November 7, 2008

Dear Brethren,

A few days ago Hudson and I arrived from our last long trip up the Juruá River. The river was at its lowest. Days before we left I kept getting questions from our missionaries in the field wanting to know how I was going to get through. One even said, "Don't come yet. You won't get through." I just kept telling them, "Don't worry. We will be there." Thanks to your offerings I was able to buy the right equipment for the season.

During and shortly after my last furlough several churches and individuals gave generous gifts to help us get the boat and motor we need for the dry season. This year I built an aluminum boat, specially designed for very shallow water. I then bought a jet drive to put on my outboard motor. It is slow and burns a little more gas, but we were able to go the 570 miles to the border and back without hitting one sandbar or log. This boat also has comfortable seats, a top and windshield to keep us out of the extreme sun and rain. Thank you so much!

On our way to Peru we made these visits. We held two services at a village called São Salvador. There were over fifty people in each. There is already a good group of believers in this place. Next stop was to visit the church at Thaumaturgo. We were with them for one service with over three hundred present. Three teens were saved. Out next destination was Foz do Breu on the Peruvian border. We made this our base for the other trips further into the jungle. We stayed with Vando and Cláudia, who are our missionaries in that village. José Maia and family, who work miles up in the Breu River with the Caxinauá Indians, were there waiting for us, too.

Hudson, José Maia, Vando and I went on into Peru to visit the work at Tipisca. Tito and Idélia are our people who work there. They now have another new baby girl (less than a month old) named Cielo, which means "heaven". We pitched our tents in the new building which is now framed up, floored and roofed. Services are still held in Tito's home though. We were pleased to have forty-two people in services that night.

New building at Tipisca

Services in Tito's home

Tito and Idélia and family

Tito reported that he has continued the work further up river that we started among the Ashaninka Indians. He recently visited Dulce Glória and also two of the four villages on the Huacapisteia River. I plan to go with him on a visit to all of these villages early next year. We also plan to visit a new village that was started just last year further up the Juruá.

We returned to Foz do Breu and met with the congregation there again. Then we took our two aluminum canoes and went up the Breu River to visit José Maia's work with the Caxinauás. This village is thirty-two more miles east into the jungle. The river is the border, so all the way Peru is on one bank and Brazil on the other.

Services with José Maia

He still hasn't finished his house yet. He has a floor, thatched roof and two little rooms for the couple and their three kids. The rest of the house is wide open. That is where we set up camp. The Indians are in and out all day long, so they have definitely made many friends already. I was able to visit a couple of the main families in their homes. Had some of their grub, too. You don't want me to describe that, so…anyway. Maia has helped them build the first school building among the Caxinauás. They invited him to go there to teach them Portuguese, so they can defend themselves from the many Brazilians who take advantage of them.

They worship a boa constrictor. They have a kind of corral with a podium at one end, in the middle of the village, where they hold their religious services. We could hear them chanting as we held our family devotion that night. It is going to be a long process. Pray for José Maia and these pagans.

After returning to the village at the mouth of the Breu River we met one last time with folks there. We ended up having a really big crowd for that service. The school kids from Tipisca, Peru had come to play soccer and volleyball with their Brazilian counterparts that morning and afternoon. We invited all the teachers and students to services that night. They added about thirty to our crowd. It is always hard to gauge how much Spanish speaking people understand sermons in Portuguese. I preached Acts 4:12. Several of the students and teachers talked to me afterward. One of the teachers said, "I understood. There is only one Savior."

Well Hudson and I are back home now. The cost for gasoline for this trip was over $650.00. I did give some of it to our missionaries. Thanks to all of you who give extra each month toward these trips. God bless you.

In Christ,

Mike Creiglow