Resuming Meeting Together
August 19, 2020
Dear Brethren,
Greetings from hot and sunny Cruzeiro do Sul. All of Brazil is hot and dry. We haven’t had any rain this month. The river is as low as it can be. Not much has changed here over the past few weeks.
A lady from our church is head of the health department and for the past 23 days she has been giving me daily reports about the evolution of the virus here in town. She gives me new cases, hospitalizations, discharged, cured, deaths and a few other categories. I now have a spreadsheet to be able to help evaluate the situation. Mostly though, I just spend lots of time in prayer in the wee hours, asking God to show me the way forward. Although the state and city have given permission for churches to meet, the restrictions are so severe that we have not returned.
We have given our congregations at Foz do Breu and the one in Peru, permission to meet. Last week we gave all of our interior works permission to hold public services. Also, this month we authorized our small groups to resume meeting. Today we will be giving our chapels here in town permission to resume regular services. So, little by little, we are coming back. I meet weekly with my staff to discuss and pray about each new step. We meet again this afternoon and I am going to recommend we have a morning service on August 30. This will be live streamed. We will add services incrementally from there. I have been informed that the city only has 4 “spies” on payroll and these refuse to work on Sundays, so that is good news. Pray for us. It has now been 5 full months since our last service at First Baptist Church.
We have been getting news from several of our mission works and missionaries. José Costa (border village) reports good attendance and at least one saved. José Maia (Tipisca, Peru) has been having limited crowds. He stays very busy though in the community. He even managed to find a plow to pull behind his ATV and has upped his gardening game! His son, who is our missionary at Santa Rosa do Purús, is now working part time in a cabinet shop and has started a small Bible study class. I just bought him a motor, so that when things get back to normal, he will be able to start mission work on the Purús River.
I have continued to work on construction jobs nonstop and pretty long hours. Don’t watch the news. Work keeps me content. Still hoping that things will get back to some kind of normal pretty soon.
Bev and I are doing well. The whole family is doing great. We have been meeting every Saturday night for our family time. Every Sunday afternoon we play a few innings of whiffle ball. Even the little squirts play. I even play! Only Grandma Bev sits on the sideline and watches to make sure nobody cheats. Bev had not been out for over 3 months. Last week she finally started to get out occasionally. She actually went to a supermarket for the first time in 5 months. On her last time out, she saw a guy from down south with a truck selling strawberries. She bought enough for the 3 families. She made me some shortcake and whipped cream. She really does love me after all!
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
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New Venue for the Chapel
August 19, 2020
Greetings in the name of Jesus Christ,
Fortunately, not every newsletter that I write is filled with gloom and woe. Fortunately, again, this one (unlike the last one) will not be filled with gloom and woe.
So I think in the place I left off last month in this story of church building missionary work in Kitale, I was relating to you that we had lost our place of worship again and I was looking for a new location. No place seemed perfect and each place had its pros and cons. But one place, in particular, seemed to offer the best possibilities and potential, albeit with the higher price. Thus, I snatched it up and signed a two-year lease on the accommodations. In the new venue the Chapel will have its own house with a larger living room in which we will worship and preach the Word of God. The house also has other rooms where Sunday School or children’s church can also be conducted. It will be refreshing having the building completely to ourselves so that we can use it however we wish. I got the place all set up and announced we would be worshiping together again on August 16, 2020 (the year of total unpredictability and chaos).
August 16th rolled around and, indeed, we held our worship service. Only four other people showed up. This is uncharacteristically low attendance for the Chapel. In fact, it is the lowest attendance in the history of the Chapel, since I started it in October 2018. I was anticipating a low attendance but not quite this low. But I did expect this. I knew that a family had moved out of town and that the government is still not allowing children under the age of 13 to attend (which includes most of the families attending the Chapel). So, I am not discouraged, yet. The four who returned were all very excited about returning and starting things back up. Since we were so few, I asked them if we should just spend some time praying together and reading a portion of Scripture and discussing it. They said, “No”, they wanted a normal time of singing and the preaching and teaching of the Word of God. Elphas said, “There are lots and lots of churches in Kitale but none of them actually teaches the Word of God”. While this is not exactly accurate it does show you the importance of the Chapel and the reason we exist in this place—Teach the Word of God, make disciples, start churches, spread the Kingdom, show and share the love of Jesus. So, we did that. We sang. We prayed. I taught about Jesus being the “God you can see and touch”. We discussed the Word of God together. Now we pray that more of our Chapel friends will make it back over the next couple of weeks.
