Praying about Purchasing a Church Building
February 15, 2023
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
We are thankful to God for the partners we have in our ministry. Each one of you are a blessing.
Things here continue doing well. We have had services in several places. There are possibilities for other places. One of the places is the village of Ariau. In this village there was a Baptist church but for some reason they closed. The building is for sale for $6,000. We are interested in having a ministry there. Pray with us about this building. We are going to meet with the person responsible for the sale.
At the Church in Ubim, we would like to put tile on the floor. It is concrete and hard to keep clean. If any of you are interested, we would appreciate any financial help. We are already checking on the prices of the tile to find the best price. Here the tile is sold by square meter. The average price we have found is around $10.00 per square meter.
We are planning a camp this month. With all the COVID problems we have not had camp. The kids are excited about the camp. We are using a place that belongs to a friend, but our plans are to have a camp of our own to use any time we want. We have the place. We are working on getting the area ready to build dorms and an area for a kitchen. Pray with us about this also that God will provide the means.
Thanks for your love, prayers and support. God bless each of you.
Odali and Kathy Barros
The building they want to purchase 
The floor of the Church in Ubim
Contact Info:
Odali & Kathy Barros
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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Everyone Helping in Church Building Project
January 29, 2023
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
We are thankful to our Lord for all the things He has blessed us with. The beginning of the new year is going well. We are working to get more people involved in the church and ministries. The couple that is helping at the village of Ubim is doing great. The church had a bus that was not being used. So, the couple is bringing the people from Ubim to the mother church once or twice a week. The teens there have enjoyed coming.
This month the main church is working on building a wall around the church. We are doing it as a church group project. Everyone is helping as they can: cooking, digging, mixing concrete, or carrying bricks.
The only problems that we have had are our cars. They love the mechanic’s shop. We pray that this time they will get fixed. We found a new mechanic that is very careful with his work. Pray that all will go well. Kathy has planned some visits with some of the women of the church but has not been able to go. Since there is not cellphone signal everywhere here, it is dangerous to be on the roads.
Another project we have is a camp to have to use for the ministry. In these villages, there is nothing for the kids to do, but lots of drugs. So, we want to build a camp where we can have lots of activities for the kids, teens, and adults. We have started cleaning the area and opening the area to build the dorms. Pray with us that all goes as God has planned for us.
Thanks for all your love and support. God bless each of you!
Odali and Kathy Barros
Kids giving water to people who drove by on bikes and motorcycles and in cars. 
Contact Info:
Odali & Kathy Barros
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.
Read more
First Mission Trip of 2021
January 27, 2021
Dear Brethren,
Things are far from normal. Yet the rainy season has started and the rivers are coming up. We are enjoying pretty good health. The church continues to meet, albeit with much lower than normal attendance. People have been saved in almost every service. Fear and panic is still widespread. We have lost many friends and brothers. Many more are still coming down with the virus. Vaccinations have started here in Brazil. So it is a mixed bag.
Pastor Ezi and I went on our first mission trip last week. We went up the Moa River to visit 2 of our works. We were in the open boat with smaller outboard. I was not sure how I would do manually starting and running the engine as my strength is still not where I was. On top of that we got rained on big time going and coming. Rain always presents a big challenge and even bigger on a small, winding river. All went very well though. God continues to give me strength and He is a great pilot.
Pastor Ezi and me with new motor on the river 
The new building 
Sunday morning service in the new building 
Baptism
We dedicated the new building at Serra do Moa (Mountains on the Moa River). We held 4 services with them. Missionary Rivaldo is doing great. He worked there when we first started the congregation. Later he took care of 2 other fields. Now he is back where he started his ministry 24 years ago. This is he fourth building that we have put up. The first three were tiny wood frame structures that didn’t last that long. This time they put in a concrete foundation and partial brick walls. The rest is wood, but this one should last much longer. The last building is still in good shape and is used for Sunday School.
There were over 200 people present. Most of these were from 5 of our other congregations downriver. There 4 professions of faith. I baptized 8 on Sunday morning. This was squeezed in between rainstorms. The rains hardly ever stopped. In fact, we were scheduled to be with our mission at República (Nukini Indian reservation), but the missionary and his family were not able to return because of the rain. We plan to visit them in a few more days.
