Testing & Trusting
Dear friends,
This season of COVID-19 pandemic has proven to be a trying period. São Paulo City is a Coronavirus hotspot in Brazil. We went into an intense quarantine lockdown. Thankfully, we have a loving Father who cares for us and we can trust in His providence and sovereignty during uncertain times.
Our four kids began home online distance learning in mid-March. We only have two old computers, so we borrowed an additional two from friends. The first two weeks without all the necessary equipment was tough. In addition, the learning curve on how to use the educational platforms the school selected was rough, especially since the teachers were also learning how to use them and our internet speed did not cooperate. Thankfully, a technician eventually came to exchange the defective internet modem, the borrowed computers arrived, and teachers and parents learned the systems. Completing daily schoolwork assignments often took our kids 12 hours in a day. While this kept them (and us) “busy”, it was also concerning that it was so demanding on our time. Closing out the school year at home tripled our daily workload. As we reflect on all this, we are grateful for growing closer together as a family.
A couple months ago, Raquel suspected she had the coronavirus. She called the hospital to inquire if she had enough symptoms to go for a consultation and testing, or if she should remain in home observation. When she mentioned the hard time breathing the nurse said, “you need to come in immediately for testing.” The nurse went on to explain that difficulty in breathing was the requirement for going to the Emergency Room during the lockdown.
After arriving, completing the initial tests and waiting a couple of hours… test results returned positive… Raquel tested positive with a little baby. What? She didn’t have COVID-19, she was 4 weeks pregnant. Amid mixed emotions, we were overcome with joy and felt blessed with the gift of new life. We took a family portrait and celebrated the new family member with our children. Our four kids were elated with the news of a new sibling and family planning began for this next phase in our life.
At eight weeks of pregnancy, Raquel began to bleed… She went to the ER… The ultrasound detected no heartbeat. She had suffered a miscarriage. We were collectively heartbroken…
Every life is precious and celebrated. We know we will see this unborn child when in glory. In the meantime, we rest assured knowing the Lord is faithful and true. We trust in Him.
Ministry wise, we continue to meet with our people in quarantine through video-conferencing apps, social media alternatives, delivering ready-to-eat meals, assisting people with physical and spiritual needs. Hygiene kits and groceries have been delivered to elderly and people in need, as financial means are possible to do so.
Trusting in the Lord is our strong fortress as we live through a pandemic here in Brazil. We are grateful to you for your prayers and support.
Grateful always,
The Hatchers
Contact Info:
Jud & Raquel Hatcher
São Paulo, Brazil
judsonhatcher@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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Celebrating a Dozen Years in Kenya
The Tate Family has served the Lord in Kitale, Kenya since January 2008. Their main ministry is church planting.
February 13, 2020
Greetings in the name of Jesus Christ,
I want to thank you all for your prayers and support over the years. We just celebrated our twelfth year in Kenya—we left the United States to commence our ministry in Kenya on January 31st, 2008. It hardly seems possible that another year has come and gone again. We’ve gone through a lot of ups and downs in the past twelve years. There have been so many times I was certain we would never make it another year, another month, or even another day. Those times of doubt and frustration, periods of being overwhelmed and wanting to quit still come, and I’m sure we will again face them in the future. But by the grace of God we are still here. We definitely attribute our still being here to God alone and not to our own strength. If still being in Kenya was dependent upon our own strength, we would have left long ago. But God is good and He has strengthened us for this ministry. All the praise and all the glory go to Him. And if you are reading this report then that means you are interested in our ministry and support and pray for our ministry. We need partners like you to continue this work here. Thank you again for your prayers and support. We couldn’t even think about doing this without you.
At the Chapel we just completed an 18-week expository study of the book of Galatians. I thought it was crucial for the Chapel folks to know and understand that we are justified and sanctified by faith and not by the works of the Law. I think church goers in every culture (Kenyan and American) struggle with this Biblical teaching, trying to be acceptable to God by being “good enough”, by “human righteousness”, by not doing certain things, by keeping certain rules and regulations. I taught my people, as Paul taught his, that we are justified and sanctified by faith in Christ Jesus. We ended our study by investigating “walking in the Spirit” and how the Spirit’s fruit is produced in our lives. (By the way, my people are very gracious and loving towards me. Last week I preached for an hour and fifteen minutes before I even realized what time it was. Everybody listened attentively and nobody complained about the length of the message. I think I would burn too many roasts if I tried that in the States.)
