A Trip up the Juruá River into Peru, Training Leaders
March 21, 2024
Dear Brethren,
Another wonderful mission trip this month. This time up the Juruá River. For this trip I prepped my boat. It took a couple of days to get the engine running after the long stoppage because of my health issues. Pastors Ezi and Benjamim went with me for the very long run to Tipisca, Peru.
On a Sunday night I preached to a crowd of over 600 at First Baptist Church. On Monday morning at 5:00AM I was up and getting my boat down to the river. We got away after 6:00AM. Just before 5:00PM we pulled up at Foz do Breu on the Peruvian border. Our congregation at the village there is almost 300 miles upstream.
We spent next 3 days with our missionary José Costa and the congregation there. We held a baptism service on Tuesday afternoon.
On Thursday we continued on into Peru, still on the Juruá River. This short section took less than an hour. For the first time in a long time, I was able to get there without some kind of interruption. Many times I have had to stop to rescue or help somebody in distress. The last trip a group of Peruvian soldiers’ boat had sunk and I hauled them back up river to their post.
We spent the next 5 days with missionary José Maia and Silvánia. We three pastors spent the next 3 days teaching a small group of Hunikuim Indians from our congregations on the Breu River. Let me explain why we had to do this training in Peru rather than at their villages on the Breu River.
We have a large congregation on the mid-section of the river and preaching points on all the middle and lower river. However, there are 5 small villages on the upper section of the river that we had not reached yet. Our Hunikuim pastor is in poor health and has his hands full taking care of the villages where we already have a presence. A Pentecostal group got into these 5 villages and stirred up trouble with the federal government. They wanted to tell the women what kind of clothes they have to wear, putting women on one side during services and men on the other and forbidding the Indians of singing or praying in their own language. A judge heard about this absurdity and laid down the law that until further investigation no more “white” people are allowed into the tribe.
For this reason, we had the leaders come to Peru for us to teach them who and where the Baptist came from and what we believe (basic doctrines). We also needed to inform them of the origins of the Pentecostal movement and what they believe. We sat around a table for 3 days teaching and fielding their questions. We were pleased to see how Baptist these young Hunikuim leaders are.
On the weekend we held services for the folks at Tipisca. The building was packed for the 3 services. There were a few saved.
The river was at mid bank when we started our trip. In fact, it was the same level all the way, which is very rare and a huge blessing. The rains came in a deluge just after we got there. It rained for 4 days non-stop. By the time we left 8 days later the river was raging and out of its banks. This happened across the whole state and has been hard on the river folks. Even so the people came out to hear the Word. Some even came through chest high water at night. Awesome.
In fact, I wish I had space to tell you about an Ashaninka Indian named Joana who came to visit me. You will have to live with the tease until I can tell you her story someday.
Thanks for all 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
Blessed Christmas Musical & Plans for 2024
January 18, 2024
Dear Brethren,
Sure hope you all had as blessed Christmas as we had. The Christmas Musical lasted 6 nights this time. We had over 1000 people every night. On Christmas night we had over 1500. Over 350 of our members were part of the effort. My daughter Crissy writes the script and produces the whole thing. She has a close crew who works with her, of course. One of the TV networks did a long in-studio interview with her. That kind of thing used to end up in my lap, but not anymore. The transition to others is happening. We had heavy rains right up to the first night. Then the Lord said, “Stop!” The rains resumed the very next day after Christmas. The very best part though was that 20 souls were saved.
We had just under a thousand people at our New Year’s Eve service. Two more people were saved that night.
January is usually a slower month. We let folks rest a little before the flurry of activities of the new year kick in. All this month I am preaching from texts about the second coming of Christ. The messages have stirred Christians and there have been more folks saved, too. Two of our pastors are taking their vacations during January, so I have been more active than usual in and out of the pulpit.
We are also restarting our construction cycle and even starting some new building projects. There is still much to be done on our buildings, inside and out. We are also putting in a deep well at church. There are times that city water can’t keep us supplied. Water and electricity have always been a problem here in Cruzeiro do Sul. We are also doing some building at camp Salém.
Bev and I went to visit our congregation in Guajará, Amazonas last Sunday morning. We had a great time with the small group there. A few weeks ago we had to pull our missionary out. He and his wife were about to kill off what had been built up over the years. He is a 50-year old teenager who can’t handle his finances and his wife walked all over him running the show at the congregation. Not a good formula for success. Pastor Pedro and I (plus wives) sat them down to give them the news. We have brought them back in to try to help them find their way for future ministry. We shall see. Not an easy thing to do, but it is part of working with so many different people. Anyway, the few that are left are ready to dig in and get back to work. Bev and I thoroughly enjoyed our time talking with them and making plans for the coming days. They have a big brand-new building that will seat 300 people. There are only about 30 members left, but it will come back, by God’s grace.
