by itself. Now that they have the van, it is being customized for the type of community service that we use to open doors to sharing the gospel. Among the services that are offered when we pull into a target community are free haircuts, family counseling, blood pressure checks and intercessory prayer. The van itself has built-in awnings and frames to accommodate these services. The van also transports up to 17 passengers and pulls a trailer that contains all the sound equipment that is used in the public presentations of the Gospel.
Two teams were out in cities near operational headquarters with the old buses as the van’s preparation is being completed. These teams were in 5 public schools where they had great liberty to share the gospel with students, teachers and administration. We are so amazed at how many principals come to us after our events to share how much of a difference they see in their schools after our team’s interaction with their schools. We know that this is evidence that God is transforming lives by the indwelling Holy Spirit who has come into those who have surrendered to Christ.
This week they also their bi-monthly Missions Training Seminar. There are over 20 students coming from all over Brazil to attend this specialized training. They will spend two weeks giving theological studies of missions and then two more weeks of “on the job” mission trips for the volunteers to go with our teams into the public schools and parks. We have seen hundreds of students come through this training process, many who have become full-time missionaries upon completion of our training and many others return to their respective churches to challenge their congregations to be more missions-minded and focused on a practical level.
Charlene, my daughter, Jessie, and I are getting ready to return to Brazil early next year to assist a group of youth from our church here in Brandon, Florida. It looks like we will be having around 30 youth involved, along with some adult sponsors. We are looking forward to returning to visit the churches we established there while in Curitiba to encourage them, however the Lord sees fit to use us.
We greatly appreciate your prayers for us and your support of Projeto Vida’s evangelistic endeavors.
In Christ’s love,
Bobby and Charlene Wacaser
Bobby and Charlene Wacaser
Furlough Address:
3912 Casaba Loop
Valrico, FL 33596
Field Address:
Rua Laudelino Ferreira Lopes, 279-1
Sobrado 1, Bairro Novo Mundo
81050-310 Curitiba, PR Brasil
Phone: (813) 481-7007
Cell Phone: (813) 727-6405
Email: bobbymichael_1@hotmail.com
Give: Click here to give.
Read more
Missionary Update: Mike & Beverly Creiglow in Brazil [November 2015]
November 9, 2015
Dear Brethren,
There is a little bit of everything to send your way this month. There is plenty of good news and a little of the other kind, too.
The ladies had their big retreat with about 150 women and several saved. We also had a couple’s retreat with over 30 couples. This was more of a teaching retreat than evangelism. There were a few lost couples present though who heard the gospel.
I missed one of this month’s mission trips due to an overload of work here in town and at camp. Zico and Nelson made the trip to visit our works on the Moa River. Nelson is one of our military guys who served as pastor in a church in Rio de Janeiro. We always have a few of these families who are with us for a couple of years and then gone off to some other town. Most of these come here for a 2 year tour. They can extend their time by a year and sometimes more. Once they see the church, they all put in for the extension and would stay on if their career would let them. This was Nelson’s first mission trip. He came back charged up. Almost all of these military families had heard about the church and the mission work here through the internet. We have been privileged to receive and train many over the years. We miss them when they are gone, but proud of the training and service they take to other places all over Brazil.
Three more ripe mangoes just came crashing down on the roof above my office. My yard is a mango lover’s paradise. There are tons of them on the trees and the ground. Although I try to keep the limbs trimmed back I still have a bunch of tiles to replace every year. Like the trees, but have come to pretty much hate the fruit. You probably really didn’t need that piece of news, but it is part of our life here in the rainforest.
The rainy season has started with heavy rains. It rained a lot yesterday, but we still had really big crowds in all services. There were 28 more baptized in the morning and 2 more saved at night. It has been like that all month long: a few saved and great crowds with many visitors.
We have been working at the camp property and new church property for several weeks now. We have had a lot of cleanup and fencing on both locations. The dry season is almost behind us and there were some urgent jobs to be done while the weather is still fairly dry.
One afternoon a few weeks ago I had just started down the highway when a pickup came flying over a hill and rear ended my jeep. No telling how fast he was going. He left over 100 feet of skid marks and his speedometer froze at 50 mph, so he was really moving when he piled on the brakes. He spun me around 180o into the grass on the other side of the road. He was carrying patients to the hospital in Cruzeiro do Sul. Fortunately, no one was injured seriously. His truck was pretty much totaled. The rear body and suspension on my jeep were destroyed. I have been without a work vehicle for 3 weeks now. Parts are coming from all over Brazil including the factory in Fortaleza on the east coast. Since my Troller T4 is built 100% in Brazil from parts all manufactured here it will cost less than half what any other vehicle would cost to repair. It still will set me back at least $2,000.00 just for parts.