In personal news, Julie will be visiting the States for a month, leaving only a few days after the writing of this report. We have not had an official furlough since 2013 because we are not able to leave the country with Chloe and Julie very much needs a short break from Kenya. So, she will be spending the month of September hopefully resting and visiting our stateside children and parents in Michigan. Chloe and I will remain in Kenya. Please pray for a safe and beneficial journey for Julie.
Blessings to you all,
Roger, Julie, Amy, Josiah & Chloe
CONTACT INFO
Roger & Julie Tate
P.O. Box 96
Kitale, Kenya 30200
rojuta@gmail.com
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Grace for the Next Generation
August 7, 2020
Dear Fellow Disciples of Jesus,
Let me share a piece of correspondence Judy and I received.
Welcome to my first newsletter!
Thank you again for your commitment to pray for me during my preparation time as well as during the 3 months I will be spending in Austria. The dates are set, I’m leaving in 2 weeks (!!), from Wednesday August 5th to Friday November 6th.
The Austrian borders are currently open to France, and I should be able to enter without problem. The organization where I will be volunteering is called the “Oasis”. It is affiliated with “One Collective”, an international Christian ministry. The Oasis is located in Traiskirchen, Austria, the town with the largest asylum seekers center in the country. These refugees, of which over 90% come from an Islamic background, are welcomed by the center, which aims to “reflect the heart of God to refugees and offer them the hope, life and refuge that can be found only in Jesus”.
As a part of the team, I will mainly be working with women and children to build relationships, help provide for their needs, accompany them in their adjustment to life in Europe and share the Gospel. This letter was intended to provide some background information; hopefully the next one will be a little less short and a little more interesting 🙂
Hope you have a nice day,
Nathalie Hatcher
Nathalie’s letter to her prayer partners explains itself. She is our second oldest granddaughter. Amanda, Philip and their family have been serving with us since 2001. This is a picture of Philip and their daughters, taken by Amanda. Nathalie is in the center. She is not exactly sure which direction God wants her to go in her next step of training and decided to take a year before college to serve and visit her worldwide family. She began serving in this refugee camp this week.
I decided to include this letter after reading Josiah Tate’s letter on the BFM site. He is also seeking God’s will for his life. The greatest investment we make in this life is in the lives of our children and grandchildren (natural or adopted as the Apostle Paul’s “son” Timothy.) This investment is in teaching, example, attitude, prayer, sustenance …
We continue to worship with our church family in France via Skype. They are now able to meet as a group, but those who are on vacation also join us. We receive encouraging news from other disciples outside the Toulouse region that we have served during the years of ministry in France.
So, may all of us keep on investing in the natural and spiritual offspring God has placed in our lives. To Him be the glory for the grace He allows us to pass on to them!
Your brother and sister in Christ,
John and Judy
Contact Info:
John & Judy Hatcher
4, rue d’Aspin
31170 Tournefeuille, France
JMHatcher@aol.com
Present USA phone 1-812-416-1033
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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Coronavirus Update from Kenya
August 5, 2020
Dear praying friends,
It is hard to believe we are already in the month of August for 2020. Where has the time gone? Normally there would be so many summer activities, yet with coronavirus, so many things have been postponed or cancelled completely. I don’t think any of us have seen such an unstable time in years, if even in our lifetimes. God has been faithful through all the challenges and changes. This update will share current prayer requests as well as an update on the coronavirus in Kenya.
I (Nathan) need to give a little background on the decisions made on the coronavirus in the past few weeks. Last month, after a lockdown period of three months, the President of Kenya made the decision to reopen the country for a three week period, with the idea of assessment at the end of July to see what needed to be done, if anything. This was a welcome change, as we have been on lockdown since the month of March. So many things were different, with everyone wearing masks in town, having to sanitize all the time, getting your temperature taken, having limitations of passengers while traveling, etc. Nairobi, the capital city, was also on lockdown, and flights, both domestic and international, were cancelled. It was quite a challenging time, to say the least.