Let me here give some kudos out to my wife (without her knowing that I’m doing it). Julie works so hard as the Head Teacher and main administrator of the Milimani Christian Homeschooling Community where she volunteers at that position. She does such an amazing job and cares for the kids of the school so much. She so very much desires that these kids get a good, Christian education so that they can thrive as adults and go change their world for Jesus. Many of these kids also have various learning disabilities which have prevented them from thriving at other schools and which has landed them at MCHC. Julie is helping come up with unique and outstanding ways of helping these kids learn. One of the MCHC directors told her this week, “Julie, you can teach anybody”. Another visiting missionary referred to her as a “rockstar”. Also, a mother of one of high school students recently posted this on Facebook: “Last year I had a seriously depressed teen hating school and threatening to just leave and drop out, not caring about university, unhappy, ill etc etc. Removed from school system into a home based system and he is happy, striving, talking about getting A’s and interest in university fully awakened”. Julie is definitely using this opportunity to make a big impact in the lives of these children and for the Kingdom of Jesus. Glory to our Lord and Savior!
Blessings to you all,
Roger, Julie, Amy, Josiah & Chloe
rojuta[at]gmail.com
Visit their blog!
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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Pray for Rio Branco
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 12, 2020
Dear Brethren,
Grace and peace from us in fairly peaceful Cruzeiro do Sul. It looks like the rainy season is finally going to get under way. Most of the rain is falling in southern Brasil though and we are still waiting. I had to cancel a river trip in January because the bottom dropped out of the river. I was able to send our bricklayer by canoe to the last congregation at the mountains on the Moa River to continue the work on their new building. In fact, it worked out that because the roads dried up, he was also able to spend a few days at Gama, Amazonas (opposite direction by almost a hundred miles) to finish the parsonage for missionary Anísio.
Bev and I made a mission trip to the state capital Rio Branco. Let me tell you what that is all about. Almost 30 years ago we started a church in Rio Branco. Only after much prayer and reluctance on my part that I agreed to start a new church there. At the time there was one rather solid Brazilian convention church and a sprinkling of Regular Baptist churches. Most of them were dying. At the same time, we had dozens of folks who had been saved here in Cruzeiro and had moved to Rio Branco and were begging for a church with solid doctrine and evangelistic spirit. Three times a group of them bought their own tickets and came to Cruzeiro do Sul to beg me to start a church. My reluctance was because ethically I did not want to infringe on a region that already had churches. Nevertheless, I finally acquiesced. We had a good pastor from Brother John Hatcher’s work in Manaus who was in Rio Branco at the time, but was poised to return to Manaus. We started meeting in a school in a neighborhood that had no church of any kind. I visited them once a month. We eventually found property and I helped them build their first building. They grew quickly and soon we organized the church.
Over the years the convention church finally became charismatic. It is now the largest “evangelical” church in the state. They dragged 25 of the 27 convention churches in the states into the prosperity gospel movement. Many of the Regular Baptist churches died. The 2 or 3 that survived are just hanging on. They are extremely legalistic and reaching no one. Our church, Igreja Batista Memorial, grew steadily. They got up over 200 members. They built a bigger building and were doing great, then the pastor left. He put in his place a guy who is a hypercalvinist (without consulting our church). The new guy is a good teacher, but very arrogant. Recently he has been calling himself Rabbi Lopes! The church quit preaching the gospel a few years ago. We have reached out to them in several ways, but there is no longer any interest in reaching the lost. The church is dying. They now have 50 or fewer people in their Sunday services. I know this because one of our members who has stayed faithful puts videos on Facebook of the Sunday services. I have seen 3 of these videos and can count the number of folks present.
For about 3 years now I have been struggling in prayer about what to do. Recently unchurched people from Rio Branco have been begging me to start another church. Bev and I went to meet informally with a few of these folks a couple of weeks ago. Looks like we are going to have to bite the bullet and do what has to be done.
First Baptist Church of Cruzeiro do Sul continues to take the gospel to the most remote places. During 2019 we sent out two more missionary families. We will continue to do this until we have planted churches in all the cities of our state, neighboring states and countries. BUT, Rio Branco has half the population of our state. There are almost 500,000 people concentrated in one spot and the gospel has been abandoned by the local churches.