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
Read more
Missionary Update: The Wacasers in Brazil [July 2013]
July 4, 2013
Dear Friends,
We are in the middle of one of those experiences that we have been privileged to enjoy several times since beginning our ministry in Brazil. On several occasions we have been asked to host individual youth in our home who were sensing a call from the Lord to use their life in missions or gospel ministry and who wanted to have a cross-cultural experience to validate that call.
This summer (our winter in southern Brazil), we are getting that privilege threefold. We are hosting two teenage girls from the Tampa, Florida area and one young man from the Houston, Texas area. I am going to let them share with you a short report of their experience as they traveled and ministered together with our outreach ministry, Projeto Vida, on a three week mission trip to the cities of Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo. They traveled with a team of 12 Brazilian missionaries in a motorhome, which was their “home” for three weeks.
Carley Clark (age nineteen from Brandon, Florida)
“And they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for His name. And daily in the temple, and in every house, they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ.” (Acts 5:41-42)
When I first came to Brazil in 2010, I began to feel the call to missions. Every year that I came back to Brazil with my student ministry, the call became stronger and stronger. In August of 2012, I felt the Lord calling me to come to Brazil for a summer to experience the true life of a missionary–not just the week-long trip that I had experienced several times before. I thought that I was prepared for everything until I went on a three week long trip with Projeto Vida to Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo.
Our first week in Rio was really great. We were able to witness to a lot of people and many people from the church responded to the call to missions. We left this church to go stay at a camp for what I thought was a couple of days, but turned out to be for a week and a half. The camp that we stayed at was in rough state. The room that the girls stayed in had dirty concrete floors, the bathroom was disgusting and had no doors to the stalls or the showers, and there were spiders and bugs everywhere. I was not excited to spend the next few days here. The next morning, I woke up with an eye infection, a cold, and what seemed like a thousand mosquito bites all over my legs. I was really missing my family, and I had no way of contacting them. I was also on clothes washing duty, so I spent the day with a few others washing the clothes of fifteen people by hand, and later that day I took a freezing cold shower.
While thinking about how awful my circumstances seemed to be, I thought back to my devotional time a few days before where I read about how the apostles were beaten and left rejoicing because they were counted worthy to suffer for the Name. Day after day, no matter what their circumstances were, they preached the gospel, and that is what we are called to do. I realized how selfish I was being and that I needed to rejoice that I am counted worthy to suffer for the gospel. When I take an abundance of cold showers- I rejoice. When I have an eye infection and a cold- I rejoice. When I have to paint Spiderman on a little boy’s face who probably hasn’t had a shower in a week- I rejoice. I’ve learned that missions is not easy. It’s not glamorous. It’s exhausting. But it’s worth it. We are called to spread the love of Christ to the nations and I rejoice that God has chosen me to share His Name to the people of Brazil this summer!
Paige Rechsteiner (age 19 from Tampa, Florida)
One of the days when we were in Sao Paulo we went to an area with favelas, which are like small shacks stacked on top of each other. This area was known for being rough and for drug trafficking so we decided it would be best if no pictures were taken. Two other girls and I were face painting for the kids and it was awesome to see that a simple design on the children’s faces would make them so happy. Few of the children had nice clothes and they didn’t smell very good, but God reminded me how dirty we are with sin. We are filthy and smelly in His eyes, but God still looks to us with open arms and a loving heart, which is exactly how He wanted us to look at those children. No matter how dirty or smelly they were, I still wanted them to come to me and talk to me. And when they saw their face colorful with paint, they were happy and all of their smiles that day made being there worth it.
Trent Smith (age 20 from Lufkin, Texas)
My first trip with the Alpha Team of Projeto Vida to Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo was incredible! I met the team in Rio during their time of rest after they had already worked with another church the week before. It was nice to arrive during their days of rest as it gave me an opportunity to get to know the people that were with Alpha team. It also gave me an opportunity to learn some skits that we would perform before we went into schools.