After the government decided to reopen the country, with fewer restrictions, the cases have increased dramatically. Some days there are nearly 700 cases just in a single day, and the total tally of cases as of the date of this letter is over 23,000 countrywide. Most of the cases are in Nairobi, as there are slum areas where people live so close together and it is difficult to social distance. Kitale has been spared the brunt of the cases, with just a few reported. We are so thankful for this, but we take nothing for granted, and are taking all necessary precautions, with keeping the family out of town as much as possible and away from crowded areas. We know you all are taking the same precautions in America.
The concern is that the cases will overwhelm the healthcare system and there will not be enough beds in the hospital wards to take care of the sick. This is a valid concern, especially in a third-world country with lower healthcare options in the best of times. Please pray for the doctors and the nurses as they are dealing with this new virus, and for the sick that need medical care.
Given all the current circumstances with the virus, we feel led to begin closing down for this term and begin planning for our upcoming furlough. We will have been here three years next month, so we feel our time has come. Please pray for us as we are in the process of closing down, as there is so much to do. Any missionary who is closing down for a term understands how overwhelming it can be and the need to make a large “to do” list to check things off. We are trusting God to keep us safe and in His care as we are in the process of closing down.
I will share more next month about some of the things the Lord taught us this term, and for the ministry progress that was made. I have been pleased and feel God has definitely led us this past three years. In regards to the global pandemic, may we take comfort in some verses from the Scriptures. I think of Psalm 57:1b, which says “Be merciful unto me, O God, be merciful unto me: for my soul trusteth in Thee: yea, in the shadow of Thy wings will I make my refuge, until these calamities be overpast.” Also Psalm 119:114, which says “Thou art my hiding place and my shield: I hope in Thy word.” May we trust God always, not just in times of a global pandemic. We will find that He is faithful each step of the way.
We appreciate each of you so much and will keep you updated.
Blessings,
Nathan and Carrie Radford
Contact Info:
Nathan and Carrie Radford
P.O. Box 4150
Kitale, Kenya
East Africa 30200
naterad@yahoo.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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God’s Providence in an Unexpected Delay
August 3, 2020
Dear Friends,
Charlene and I got to experience a strange, but not-too-bad situation last month. We traveled to Florida to visit with our children and grandson for an eight-day stay. Well, that was the plan anyway. The COVID-19 surge caused our return flight to be delayed by over three weeks! We didn’t receive any messages from the airline about the cancelled flight, either, until we drove four hours to the departure gate at the airport. We had to return to our son’s house and wait the next 23 days with his family until an airline provided another flight. At first, we were concerned that we would cause ministry problems back in Brazil by our unexpected extended absence, but the Lord knew about this in advance, of course. It so happened that the city’s mayor decreed that churches couldn’t hold in-person services for several weeks and I was able to preach to my church via live Facebook programming.
We have returned to our work and we are thankful to the Lord that we have also been able to return to in-person services. Our members are thrilled to be back together again for fellowship and worship of the Lord as an assembled body of believers.
There was also a surge in COVID cases in our city here in Brazil when we got back. In fact, we still have about 10 people who are sick with the virus. Most of those are from our traveling evangelistic team, Projeto Vida. A couple of them had to go to the ICU at the local hospital, but are showing signs of recuperation. We are extremely thankful to God for this.
We aren’t sure how much longer the public schools will be suspended, so we can’t plan to use that venue for our outreach, but we have been able to minister to some families in need who have suffered financial setbacks due to losing their jobs from the shutdown. We will continue to use the social media outlets that are available to us also, and we see a constant increase in our viewership.
Charlene and I have both been well physically. The Lord is gracious and kind and has blessed us with protection. We hope we don’t contract the virus at all, of course, but we also know that God is greater than any sickness and is able to heal us even if we were to get it.
