September 7, 2007

Dear Brethren,

In mid-August we finally got in our annual missions conference. There were many other activities going on at the same time, but we still had good attendance. Our conference had to compete with a bingo where they had motorcycles and cars as prizes, and that kind of thing really draws a crowd. That same weekend fell right in the very middle of the Catholic churches' big nine-day party to celebrate the city's patron saint, "Our Lady of Glory". This festivity draws thousands from town and from the interior and even from other cities of Brazil. They say that it is now Brazil's second largest religious festivity. Nevertheless, our building was still full and five people were saved. All nine of our full time missionaries were in from their fields and we had over sixty other workers from closer to town. Brother Tim, from Peru, and Jose Maia, from the border, stayed here at the house. Other members kept the other missionaries. I was supposed to preach just the Sunday night message. We had invited one of our newly graduated young preachers to preach on Sunday night. He got sick at the last minute, so I filled in. It seems that his nerves got to him. It became obvious that I was supposed to preach anyway. Even though our church is very missions thinking, I still really challenged them to take it to a higher level. On Monday morning, an engineer from our church stopped by the office at Andrew's boat factory to buy a brand new boat and motor for our newest missionary. He donated $2,500.00. The boat is being built as I write. It is a 19-foot aluminum canoe with a 13HP Honda tail motor. We will deliver it next month during my next visit to the upper Jurua River.

Our second youth camp of the year was held the week after the conference. Andrew and his team hosted over fifty teens. There are always less teens at this camp because there is no holiday, except a couple weeks' break from school and most of our teens have to work. They usually take mostly saved teens and work with them on their spiritual lives. This camp was no different. It went great and results are still coming in.

We took our doctors, dentists, nurses, cooks, teachers, and evangelist team across river for a one day clinic at Meritizal. Several hundred people were treated by the medical team. A lot of teaching was done during the day. In the evening, they also fed several hundred. All day, thirty of the team members were witnessing house to house. They witnessed in over 500 homes! At night I brought the message. Zico was present, but this was the first time for Neibio to handle all the planning and execution. He did a really good job. We got back to our homes about 11:00 p.m., tired, but pleased that so many people heard the gospel. There were many professions of faith.

A couple of weeks ago I held another one of these really strange funerals. The chief of police, a man from Rio Branco, saved in his youth, messed up married life, but still having a very good testimony before all and who attended our church regularly, lost his life late on a Sunday afternoon. He was taking statements in a bizarre murder case he was investigating. A lady lawyer's naked body had been found strangled and shot on a beach near a restaurant just outside of town. She had over a million dollars in insurance and property that her lover stood to inherit. Our chief was questioning a key suspect. Oddly, the two guards who were supposed to be just outside the door were not where they should have been and the stenographer was not present. A single gunshot hit the chief in his left ear. He was right-handed, by the way. The suspect and lawyer, who were in the room, claim it was suicide. The police say he was making a weapons demonstration during the interrogation and it was an accident. Other investigators are saying a shooter outside the open window murdered him. Amidst a tornado of rumors I preached his funeral on Monday morning. There were over 1,500 inside First Baptist Church and hundreds more could not get inside. I used all the speculation about the cause of death to preach a "to the point" gospel message. It wasn't hard to get their attention. The body was right in front of me as I preached. We may never know in this life what caused Chief Anania's death, but we know THE cause of death and we know where people go who have trust in Christ (regardless of what brought about their death). We also know where people go who do not trust in Christ. He gives me such opportunities!

Well, this is way too long, so I must stop right now. Thanks for all your prayers and support.

In Christ,

Mike Creiglow