Tomorrow I’m off to the upper Moa River. We leave at 6:00AM and hope to make it all the way to the mountains before dark. Two of our missionaries are going with me as well as one of our pastors. Exciting stuff.
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
7 from Remote Tribe Baptized in Ituí River
June 17, 2023
Dear Brethren,
Last time I reported to you, I had been in the States for 2 months. Now it is pushing 5 months. Beverly arrived a couple of months ago, which has made my life much easier through these toughest months of this ordeal. Tuesday will be my final radiation session of 25. I saw the oncologist on Thursday and the surgeon on Friday. Both have given me the green light to return home as soon as I heal a little bit and feel up to it. The original surgery took over 6 weeks to heal then the radiation has undone much of that. However, we hope to start our journey home on July 5th. So far I have spent about $7,000.00 out of pocket. The insurance covered much of the treatment, which, as you can imagine, was astronomical. Hopefully we will get some back. Don’t be shy if you would like to help.
The reports from the field are glowing. People have been saved every weekend.
Our missions conference was in mid-May.
The 3 nights were attended by crowds of 600 plus. Three more surrendered to be missionaries. We preach and teach about how people are called and commissioned to be missionaries. The Holy Spirit performs His power in it all. The 3 new candidates are already in training by Zico (our missions coordinator) and Geverton our full-time missionary at large.
Now let me share a couple of the recent mission trips that our teams have made.
Two of our teams did house to house, village to village, evangelism on the Boa Fé River. This river runs west to east about 50 miles north of Cruzeiro do Sul. It flows into our main river, the Juruá, about 100 miles downstream from us. Since we have a full time missionary and congregation at Gama (about halfway from headwaters to mouth), one team went there overland and went upstream to the last house. The other team went down the Juruá to the mouth of the Boa Fé and worked their way up to Gama, where the 2 teams finished up. That way in just a couple of weeks the 2 teams were able to share the gospel with everyone on the whole river. I haven’t seen the final report that was given to the home church.
Pastor Ezi (one of the 7 pastors of First Baptist Church of Cruzeiro do Sul) went to visit our work among the Marubo Indians. Ezi’s son-in-law is a Marubo and went with him. Ezi’s daughter went, too, taking their 2 children (one is just a few months old)! To get to the tribe they had go down the Juruá River 100 miles to the mouth of the Boa Fé River. Then they had to hike due north for 2 days to get to the reservation. The Indians come out to help them carry their baggage. These Indians end up making this hike 4 times to get our missionaries in and back out again! While there he baptized 7 Maoubos in the Ituí River. That river is actually a tributary of the Amazon River, to give you an idea of how remote and isolated the tribe is. Our full-time missionary there is Ronaldinho. He was born there. We did much of his training, but he also spent a couple of years in a seminary in Rio de Janeiro.
For lack of space, I am holding one more great piece of mission news for my next letter. Sorry about the suspense, but you’ll just have to wait!
Thanks for all your prayers and support. God bless you as much as He has us.
In Christ,
Mike Creiglow
Pastor Ezi baptizing at the Marubo reservation on the Ituí River
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
God’s Kingdom Bursting Along the Breu River
March 23, 2023
Dear Brethren,
Well I have now been here in the States for two months. It looks like I will be here for a while. I have been through many visits to the doctors, many tests and two surgeries. The recovery will be long and even once that is finished I still will have 6 weeks of daily radiation treatments. It could be another three months, so please continue to pray. So far the expenses have been low and some friends and family have been helping out. I am so thankful that Baptist Faith Missions has provided such good health coverage.
Here is some really good news, at least for me. The church down home has paid for Bev’s tickets to come and be with me for the coming months. She will be leaving Cruzeiro do Sul in a couple of weeks. The news from my doctors has all been pretty good. News that Beverly will be here with me is very, very good news.
Things are going well in the work. Attendance has been growing over the last weeks. We are now consistently over 600 in both morning and evening services. We had been just over 500 each in January. February was better. Now in March almost every service has been 600+. Last Sunday 2 more were saved including another young lady from our deaf folks.
Two weeks ago, our deaf ministry started having discipleship classes. We have 4 basic training courses for all new converts. These are now being ministered to our new deaf members.
Last Sunday 2 newborns were presented to the church. We also found out that 6 more couples are expecting. Over the past weeks 3 couples have done “reveals” out at our house and property. This is an honor for Bev and me. Shame I am not there to participate.
As a reminder, our church has a team of 7 pastors. I am the senior pastor. While I am away the others pick up my slack. Pastor Ezi Lopes went to visit our congregation on the Breu River. This river runs along the border between Peru and Brazil. He baptized 22 new members at the Hunikuim tribe.
