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.

July 22, 2020

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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Missionaries Sent to Santa Rosa do Purús; Performing for the President


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.

August 28, 2019

Dear Brethren,

We have just completed our first month back from our trip to the States. It has been wonderful. We have had 3 cold fronts come through. The temps have been in the mid-sixties. The skies have been bright blue and clear as can be. By the way, don’t believe a word of what you hear about the Amazon rain forest going up in flames and smoke. It is more left-wing hype and hatred to try to give our wonderful president, Jair Bolsonaro a black eye. NASA’s images and data show that there is much less deforestation and burning this year than in the past. Yes, southern Brazil had some dark, smoky days, but the burning was happening in Bolivia and Paraguay, not the Amazon basin. Wow, now that I have got that off my chest, let’s get down to what really counts.

I have taught and preached several times at our home church, First Baptist, with very good results. We had several professions of faith, 3 requests for church letters and a number of requests for baptism. I have also done a few little jobs on the building, but since we don’t have any cash right now and are still paying off a few bills from the last round of construction, I am limited as to how much can be done right now.

One week I was with the chapel at Cruzeirão for 2 visits. They have finally found a lot in the right location. They have been meeting in a tiny rental property (store front) that only seats about 100 people. Their location is not ideal as far as our church strategy for Cruzeiro do Sul is concerned. The property that they have found is in the exact area that our plan had targeted. We are working out the details for the purchase. My last visit was to inform the congregation that the home church approves and will help them make the transition.

Earlier this week I visited and taught at the chapel at Cruzeirinho. I know that I have been mentioning too many “Cruzeiros”, but it just so happens that inside the city of Cruzeiro do Sul there are 2 big neighborhoods on opposite sides of town. One is called big Cruzeiro and the other is little Cruzeiro. Anyway, Pastor Francimir asked me to bring a lesson on tithing. They have built a nice big building, but still needs a lot of finish work. Their offerings are less than half of what they should be for the size of the congregation. We shall see.

This month we sent out another couple to the mission field at Santa Rosa do Purús. Lucas, Diana and their baby girl Esther arrived in the town just yesterday. It took their furniture and personal belongings 2 weeks to get there.

One of our church members, Iverson Bueno, who is a district attorney, started a musical conservatory about 5 years ago. The local army base has been his biggest helper. Several teens from our church and our school are enrolled. They have developed a great choir and orchestra. They selected 75 of the students to go to the federal capital, Brasília, to perform. Their first of several performances was for President Jair Bolsonaro and several of his cabinet members. Andrew’s oldest son Alec and Crissy’s oldest son Caleb are there. Caleb sang a solo part during one of the songs. They have also performed at the Congress and the Supreme Court. Boy are we proud of this bunch. Both of my grandsons got to meet and take a picture with the president. The president held one of little girls in his arms during a group picture. This little girl is a student at our school, Colégio Cristão Cruzeiro.

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


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