Thanks for staying with me through this long read. I need you to pray with us about this challenge. Frankly I don’t know exactly how to proceed, but we cannot wait any longer. So please help me with 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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4 More People Saved! Starting New Work in Cajatuba
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.
August 21, 2019
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Greetings from the Amazon jungle!!! Hope and pray that all are doing great and enjoying the peace and blessings from our Lord and Savior. We are doing great. We have been busy since we got back from our short break in the US. The work in the city of Iranduba is coming along. We are in a new location where there are actually more people. The Pastor and his wife who came to work with us are going there. Please continue to pray for this work. Also, in two weeks we will be starting a new work in the village called Cajatuba. To get there we have to go by boat. There are 2 families that we know that live there.
Each year we have 3 festivals as a reach-out program. We had our first one this year last Saturday. We visited the villages near the church and made a purpose to visit especially those who were not Christians. The festival went great and we had over 300 that attended. We had a singing and praise time, then there was a skit that presented the gospel. What a great time! The last two weeks we have had 4 people saved! How exciting to see God working in the people’s lives.
Pray that God will direct us as we try to reach out more and more in the communities around us. Many of the people do not have transportation so it is hard for them to come to church. Some only have motorcycles and can only bring 2. We have a family from the church that live a good distance from the church and if they all come to the same service they make 2 trips so everyone can come to the same service. That is why we have several services or Bible Studies in the different communities.
We want to thank those who prayed for our son and his wife who lost their baby. They are doing very well. God has given them the comfort they need.
Thanks for your prayers and your giving to the ministry. God bless each of you.
Odali & Kathy
Odali & Kathy Barros
Iranduba, Amazonas
Brasil, S.A.
odali_kathy[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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Challenges in São Paulo, God’s Faithfulness Through It All
Jud and Raquel Hatcher serve the Lord in São Paulo, Brazil. They are part of the “SeedFactory” church planting initiative, which is a movement to plant churches in all 26 Brazilian capitals. Since 2006, 43 churches have been started in 5 states.
São Paulo, 8 of April of 2019
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
It’s with joy I write to you. God has done great things in our lives and around us. Since we arrived in São Paulo, on July 20, 2016 (almost 3 years ago), we have faced difficult challenges. But God is faithful and has given us wisdom in every step of the way. We thank you for your prayers and love demonstrated towards us in so many ways. Without you supporting our ministry, it wouldn’t be possible.
I want to share, even if in a nutshell, a little bit of our routine. When we first arrived, we were involved in starting/ministering at an English-speaking church and a Spanish-speaking church. Both were connected to a Portuguese-speaking church. Both churches were growing fast, and we were happy to be serving in that capacity. But God had other plans for us. Frustrated efforts in church plants in homes were discouraging. Through a turn of events, He redirected us to the other side of town. In the beginning, it was not easy. It was an unexpected change for all of us. There were questions in my mind at that time but never doubts about God’s faithfulness and love for us. As a wife, I learned I need to be prepared to follow my husband’s lead, and trust God. I think, this attitude of readiness (like Sarah – who had to pick up everything she had and follow her husband Abraham to a place where she did not know) was for me, the most difficult challenge as a missionary.
In August, we complete one year since the move. With God’s grace, we started two new churches. One meets on Saturdays – Hope Church. We have children’s church at 4:30 pm (they live in a very poor community, and they come by themselves bringing along their baby siblings; their ages average from 1-year-old to 13), and at 6:30 pm we have an open service to reach mainly adults. Another church meets on Sundays – Imagine Baptist Church. We have an English service at 5:00 pm and a Portuguese service at 6:30 pm. This church is an urbanized, more middle-class neighborhood. Jud is also mentoring a team of leaders from another Baptist church during the week (it is part of the network of churches Jud has started in São Paulo). But I stay home during the week. It is a tremendous joy to have the privilege to tell the good news of Jesus Christ to little ones, young and old. It’s an honor to serve Him.
Our children are very involved in both ministries – Hope and Imagine. They help us with children’s ministry on Saturdays, and in different ways on Sundays. It is priceless to see our daughters and son involved in church planting. I know the seed will grow in their hearts and be fruitful. They are a blessing to us. Sarah just turned 14 years old. Laura will be 13 in July, Benjamin is 11, and Melissa is 7 years old. They are attending an American Christian School. We are very happy. When we came to São Paulo, we brought material for me to home school them. Well, it didn’t work. So, they went to a public secular school. It was a mistake. Finally, we took a huge step of faith, and we registered them at Pan American Christian Academy, a well-known school for its strong biblical foundation and Christian worldview. They follow the US school calendar. With so many school changes, our kids had to adjust to the new school, which follows both curriculums: American and Brazilian. In other words, they have more disciplines in order to get both diplomas when they graduate. And 90% of their classes are in English.
