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.

March 11, 2015

Dear Brethren,

Two and a half months into 2015 and we have had only 4 days with no rain. Many of the river towns of our state have had the biggest floods in history. Thousands of families, not individuals, but families are out of their homes. Cruzeiro do Sul sits so high that we have not had as much trouble. It is wet beyond belief though. I can’t mow our grass. I had some papaya trees that were producing, but have died and papaya is tropical and likes water!

The rains haven’t hurt attendance that much though. At this point we are above last year’s averages. Thirty-five new members were added by baptism. This was our first baptism this year. We also held the Lord’s Supper for the first time. We have been praying and working diligently to get the church back in moral and spiritual shape to continue these important life activities. A few more have been saved and a few others added by letter. We still have a way to go to get back to normal, but by God’s grace we will get there.

Since I fired my maintenance man, I have been working long hours trying to get all of the neglected work and repairs caught up. Things are shaping up nicely. It has been a challenge though to keep up preparing quality sermons, daily meditation sheets for the church, preparing lessons for membership classes, counseling, visitation and lessons for seminary classes while hanging doors and mopping floors. This week the Lord made sure I took a day off to rest. I caught some kind of bug and was so sick for a while that I was balled up on the floor in the bathroom. That last sentence was probably more info than you really wanted.

Since we are into more detail than you want….A couple of weeks back I went to teach about security of the believer at one of our congregations way out in the bush. The congregation is past the church at Assis Brasil. After the asphalt ends I continued on a wet messy dirt road for a few more miles then turned right on an even narrower dirt road, then right again, narrower still. The congregation has over 60 members. After introducing the subject and reading the first 2 texts I became suddenly sick and had to excuse myself. I asked them to sing some songs. I rushed out into the bush to “recover”. This all took me by surprise as I had been feeling great. For perhaps the first time in my many years on the mission field I did not have a wad of TP in my hip pocket. Well after my “recovery” I went back in and finished my lesson as if nothing had happened. The folks were very gracious and acted like they didn’t even notice. This had never happened to me in 49 years of ministry. New experiences happen all the time in missions. Most are fun, others not so much.

Please pray for Brazil. You think the US is messed up? Take a look at Brazil. The socialist government of the past 12 years has managed to destroy all the gains made in the brief 8 year experiment with free markets that preceded the present administration. Besides the biggest corruption scandal in human history that is unfolding right now the country has been dragged relentlessly down the social reform path. Brazil is way “ahead” of the US on issues like abortion and gay marriage. Unrest is high and a potentially big nationwide protest is being planned for this coming Sunday. There are even many people calling for the return of the military regime! It’s bad.

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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