We are so grateful to you who pray for us and make the sacrifice to contribute toward our ministries. We ask that the Lord would also bless you for your faithfulness and generosity.
In Christ’s love,
Bobby and Charlene Wacaser
Contact Info:
Bobby & Charlene Wacaser
Rua Laudelino Ferreira Lopes, 279
Sobrado 1, Novo Mundo
81050-310 Curitiba, PR. Brasil
Phone: 55-41-99899-2333
bobbymichael_1@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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The Wild, Wild West of Brazil
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.
Dear Brethren,
Four months and counting. Cruzeiro do Sul is still two months behind the rest of the world as far as the evolution of the virus is concerned. Last month the city and state went crazy doing all kinds of traffic stops requiring masks even inside your car. In one of these stops the city official opened the door to my jeep without my permission and the lady cop already had her hand on her gun and I was resisting or didn’t even have a chance to resist. MY MASK WAS ON! It has gotten really scary here in the wild, wild west of Brazil. The state has finally rushed to finish a new wing of the hospital. There are 100 new beds, including 10 new intensive care units and 20 more semi-intensive care complete with all new respirators and equipment. All beds in all medical facilities are full. They have quit publishing data. No test materials are available, so no new tests are being run. The death toll continues to rise. We are New York (of 2 months ago) times X factor of chaos.
Then 2 weeks ago they let all the stores reopen and churches to meet. Well that ought to work out really fine! I called for a special meeting with the pastors to discuss what we would be doing. We are not opening any time soon. Other churches started meeting, but with empty buildings. The people aren’t as stupid as the bigwigs think. The rules for reopening were draconian. The most troublesome was the presence of government monitors (spies) to check for compliance. In the past we have seen that the media do not show up to cover our mission programs, social programs, rehab programs or even our big Christmas or other events. I am sure that they would have been crashing the doors to check out our reopening. We don’t intend to give them or the state the satisfaction. We will come back when we feel that the Lord has led us to, in His time and in His way. The church is solid and doing well. We have actually seen an improvement in our giving. Our missionaries are being taken care of in a timely way and we are still able to do some minor work on our buildings.
We have authorized our small groups to meet and the band/praise groups to practice. Hundreds of our people have had the virus already. Supposedly many are already immune. We sadly did lose Brother José Nunes to this disease. We have many hospitalized.
Given the situation, most people don’t even go to try to find a doctor or the hospital. Most are just self-medicating based on what they see on TV and the internet. Those medications that are most highly recommended are not available here.
As for the Creiglows, we are trusting the Lord. We are being careful. We are still working though. In fact, I have been keeping my grandsons busy working for me. Just a couple of weeks ago, Alec (one of Andrew’s boys) got a full-time job. Andrew’s wife Eline is still employed. She works for GOL airlines, but since there are no flights she is at home with the little ones. Andrew continues to work. Crissy’s school is shut down for now. Dauro and I continue to work at camp. Actually, I have several construction projects going simultaneously. These are providing work for my grandsons and a couple of our church members. I don’t know how long I will be able to keep this up. Staying busy helps me out, too.
We have had quite a bit of really good family time and this, too, has been helpful.
Well sorry to bring such a gloomy report, but it is how things are right now. I sure hope things are better for all of you. We pray for you all the time and hope that you will remember us often in your prayers. Thank you again for praying for us and continuing to support us financially.
In Christ,
Mike Creiglow
Mike & Beverly Creiglow
Caixa Postal 24
Cruzeiro do Sul, Acre, Brazil 69980
mdcreig@hotmail.com
Personal Site
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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Services Back to Normal; Opportunities in Cacau
July 21, 2020
Dear brothers and sisters,
We hope and pray that each one of you are doing well. So many times we think that we are in control of our lives and we discover that a little invisible bacteria can change how the world moves! Thank God, who is invisible and the most powerful and loving, who gives us strength and wisdom to move forward and not give up! We are doing well and getting back into the swing of things. God has been wonderful to us and kept us safe. We do our part in keeping safe and encouraging others to stay safe and protect each other.
Our services are all back to normal. People come as they feel safe. Through all this we have had a number of visitors to come to church. Pray that God will lead us as we minister to these newcomers.