There are two things that stick out in my mind about the trip that are special to me. While we were putting on a presentation in a school in Rio de Janeiro, I was praying for the people that were present and listening to the presentation. I looked up and noticed that many members of the team had their head down and were praying for the presentation as a whole as well. This happened without any prompting from the leaders of the team. It was a blessing to see people responding to the Spirit prompting them to pray!
The other moment that is really special to me happened on our first night in Sao Paulo. Daniel and Victor, two of the leaders, had asked me to play guitar and sing a song at the end of the church service that we were attending. I was feeling really negative about the whole thing. I’m not really sure why, but I just kept thinking, “They aren’t going to understand the words because I’m singing in English.” And I just thought that it was going to be awkward with no actual worship taking place. As I began to sing, everyone present began to sing along in a beautiful mixture of English and Portuguese. God was able to use me, despite my bad attitude, to lead people to the throne in worship. I was floored. That is a moment that I will never forget.
Bobby, Charlene and Brennen Wacaser
Rua Laudelino Ferreira Lopes, 279-1
Bairro Novo Mundo
81050-310 Curitiba, PR Brasil
(813)436-9980
robertmw[at]brturbo.com.br
Read more
Missionary Update: The Creiglows in Brazil [April 2013]
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
Read more
Missionary Update: Mike & Beverly Creiglow in Brazil [November 2012]
November 5, 2012
Dear Brethren,
Many of you may know that we have had a local TV program for over 22 years. We have our own little studio and every Tuesday or Thursday night a couple of young men from church help me record and edit a half hour program. Many people watch the program that airs every Saturday and Sunday morning. They tell me and thank me. Many would never come to church, but they still tell me how much they enjoy it. There haven’t been many to come out and profess trust in Christ. Last week though I had some great news. At 6:30AM as I was getting the building open to start work a young man stopped by and introduced himself. He is one of two sons of the former mayor of Porto Walter. The mayor and his 2 boys were arrested and convicted of corruption and were in the local penitentiary. Demerval thanked me for the program. He said that he, his brother and dad watched every weekend and all three were saved while in there. He said, “When I went in, I thought I knew who Jesus was, but I didn’t know Him. Because of the messages that we heard now we KNOW Him!” Our teams that visit the prison every week took care of them while they served their time. All 3 are now free and I hope that they will get in church at Porto Walter.
We had a great baptism service last month. 24 new members. We have had a few other new members by church letter, too. Last Sunday we had 5 more people saved.
Zico and I took off for a visit to Porto Walter a couple of weeks ago, but didn’t quite make it. We had been on the river for over 4 hours and were just about an hour away when we had engine trouble. A very major tropical storm had been stalking us for over 2 hours. We had been through the edges of it because of the horseshoe bends of the river. At 5:30 it got ahead of us. Right then the motor banged a stump and started to vibrate. I thought, “There goes the brand new prop.”
When I stopped at a beach to check it out I discovered that the lower motor mount had broken and fallen off. No way to buck the current and continue up stream. Thank the Lord and Park Ridge Baptist Church for the satellite phone. Just as the storm slammed us I was able to warn Bev and the folks at Porto Walter that we were not going to be able to make it. What next? The engine was purring nicely and could turn the prop at idle speed, but nothing more. I asked Zico what he would rather do: find a house to spend the night or poke along until we eventually got back to Cruzeiro do Sul. He said, “Let’s go home.” The storm passed and the moon came out for a while. My really good and powerful flashlight helped us thread our way through all the stumps and shallows. It took us 10 hours and we arrived back in Cruzeiro at 3:30AM. After a couple of hours of sleep I got up and went to church for Sunday morning services. Zico was beat and didn’t make it to the first service of the day! I am grateful for the good health, stamina and drive that the Lord has given me.
Please pray for my safety and those who are working with me on the annex. We are putting up the steel structure for the third floor. I built and erected the columns. Today I will finish the last steel truss. Later this week we hope to get them up and the roof on no later than the 15th. I promised the church that I would build all this stuff myself to save them some money. Just this one job is a savings of $22,000.00. The church and Bev worry about my safety, which is understandable. The hours have been long for many weeks. I start my day at 5:00AM with prayer and devotion with several church members. Then it is work from dawn to dark. I have to keep up all my teaching and preaching, too, so pray for me.
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
Click here to donate to BFM.
Read more
Missionary Update: Mike & Beverly Creiglow in Brazil [October 2012]
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
Click here to donate to BFM.
Read more