February 2006

Dear Brethren,

In my last letter I told you about picking up another case of malaria on one of my river trips. That case of malaria made me miss one of the best mission trips of all the following month. I would have gone, but the doctor said a very definite NO. Also, the week of that trip all of my other pastors here at First Baptist were out of town on other projects, so I was left to hold the fort.

The missed mission trip was a major medical, social and mostly evangelistic effort at Thaumaturgo. This town is 200 miles up the Juruá River. Our missionaries there are Emerson Moreno and his wife, Flávia.

The plan was to take a much larger group of workers to spend the week of Carnaval turning Thaumaturgo upside down for the kingdom of Christ. They did it! Carnaval was shut down. Here were some of the activities: Evangelistic services with really great music at the local gymnasium every night, door to door (every house in town) with the gospel, distribution of over 3000 tracts and 1000 New Testaments, all kinds of activities for the kids, haircuts, doctors visits, dental care, dental hygiene, training for local workers, distribution of clothing to the poor, meals for the hungry and much more. The doctors and dentists treated almost 1000 people. There were about 90 professions of faith during the 5 days.

The coordinator for this project is Zico. The Lord saved him just before our furlough in 1995. At the time he was an alcoholic and an adulterer. Even though he could barely read and write he taught himself how to pull teeth, repair some and make plates! The government has finally shut down all of these clandestine operations, but the Lord used it all to put him right up front in the medical ministry of First Baptist Church.

The over 50 team members that went out on this trip could only go by invitation, take our training in the months before the trip and still pay a fee of $20.00 each! We had to rent a big boat to get most of the team up river. We flew most of the medical team in. Zico and his basic team (about 20 people) raised over $7,000.00 to make this trip happen.

Many of you have shown interest in this kind of mission effort. Some are already helping indirectly. Those who bought tents have helped. Handheld radios were very handy in hilly Thaumaturgo. I noticed that someone has already sent in an offering of $250.00 for our global radio telephone. Now we only need about $1,000.00 more to buy the equipment and another $70.00 each month to keep it up and running. Thanks to all who help.

We still want to give you more ways to get involved though. Since 1996 when we started the medical mission trips we have had to borrow or rent the boats that haul supplies and people. This has been a real hassle and big part of the expense. The plane that carries the doctors and dentist belongs to MAF and fills the bill just right. We don’t need or plan to buy a plane since they are here to serve the work in this capacity. We have been praying for over five years about building our own boat for this kind of project. When we first started we had only one project a year. Then we soon went to two yearly. Last two years we have had three clinics each. This year we will have four large clinics and a couple of shorter weekend projects. It is time to get our equipment up to speed. These clinics are funded right here from the field. When it comes to the boat thing though, YOU and I are the ones to put it together. When Andrew and I finish drawing up the plans and estimating costs, we will be calling on you.

It was extremely hard to be here in Cruzeiro do Sul while the team was up at Thaumaturgo having so much fun. It is fulfilling though to see dozens of missionaries going out and being so successful as a result of our training and encouragement. Being able to prepare and send others is one of my major ministry goals. God is making it happen. I praise Him for it.

Time to go for now. Thanks for your prayers and support.

In Christ,

Mike Creiglow