May 7, 2007

Dear Brethren,

It has now been a month since Bev and I returned from the States and our four month furlough. We still fondly remember all of you who were so kind and generous as we visited churches in the United States. It is so good to be home, though. God has been blessing so much in the few short weeks that we have been back home.

Ten days ago I went on my first long mission trip up the Juruá River. Missionary Hudson went with me. The river is still fairly high, so we were able to go in the runabout. It took us just over seven hours to go the 200 miles to Marechal Thaumaturgo. I preached to well over 100 at the prayer meeting. They are still in the old wooden building, but very soon we will have them in the new brick building. The new building is over 3000 square feet. Attendance on Sunday night is running over 250. The new building should hold over 800, so they should be okay for a little while.

We continued up river for another 100 miles to visit our work at Foz do Breu, on the Peruvian border. I preached to the young people on Saturday night and all services on Sunday. Missionary José Maia is filling in there until time for him to move into the Indian tribe where he and his family will be establishing a work among the Caxinauá indians.

On Monday morning six of us went up the Breu River to one of the Caxinauá villages. The Breu is the border between Brazil and Peru. The river runs from east to west. North of the river is Brazil and south is Peru. This is a tiny river with many shallows, log jams, stumps and a few rapids. We went in two of our River Craft aluminum canoes that my son Andrew builds. It took us four hours to go the thirty plus miles to the Indian village. As you can tell, that is slow going. The average speed is less than eight miles per hour. It is still much faster than dugout canoes and we only had to get out a few times to pull the canoes over logs and shallows. A dugout would have taken all day and very much energy dragging through the obstacles.

There are 120 people in the village we visited. There are three other smaller villages. They announced our arrival by blowing some kind of horn. The chief was away hunting, with other men from the tribe. They were hoping to get back while I was there with some fresh game. I did get to meet the patriarch of the village, who is the chief's father. I also stopped to visit the witch doctor. These people really like to eat and take great pride in feeding their visitors. We had bananas, peanuts and manioc. They do not cook with salt, so the manioc was very bland.

The name “Caxinauá” means “bat people”. This is a name that white people gave them. Their real name is “Hunikinin” which means “the true people”. I wish I had space to tell you the fable that makes them “the real people”. Sorry. Maybe another time.

After our visit to the Caxinauás Hudson and I went across the border into Peru to visit missionary Tito. He is doing a great job at Tipisca and will be helping us look out for the other mission points on that side of the border. Three of us are going in together to buy him a small tail motor. I have required that he work with the congregation to buy his boat. We want him to buy one of our aluminum canoes. The advantages of lighter weight, durability and savings in time and money are so great that it is the only way to go.

I checked to make sure that all of our building supplies are accounted for and to check the documentation for the property. We will be building soon.

While there, I also took a couple of hours to talk to the district governor, who is a direct appointee of the president. He is the highest authority in the region. We talked extensively about the invasion of virgin jungle areas on the border by squatters from the Andes region. These are being encouraged and financed by big lumber companies, who are already extracting lumber with or without permits. I showed the governor pictures of two of these settlements that just sprang up over night on the Breu River. The governments of both countries are concerned about this development. They are not as concerned as we are, though. After they rape the land of all the good lumber the next step is planting coca. Please pray. This is a potential danger for our missionaries and our work. There has already been friction between the squatters and the Indian tribes on both sides of the border.

On the way back down river I stopped for another day and night at Thaumaturgo. There were some details to work out on the new building and also some meetings with workers to plan the next steps in the mission work way up there. Things are looking good. The trip was extremely profitable. Much was accomplished in the eight days I was up there.

Gasoline for my trips in April cost $605.00. Gas here in Cruzeiro is costing $6.04 per gallon. At Thaumaturgo I bought it for $7.11 a gallon! Please don’t forget your missionary. Already in May I have made two short trips to visit works in the interior. Next week I will be going down river over 100 miles. Please keep me motorized and fueled up!

Thanks to all for the faithful prayers and support. This letter is longer than I intended and there was much more to tell. Hopefully, though, this will keep up your appetite for missions. Continue to pray that we will reach every creature in this part of the world with the gospel.

In Christ,

Mike Creiglow

Mission team visiting Caxinauás indian village

Going through shallows with aluminum canoes on Breu River

Sunday morning service at Foz do Breu