One thing that was sad was seeing the reach of the panic over the virus reach all the way up river. They were handing out masks and spraying gel at the door of the new church building. Now, I am not against masks at the right place and time, but this was very disheartening to see. Many of them had their masks on upside down! The reach of tyranny seems to have no limit.
The new 25HP 4 stroke outboard worked very well. Thanks to all who have helped me purchase and maintain my boats and motors.
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.
Read more
The Lord at Work in Tipisca, Peru
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 21, 2019
Dear Brethren,
A few days ago Zico (our missions director) and Lúcio Maia went with me up river to the border and beyond. The first leg of the trip took us all the way to the border village of Foz do Breu. It took us over 11 hours to do those almost 300 miles. We had some engine trouble, but still made it before dark.
People are moving back to the village and we had really good crowds for the services, over 70 people. Before heading into Peru we held a morning baptism service. I baptized 12. One couple had been waiting for some time to first get legally married then baptized. Ercílio had been one of the town drunks and enemy of the gospel. Now he is a go-getter missionary. He has made 22 mission trips in the last 12 months. He used to detest the native tribes up the Breu River. Now he has become friends and has made 5 mission trips to visit our brothers from the Kaxinauá tribe.
We continued to Tipisca, Peru. On arrival, our missionary José Maia (Lúcio’s dad) took our baggage to his house on his 4 wheeler. I stayed behind to get the boat and motor bedded down. Just as I finished, a huge tropical rain storm came in. There is no pavement in Tipisca and this time of year the mud is knee deep in many places. When I saw the rain was not going to stop I decided to go ahead and make my way up the slippery bank and into town through the driving rain and mud. I had to go barefoot and on the way I slit my foot open on who knows what. For the rest of that week my feet were wet and muddy most of the time and could not bandage the foot. A week later it had pretty much healed up though, so no harm no foul.
We dedicated the new building on the weekend. José Maia did an admirable job and built the building to match the design we use all over in our congregations. It seats over 100 people, is on a corner lot, right on the main street of Tipisca. This newly purchased lot and what we already had, gives us over an acre. We had over 200 people in at least 2 services and well over a hundred in the other 2. The army brought most of their soldiers out for 1 service and the local police department came on Sunday morning. This is a first. In fact we had never had crowds like this in the several years since we opened the work there (over 10 years). Up to now we had made inroads among the children, but no progress with the adults. They now have a big group of kids and a number of adults that attend regularly.
Let me tell you about one of the ladies who trusted Christ while we were there. Dona Mila and her husband are in their 70’s and were what you might call founders of Tipisca. She was born over on the coast of Brazil and moved to Cruzeiro do Sul as a little girl. Her husband is Peruvian and was working in our town as a young man. They met and married. When the Peruvian government put in an outpost a few miles up the Juruá River from the border the young couple moved there. This became the town of Porto Breu, which the locals call Tipisca. Dona Mila and her husband were drinking buddies. It was not uncommon to see the couple sleeping off their liquor in the grass along the paths of town. They were both at church with us. Both have stopped drinking and Dona Mila has trusted Christ!
We came all the way back to Cruzeiro do Sul in one long day, but not without more engine trouble. I had to stop in the middle of nowhere and repair the motor at high noon, lots of bugs and mud, too. This motor is now over 10 years old and broken down on me on my last 3 trips. It is about time to replace it. I will be looking to you to help me with this in the near future. For now, just pray.
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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Tearing Down to Build Up
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.
February 3, 2019
Dear Brethren,
Time flies when you are having fun or when you have too much work to do and deadlines looming. Forgive me for not reporting to you lately. Our work is in a major transition right now. There is enough to report, but it seems so boring to me that I have just been lazy about telling you.
Our Christmas musical was a success and several people were saved. Now that the crime wave has subsided somewhat the crowds actually came back up. On Christmas night we had a big rain and that kept the crowd just at maximum capacity. We actually thanked the Lord for that rain as otherwise we would have had to turn away hundreds of people.
We held our first baptism service of the year and 13 new members were added. We have had people saved every week so far this year. One Sunday night I preached about the Sabbath and did not give an invitation, although I did preach the gospel. There were still 3 public professions of faith! We have had some more saved during our Wednesday night doctrinal services, too.