We sent a missionary there several years ago. José Maia was forced to leave by a federal judge. That is when one of the young girls, Damiana, went to live with Maias in Tipisca, Peru. She got saved and she was the first person that I baptized in Tipisca in 2017. She later returned to the tribe and was used to reach them with the gospel. A couple of years ago I baptized the first 9 converts there. Among them was Cosma, Damiana’s twin sister. One of the young men who was baptized is now their pastor. Aldenir is his name.
When Christ’s kingdom bursts out no one can stop it. The judge kicked out our missionary. One girl left with him. She got saved and went back to her people. Many others got saved. God called one of the young men to shepherd them. I baptized some, but am not there to care for them. Ezi went and baptized another large group. I didn’t tell him to go. One of the videos I saw of the baptism service showed the congregation singing “I have decided to follow Jesus” in the Hunikuim language as they made their way to the river. Who taught them that? Where did that come from? How can that be? It’s not me. It’s not José Maia. It’s not Ezi Lopes. You know who it is! To God be the glory.
Thanks for all your prayers and support. God bless you as much as He has us.
In Christ,
Mike Creiglow
Pastor Ezi baptizes a man in the Breu River 
Baptism of 22 new members at the Hunikuim tribe
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
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
A Unique Story of the Church in Barão; New Engines Needed for Boat Missions
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.
November 15, 2019
Dear Brethren,
Let me begin with a prayer request this time: Cruzeiro do Sul and indeed Brazil is under the worse epidemic of dengue fever ever – please pray. A young woman from our church just died of hemorrhagic dengue and we have many in the hospital or recovering at home right now. In fact, I have been sick for the past couple of weeks and the doctor initially thought that I had dengue. Turns out that I had an infection and am taking antibiotics. Yesterday I finally started to feel a little bit better. The epidemic is so severe that I even got a letter from the U.S. Embassy telling us what precautions to take, etc.!
Since my return from the States a few months ago I had noticed that our attendance had been flat at First Baptist Church. I have been getting all 7 of the pastors together once or twice a week to discuss what is wrong. We have taken care of some disciplinary problems. I have been doing some much-needed teaching in several areas of concern. The attendance has been edging up again and we have had several more saved. In fact, we had our best Wednesday crowd of the year this week. Pastor Ezi brought a lesson about resolving conflicts between members. He had already called on prayer to close the service, when a man came forward and made a profession of faith! We held a baptism and Lord’s supper service earlier this month. We had a big crowd and added 27 new members.
Bev and I were with the Getsêmani congregation at Colônia São Francisco for a weekend meeting. Really big crowds and great services.
Bev also went with me to visit our church at Barão. This is one of our oldest churches. Its story is unique. The original founder of Cruzeiro do Sul, Mâncio Lima, a rubber baron, went up the Moa River, enslaved the Puyanawa Indians, and took over their lands. For years we had a church there, but he or his descendants would not allow the construction of a church building. When I was a boy they still met in the preacher’s home. Later the federal government gave the land back to the tribe. Now they have a nice big brick building. The reservation is now accessible by road. The pastor is Brother Amós, who is the chief’s son. Even though the church is in what is officially an Indian reservation, you really wouldn’t notice a whole lot of difference from any of our other towns. Bev and I visited them for a couple’s meeting on a Saturday night. It rained all afternoon and we did a lot of slipping and sliding in my jeep to get there. There were well over a hundred present.
Last week I was scheduled to be with Igreja Batista da Bíblia at Igarapé Pentecostes, but had to cancel because of my illness. They just lost their pastor, so pray for them.
South America is boiling with all kinds of political upheavals. Please pray for Venezuela, Argentina, Chile, Peru and Bolívia. Brazil has also had some setbacks and needs your prayer, too.
I am in the process of renewing my outboard motors. My 60HP and 25HP are both over 10 years old. Calvary Baptist Church of Hurricane, West Virginia has provided the new 60HP. It has been ordered and is on the road somewhere between São Paulo and Cruzeiro do Sul. It has taken well over a month to get this thing rolling. The trucking company says the engine won’t be delivered until December 6. I have saved back a little money toward the new 25HP motor. It will cost about $5,000.00 with shipping cost included. My first 2 trips with this new engine are to take place in January 2020. One of these trips is to the Purús River. We just sent a new missionary couple there and I need to survey the river from the bridge crossing to Santa Rosa. I will trailer my boat and motor east for 280 miles to the bridge then make my way almost 300 miles up the Purús stopping at some 45 villages just to gather data. That data will be shared with our missionary Lucas. He will then begin the actual mission work along the river. Would you help me buy the new 25HP outboard? These may well be the last engines we ever have to buy for Mike Creiglow. I am now 71 years old. If these 2 engines last 10 more years (like the old ones did) then I would be 81 and it might just be time to slow down and let others take over. We will see what the Lord wants to happen.
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
Read more