During the week, I volunteer a few hours a week at our kids’ school. I also help families as a psychologist during the week. Next month, I’ll be guest speaking at a meeting for people who are thinking about becoming foster care parents, and families that already have a child under their care. This event is led by a Christian organization which has several ministry fronts in São Paulo. I also participate in a weekly, small group Bible study. It’s a blessing to study the Word of God with sisters in Christ. We are doing True Woman 201 – Interior Design – Ten Elements of Biblical Womanhood. It’s fantastic. I highly recommend.
There are so many other things I could share, but I need to save it for another opportunity. So, I will end with prayer requests:
1. For our ministries – that people can be saved
2. For our children – spiritual growth and studies
3. Our health, but especially for Laura who had her left eardrum ruptured and lost 90% of her hearing (the doctor in Brazil declared it as permanent hearing loss).
We are so thankful for each one of you. May God bless you with His spiritual blessings.
In Christ’s love,
Raquel Hatcher
Judson & Raquel Hatcher
(859) 544-9040
judsonhatcher@gmail.com
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A Look at Philippians 1 through the Eyes of 6 Brazilian Leaders in Training
Jud and Raquel Hatcher serve the Lord in São Paulo, Brazil. They are part of the “SeedFactory” church planting initiative, which is a movement to plant churches in all 26 Brazilian capitals. Since 2006, 43 churches have been started in 5 states.
July 12, 2018
Dear friends,
FAMILY
We are in the middle of the Winter Season in Brazil and students receive a month break between school semesters. So, our children are enjoying it as best as possible, despite the cold. We praise the Lord for their first semester grades as it reflects their dedication and hard work at school. Everyone is in good health, except for Benjamin (10 yrs). He has a dry cough that is lasting several months and doctors have not found the cause or solution. Melissa (6 yrs) lost two of her baby teeth last week. Everyone will go to the dentist this month for routine dental check-up.
The Hatcher Family celebrating the 4th of July at Ibirapuera Park.
MINISTRY
The three homes where we meet weekly with folks are doing well. The home church concept is sinking in well with the new believers. The “need” for a temple is still something most struggle with, especially those with a strong Catholic background. There is always some rotation of people, but as a rule those who are maturing in their faith are increasingly engaged and reaching out to friends and family. I am currently counseling four couples and am encouraged that they have reached out for help. I have one-on-one discipleship with six men that are in preparation to assist in leading their home church. We are currently going through the book of Philippians. Look at what we developed:
30 Action Principles to Live an Extraordinary Life in the Eyes of God. (Extracted from Philippians 1)
- Greet and treat people gracefully.
- When you think of a person, break out in exclamations of thanksgiving to God.
- Make each exclamation a trigger to pray for them.
- Pray with a glad heart.
- Bless and encourage people to flourish.
- Express and demonstrate gratitude to those who assist you through tough times.
- Love people like Christ does – love much, love well, love sincerely & love intelligently.
- Live a life Jesus will be proud of: bountiful in fruits from the soul. Live a circumspect and exemplary life.
- Make Jesus Christ attractive to all – be contagious!
- Allow hardship to have the opposite of its intended effect.
- Glow & shine, Jesus’ message does prosper.
- Pique people’s curiosity by living joyfully, especially when in hardship.
- Speak fearlessly about God, about the Messiah.
- Don’t be jealous of those who seek the spotlight, even if they think they are taking advantage of you.
- Cheer people on, even if they have ulterior motives for speaking of Jesus.
- Rejoice, keep celebrating; for we know how this life on earth finishes.
- Pray faithfully and respond generously.
- Trust that everything the Lord wants to do in and through you will be done.
- Don’t expect to be embarrassed in the least.
- Continue the course, live for Jesus.
- Hardship shouldn’t shut you up, it should be your pulpit.
- Make Philippians 1.21 your life verse: “for to me to live is Christ, and to die is truly gain”.
- Consistently benefit others, more than benefiting yourself.
