First River Mission Trip of 2022
March 28, 2022
Dear Brethren,
Back on the river again! Yeah! Several days ago I was able to get my boat and motor ready for the first river mission trip of 2022. Manoel went with me to the upper Juruá River. We have had a lot of rain and the river is full. We caught it at the perfect stage: full, but not too many logs coming down.
We left at a little before 6:00AM. We went all the way to the border the first day. It took us 11 hours. I didn’t eat anything all day. We got in at just after 5:00 that afternoon. It hadn’t come to mind that it was Wednesday. That meant that we would just have time for a bath before time for services. We had a really good crowd and I really enjoyed speaking to the congregation from Matthew 6:33. It wasn’t until after 9:00PM that I had something to eat. I was so tired after all the piloting and preaching of the day that I wasn’t sure which was going to be better, food or sleep. The first night on a ¾ inch sleeping mat in a tent is usually not that great. This time was better than great.
From Foz do Breu we continued across the border to Tipisca in Peru. It is only another hour upriver with my 60HP and the river was going down, so it was one of the easiest trips ever on that section of river. We had a couple of days of sunshine, so most of the mud had dried up. That made the mile hike with all our gear on our backs much easier.
The visit with our missionary couple, José Maia and Silvânia was really good. While there I was privileged to meet a couple from Paraguay who comes to Tipisca twice a year to help José Maia. It was fascinating to talk to Fritz and Ana Elize. They are both from separate German Mennonite colonies in Paraguay. They both ended up in Canada studying at different stages of their lives in different schools. They knew of each other back in Paraguay, but didn’t come together until later in life. They married in their middle age and are now missionaries. He works as a professor at a seminary in Pucalpa, Peru that specializes in training indigenous workers. She works in the offices there. During their breaks between semesters, they come to Tipisca to help out. They had always dreamed of working with unreached peoples. Fortunately, you might say, there aren’t many of those anymore. Tipisca offers many opportunities though as there is a confluence of 4 different ethnic groups in the town. They have fallen in love with Tipisca and the folks there. That is nothing less than a miracle, as there is not much to love about Tipisca! You would only need a few minutes there to understand what I mean.
Baptism at Foz do Breu 
Baptism at Foz do Breu 
Baptism at Foz do Breu 
José Maia, Silvânia, Fritz, & Ana Elize
They had dinner with us at José’s house. They invited me to have breakfast with them the next day. They speak Spanish (obviously), but also are fluent in English and German. At dinner they mentioned that they understood not a word that Manoel spoke (Portuguese). Everyone has a hard time understanding Manoel. He seems to always have a mouth full of marbles. They mentioned that they don’t understand much of what José and his wife say when they are speaking Portuguese. They were surprised that they were able to understand almost all of my Portuguese. Even though I don’t speak much Spanish, I know how to make the adjustments so Spanish speakers can follow my Portuguese. At breakfast the next day was just English. It was Manoel’s turn to just sit there and not understand a single word. We had a great visit though and shared a ton of information. Very edifying.
We came back to Foz do Breu to spend a couple more days. The tropical rains started up again. On Sunday we had 24 hours non-stop. The river had gone way down, but in just a couple of hours it was on its way back up. Even with all the rain we had big crowds in all services. On Sunday morning I baptized 10 new members. The rain let up just a little and long enough to get in the baptismal service.
The morning we left to come back to Cruzeiro do Sul it was just a light mist at 5:30AM. Within just a few minutes the rains started again. My windshield wiper on my boat is manual. I spent the whole day cranking the wiper while jockeying the throttle and helm. The Juruá River and all her tributaries were pumping out new flood waters from all the rain. The rivers were also pumping out a steady flow of logs. It was a challenge, to say the least. I have done this all my life though. I was cold and worn out by time I got back to the house late in the afternoon. After a warm shower and a hot meal prepared by my beautiful Beverly Jean all was well again.