We sent out another missionary couple this month and approved another. Anísio and Matilde are already at Gama, Amazonas (neighbor state, east of Cruzeiro do Sul). We also approved Lucas and Diana. They have just finished seminary. For the next 6 months they will be here under our wing doing an internship that all of our missionaries are required to do. In the middle of the year we will be taking them to Santa Rosa do Purús. This town has no Baptist church and is on the Purús River on the Peruvian border. They are also expecting their first child in March. Yesterday the ladies at church gave Diana a baby shower.
Their church building was designed and built 40 years ago by Bro. Mike.
Demolition has started on the old church building in order to rebuild and double their seating capacity.
Two weeks ago I began tearing down our old church building. I designed and built it 40 years ago. We outgrew it a long time ago and have made modifications to add more space. I added a mezzanine for an extra 220 people. A couple of years later I tore out 6 Sunday School rooms to add another 240 seats. We moved those rooms into our 3 floor annex. Over a year ago we built a metal structure over the top of the old building. Now I have gutted the old building and tomorrow I start rebuilding. Of course many of our members are working with me every day and into the night. Some can only come during their lunch break or at night and there is a lot of different crews almost every day. It is a strange sensation tearing down what I built personally, hands on, 4 decades ago. I have no sentimental or regretful feeling. It is just strange as each brick, bolt or nail comes down. As I work I think, “I put this bolt in this truss 40 years ago, now I am taking it out.” Just sharing the feelings that go along with this new phase.
The third floor of our annex is a covered but all open. That is where we are having services now. The area is over 5800 square feet. The crowds have been really good in spite of the lack of AC and 2 flights of stairs. We want to have the new building up by May 12th when the church celebrates her 90th birthday. We don’t have any debt and we only have $3,000.00 in the bank. We do have a crazy pastor. What matters though is that we have a very rich and loving Father. The new building will double our seating capacity.
For some time I have been working 12 and 13 hour days of manual labor. Leave at dawn and get back home after dark. Then I have church work at least 4 nights a week, besides trying to make time for counseling and other jobs related to our ministry. You get the idea. The church needs your prayers and I need your prayers.
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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Missionary Update: Odali & Kathy Barros in Brazil [April 2015]
Odali and Kathy Barros served the Lord in Sao Paulo, Brazil together from 1987-2013. In late 2013, they transitioned to Manaus in Northern Brazil to start sharing the Gospel and planting churches in villages along the river.
March 27, 2015
Greetings dear Brothers and Sisters,
Hope all is well with each of you and your loved ones. We are all doing well, praise the Lord! Kathy and our son Tito are in the US for Kathy to see her parents.
Things here are coming along really well. Next month I will become the pastor of the church here that we have been attending and working with. My brother is going to pastor the church I was a pastor of in GARÇA, São Paulo. Also, we have a great blessing from a group that builds churches in Brasil. This group wanted to help a missionary son. Judson Hatcher told them he knew some that had land for a church and needed a building. We met with the people involved and, the Lord willing, in July we should have a building. All we will need to do is put down the floor and feed them. What a blessing! It is in the community called Multirao.
The work in Ubim is doing great! A few weeks ago it was pouring down rain so I called the people that we use the home to have services in and asked if it was raining. The lady said it was really raining so I told her we were not going. The next week when we went, we were surprised to find out that 7 kids had come any way. We told the kids we were sorry that we had not come and that we were never miss even if it was pouring down rain. It has been so fantastic to see the kids change. The adults are very slow. There are so many kinds of churches. So pray with us that we can be able to teach these people about salvation by grace. The churches they go to are works.
We had a Sister church from MANAUS to come out and do some evangelism in the church and several communities near us. It was great and several people got saved. Now the churches doing follow up visitation. The group also did some social work, like cutting hair, doctor, dental hygiene and mesotherapy.
There is one thing here that makes it difficult for some people to come to church. Many people do not have transportation. Kathy and I drive 2 cars to church every service to help take people to church. We are praying for God to helps us buy a van to be able to do more.
We want to thank all of you for your constant prayers and support. May God bless each of you.
Odali and Kathy
Odali & Kathy Barros
Caixa Postal 1
Iranduba, Amazonas 69.415.000
Brasil, S.A.
odali_kathy[at]hotmail.com
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