The work we have in the community of Cacau is gradually growing. Many of the people from that church had left when the pastor who was there stopped and quit having services. Since we took over the ministry, the ones who had quit are gradually coming back. The church building is not in a real good location. We had been thinking about buying somewhere else and building a new church. But this week a man came and offered a building, and a businessman is interested in the old church building. Pray that God will lead and give us wisdom in this decision.
The work in Ubim is coming back almost to normal. The kids from the Indian tribe have not been coming because they have to cross a lake. But this week some of the older ones came! I had fun playing with the kids before the classes started. Since there is nothing for the kids to do in the village, we always take things for them to play with.
We are having some get togethers, but in small groups. It’s been hard for some people who can’t get around to have fellowship. In this area, so many people live far away from each other. This next Saturday we are going to have pizza night just to have fellowship. The way we are going to do it is this: Kathy and I have a small pizza oven which we are taking and making the pizza dough ready to use. Each family has to take what they want on their pizza. It is going to be interesting to see what their tastes are! We already decided that our pizza is going to taste like fish!
Pray for us as we get back into safe situations, that we can go back to visiting people in the communities around the churches.
Love in our Lord and Savior,
Odali and Kathy
Odali teaching in Ubim 
Cacau 
Cacau 
Cacau 
Cacau 
Cacau
Contact Info:
Iranduba, Amazonas
Brasil, SA
odali_kathy@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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Paperwork & Planning for 2021
The Hensleys have served the Lord in Brazil, South America since 1996. They have worked with orphanages, started mission points, established churches, and are presently conducting a seminary to train Brazilian pastors.
July 18, 2020
Dear friends and family,
I have told you before how it is sometimes hard to get a letter started because I don’t know where to start. Well this is one of those times.
I have been totally blessed in that I have been to all my doctors and done all the tests. So now all the results have been sent back to the doctors and here are the AWESOME RESULTS. My PSA is undetectable (for those of you who have not dealt with prostate cancer, that is excellent), my heart is good, just working a little slower because of my age, my sugar diabetes needs me to eat better, lose a little bit and add one pill that I had been able not to take earlier. Oh well, over all I am good. I am going to blame the weight gain on the virus (being cooped in and eating everything I see, how can a poor boy win?). But I am blessed.
We are using this down time to get a lot of paperwork and planning done for the Seminary. Our goal is still the same for Blue Grass Baptist Seminary: providing the saints of Brasil with a solid understanding of God’s truth in Scripture, also equipping them to evangelize, disciple, and build God’s Kingdom in Brasil. We have been on the phone, the internet, and zoom with the pastors in Brasil looking at the schedule for 2021.
We had a couple in São Paulo who missed our first class there because of their first child. They asked when we would be giving that class again so that they could graduate with their original class. We had been looking into virtual classes, so we will be using this as an experiment for doing just that. We are hoping to do this soon, but that means that we have to have our Portuguese website up and running so this can happen. Will you pray with us for all the hurdles we are having to jump through at this time will be scaled with ease? The other concern is to not do anything to impede our accreditation status there in Brasil. Just lots more RED TAPE. Praise God we got the word that we can have 1/3 of our classes virtual this upcoming semester.
We have been working on the specific dates, assigning professors, and lining up the sites for the classes for this upcoming 2021 year. In doing this, we have run into a few things that we ask for your prayers for: two of our regular professors have accepted calls to new churches and they do not know if they will be able to teach in 2021. Pray these new churches will have the same hearts for missions that their previous churches had. If not, pray that God provides other Pastors to fill their places.
We have been able to accomplish all this planning with the great technology that is out there today. We have communicated with and have seen all those involved in this ministry through zoom and FaceTime.
Our greatest need right now is to be able to get to Brasil to teach those faithful Pastors, Sunday school teachers and Church workers. Pray with us as we work for Gods Kingdom through Bluegrass Baptist Seminary and Baptist Faith Missions.
In His service,
Aj and Barb
Contact Info:
AJ & Barbara Hensley
Cell #s — AJ: 859-539-2302 / Barb: 859-539-1424
ajcaragua@gmail.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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