What isn’t well are the gas prices, as you guys are now finding out. Ours is “just” $6.20 a gallon. How about yours? Running these motors on these trips has always been expensive, but the investment is worth it.
Thanks for all of your prayers and support. God bless you as much as He has us.
In Christ,
Mike Creiglow
CONTACT INFO
Mike & Beverly Creiglow
Caixa Postal 24
69980 Cruzeiro do Sul, Acre
Brasil, SA
mdcreig@hotmail.com
For ministry donations:
Pastor George Sledd, Treasurer of BFM
P.O. Box 471280 | Lake Monroe, FL 32747-1280
or click here to donate to BFM online.
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True Hardship in Isolated Areas
May 18, 2020
Dear Brethren,
On March 18th, exactly 2 months ago, we held our last service. There were still no cases of covid-19 in our city and we would not have any for over a month, yet they shut us down anyway. Since we are so isolated and way behind the rest of the world in all things including the virus, we have a long wait ahead of us before we will be able to meet together again. That is bad enough news, but before I can give you some good news it must get worse.
On March 18th, exactly 2 months ago, we held our last service. There were still no cases of covid-19 in our city and we would not have any for over a month, yet they shut us down anyway. Since we are so isolated and way behind the rest of the world in all things including the virus, we have a long wait ahead of us before we will be able to meet together again. That is bad enough news, but before I can give you some good news it must get worse.
Our most isolated mission point is actually in Peru. Our missionaries at Tipisca, Peru are José Maia and his wife Silvânia. They are on the Juruá River, which has its headwaters in Peru, but flow to Brazil. The town there is mostly supplied by goods from Brazil and a little that can be flown in from Pucalpa, Peru. As soon as the pandemic hit Europe, the border (Brazil/Peru) was closed and all flights were cut off. That really caused instant suffering. There are still no cases of Coronavirus in Tipisca, but the authorities won’t allow the natives to fish or hunt. The order is to stay home! The population is mostly made up of people from 4 indian tribes. They can no longer sell or trade. There is nothing to buy in the 2 stores in town, even if they had any money. Now they can’t even fish or hunt? José Maia is ok for now since he does his shopping just twice a year and had just stocked his shelves in February. They are feeding 7 indian children. This is true hardship.
Our people here are used to being together all the time. Very social. This shelter in place stuff is very hard for them. In fact, even after the first 2 cases appeared here, the couple that brought it in let their teenage son throw a party with his friends. Even now with hundreds of cases, folks who have the illness continue to defy the authorities and mix and mingle, wandering all over town. We have a few members who are infected. These are being responsible.
Feeling the yearning that our church folks have to at least see each other, Bev and I decided to try to help a little. We put out the word on Facebook and Whatsapp that on the next Sunday morning we would be at one of the main doors of our building to wave and throw kisses to those who wished to drive by on the their motorcycles or in their cars. They showed up with banners, signs and even a ton of presents! We had some of policemen from church to be there, just in case. Of course, we all had to pull down our masks to see one another’s grins. The thing became an event and was even in the newspapers. The following week the bishop of the Roman Catholic church announced that he would be in front of the cathedral to sprinkle people with holy water as they drove by. We all got a good laugh out of that. Those Baptists still ahead of all the rest!
Greeting people at the front of the church. 
Greeting people at the front of the church.
I have been recording all of our regular lessons and messages to feed the folks and share the gospel. The lessons and messages go out over YouTube, Facebook and our radio programs. One of our pastors also does a live on Instagram. It seems to me that I am busier now than before.
Besides all the preaching and teaching, I have been able to continue some other projects. Jobs are under way at the new church property, camp, church and the shop. Maintenance is being caught up on all my equipment. A few projects I have farmed out to help some of our guys who have already lost their jobs. Bev and I are trying to help as many folks as possible. We are in good health and continue to have as much fun as can be expected. We are closer than ever.
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
For ministry donations:
Pastor George Sledd, Treasurer of BFM
P.O. Box 471280
Lake Monroe, FL 32747-1280
or click here to donate to BFM online
Read more
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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