- Be a great companion. Look forward to being with people, to praise Christ and enjoy each other.
- Influence people in such a way that it becomes a credit to the Message of Christ.
- Maintain a righteous conduct, whether someone important is looking, or not.
- Stand united with your brothers and sisters, contending for people’s trust in the Message.
- Don’t be frightened in the slightest by the opposition.
- Be courageous and focused, the power of God is with you. There is victory in Jesus!
- Trust in Christ and suffer for Him. Suffering is as much a gift as the trusting.
TRUCKERS’ CHAOTIC PROTEST
On Wednesday (May 23rd) at 6pm, the kids and I drove onto the São Paulo beltway to attend my birthday party at another part of town. This 15-minute drive on the expressway turned into lengthy nightmare. We found ourselves stuck in traffic for over 3 hours in a stretch only 4 miles long. Truck drivers were protesting at the exit we needed. There was no access to make a U-turn and try a different route. It was “stop and go” on the four lanes headed south. Truckers were upset at the diesel fuel price increase and were blocking the roads. I was able to make a U-turn 4 miles past the protest, but due to blockades on other roads my only option was to drive back into the main protest. It was faster on the way back as the Military Police were had arrived at the scene. Well, we missed the party and returned home. I sang “Happy Birthday” with the kids and ate cake upon arriving at the house. Raquel was already at the location we were trying to get to. She returned home the next morning.
On Thursday, school bus drivers and motorcycle delivery drivers announced they would also join the protests. Chaos was everywhere in São Paulo. The truckers’ strike lasted over a week. Distribution of all products came to a halt. Ten days into the protests oil refinery workers nationwide announced they would go on strike for 72 hrs. Gas stations went almost a week without fuel. Before running out, some stations were charging up to US$12.00/gallon. When the gas station in our neighborhood received fuel after midnight, little did they know that by 7am a line would form that was over 2 miles long. Each person limited to 5 liters. By 4pm, they sold out. The grocer next door to the station said there were multiple fights throughout the day.
Most schools were closed for at least 4 days. There were several riots and tire burning blockades by protesters on main roads and highways during this time. Grocery stores had no produce and hardly any meat. We were stuck at home for 6 days.
Despite the chaos, the population in general were in favor of the strike against the diesel fuel tax increase.
Prayer Requests
- For Benjamin to recover from his dry cough.
- For our children to have a fun and safe winter break.
- For our family’s safety.
- For Evangelism, discipleship and leadership development.
- For new host homes.
Thank you for your love and support.
Grateful always,
Judson Hatcher
Judson & Raquel Hatcher
(859) 544-9040
judsonhatcher@gmail.com
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Working on a Communication System for Seminary
The Hensleys have spent nearly 20 years serving in Brazil. They have established a church in Caraguatatuba and mission points throughout the city. They have also recently started a seminary to train pastors.
July 12, 2018
Friends and family,
As I am writing this letter we are working on our system of communication through the computer for Caragua Baptist Seminary. For example, the students want to know what their grades are from the tests they have taken, the courses that are being offered, the locations where they will be offered and the time frame for the courses. Sounds easy, right? Well, put language difficulties and translation into the mix, add having to go through multiple people, the desire to have the correct spelling, grammar correctness and correct sentence structure……now you can see the problems. We are also hoping that my third language (hillbilly) won’t interfere much with what we are trying to do. SOLUTIONS: We are forming a group of pastors there and here, mixing them with several IT professionals and we are off and running. So here is a BIG prayer request, that we will be able to integrate all these different folks together to jump one more hurdle so that we can have an AWESOME Seminary.
One of our students has put the roof on the building that he and his members are building. They need the doors and the bathrooms to be able to occupy their building. But in the meantime, they are meeting in his home. As we continue to help these church starts we need two things: prayer warriors and financial help. As in any place, they encounter many problems when trying to do something for God. Workers for construction are few and the money for material is even less. So I know all of you are prayer warriors, so please put these Brasilian pastors on your prayer list and if you can spare some financial support, please send it to BFM and mark it “Church Starts in Brasil”. The seminary is helping three pastors who are starting mission works but our ability to help is small. But with many of us giving a little, it amounts to a lot. And we all know that a little is a lot with God in control.
My health issues as of today are good. I have a major appointment the first part of August. I request that you pray for me that I will have improvement in the cancer battle and maybe have a “vacation” from the medication. Over a year and a half ago I was told that the choices that I had were surgery with 38 radiation treatments with follow-up medication or expect 6 to 9 months of life. Well here it is almost 2 years later and I am looking forward to a vacation from meds. How AWESOME is the God we have!!!
One of the Pastors and his family that are planting a church in Brasil. He is a student of Caragua Baptist Seminary.
Our next Seminary classes are in October. On that date we will be having four classes: two in Orlandia and two in São Paulo city. Our plans had been to have classes in June but the trucker strike in Brasil almost paralyzed the country. In Caraguatatuba they went almost 3 weeks with no deliveries to their town. There was only gas for the emergency vehicles; the grocery stores and the farmers markets had very little stock—and what they had was price hacked. You know what I am talking about, the merchants raised prices because they could. Now the strike is over, but guess what…the food prices have not gone back down. Go figure!!!! So needless to say, Mary and Walmir and all the other Brasilian pastors are struggling to make ends meet. Keep them in your prayers.
Please continue to pray for our endeavors as we continue the work that God has provided for us as we live in the USA for my treatments and work in Brasil as Missionaries representing Jesus Christ because of your support through Baptist Faith Missions.
As we have the Seminary classes, we constantly watch for the men of God who are anxious to work for the Lord. These are the ones whom we will chose to be the next church planters. We cannot forget the Pastors and their churches here in the States. The pastors who give of their time to come to Brasil to teach in the Seminary for FREE and the churches that support them as they come. Without them our dream for a Seminary to help the Brasilian pastors would have never gone as far as it has. Praise God for all those who have a hand in this endeavor.
We are working toward establishing 3 permanent locations to have the Seminary classes. From these locations we can meet the needs of many Brasilian pastors. Please pray that God would lead our search.
Here is one of the Pastors and his family that are planting a church in Brasil. He is a student of Caragua Baptist Seminary.
In His Service,
Aj and Barbara
Aj and Barbara Hensley
ajcaragua[at]gmail.com
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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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Visiting Works in Gama, Santa Rosa, & Centrinho
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.
December 9, 2017
Dear Brethren,
Greetings from Cruzeiro do Sul. The rainy season has finally started for real and the river is up pretty high. It is time to get back on the river with some of the visits to our works a little further away.
Taking advantage of the prolonged dry season, I visited several works along the roads. Zico, Ezi and I visited the new work at Gama. While there I built the first trusses for their building. I took one of our men along to teach him how to build the rest. We are still praying for a couple to move there to take care of the work. Access is easy in the dry season. There is a 30 mile dirt road that winds through the jungle to the Gama River. In the rainy season the only vehicles that can get through are ATVs and with much effort and frustration!
I visited the work at Santa Rosa. We held one of our preachers meetings while I was there. The church is doing well. The pastor is Brother Sadraque. He is a young local who was saved and called right there. He accepted the pastorate after the last pastor left unexpectedly. That was a couple of years ago. Since then Sadraque has done a good job and the church has almost doubled in size. I have been working with him over the last few months to get him through a problem. He feels that he is in the position only temporarily. It still hasn’t soaked in that God put him there.
Bev went with me to visit the work at Centrinho for a weekend meeting. Pastor Marcelo and his wife Neire serve there. They have about 40 people. There were over 70 present for the services while we were there. They meet in a little wooden building, but doing well and growing slowly.
We had another baptism at church this month adding another 38 members.
Our seminary closed out the semester late November with 22 students attending classes. We offered 6 modules this last semester. I taught Bible geography. Lot of fun.
The violence here has gone down a little, but is still rampant. The state AG just put out the stats. Two things are worth quoting. First, the murder rate per 100,000 population is 56. Then if the State of Acre were an independent country it would be the 4th most violent country in the world. He went on to say that a person is more likely to be murdered in the Acre than in Syria. To top it off, the bad guys are now stopping boats on the river to rob and murder their victims. When our members heard about my next trip up river they were concerned. I can’t let this stop me though. Unfortunately, Brazil has the strictest gun laws in the world and I cannot have a weapon. The bad guys all have guns though. In a referendum 95% of the population wants the right to own a gun. Socialism is what it is though and there is not much hope for improvement here.
I am still dealing with health issues. I have continued to work long hard days, but it has not been easy. Not sure that the doctors here are going to find out what ails me. Please continue to 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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