First off I wanted to do a praise report. Thank you for praying that my new medication would work. It can be difficult to switch to a different formula, but my Greek Ulcerative Colitis medicine seems to be working well now.

Thank you so much for all of your prayers. We have gotten a lot of emails and messages asking us about the unrest in Greece lately, especially in Athens. If you look at the media, it looks like a bunch of unruly Greeks trashing the city, but in actuality, most if not all of the damage is done by extremist groups that take advantage of people that want to peacefully protest by turning the protest into a riot. Greek people would not tear down and burn their own businesses. Even in desperate economic times, that simply does not make sense. The austerity measures that the EU is asking for are very extreme, and many people will not be able to afford food for their families soon, so please pray for this nation. As it is right now, most people are already living off of their savings, and soon that will be gone. I was reading an article that up to 64,000 people will be paid nothing for working this month because of retroactive taxes, and some may even owe the government at the months end. This simply does not make sense, and actions like this are not going to solve Greece’s financial crisis. But above all, the people of this nation need Jesus Christ, so please continue to pray that God would use our small group mightily during this time.

The bible study on Tuesday nights is going well. Frank is teaching the book of John, and there are so many lessons we can learn from the way Jesus lived His life! The last two weeks we have had a new family come, so that has been exciting. I am also going to have an opportunity to start discipling a teenager that Kristin has been tutoring in English the last few months. I talked with his father (a believer that attends Tuesday night studies), and he said that if the young man likes being discipled, we can make it a weekly meeting. He is 16 years old, and our whole family loves him. He is already exhibiting all of the fruits of a brother, and we see the need for him to be taught the bible in a more one on one way. Please pray that the first few meetings would go well, and his thirst for the word of God would increase daily.

On the home front in California, Kristin’s dad, Brian, will be having arthroscopic heart surgery to repair a leaking mitrovalve on March 16th. Originally the doctors thought he would also need to have a stint put into his aorta, but after a barrage of tests, they have determined that besides the leaky valve, his heart is in really healthy shape. Please pray for him, and for our family, as this is still a somewhat dangerous surgery, and it is hard for us to be away from him during all of this.

We are still praying for God to provide for all of our needs to go back to California after the birth of our son to apply for new visas, and also to get some things done that we have been putting off. One of the big things that needs to happen is I need to have oral surgery to have all four of my wisdom teeth removed. My dentist told me that they were most likely impacted two years ago, but we ran out of time to schedule the surgery before we left for Hungary in November, 2010. Please pray that God would provide for us to pay for this procedure, and also keep my teeth from getting worse in the meantime.

Kristin’s pregnancy is going well. She is having some back problems related to an injury that happened during her last pregnancy, but the baby and everything else are fine. Please pray that God would continue to help her with her daily activities through the back pain, and that He would keep her blood pressure normal, as high blood pressure has been an issue during her last two pregnancies.

We are anticipating leaving to go to California in the middle of August, depending on the baby’s arrival time and the paper work we have to do get his passport. This means we will have to buy airline tickets last minute, so pray God would work all of that out. We also want to make ourselves available to speak at different churches, home fellowships, or men’s and women’s groups about what God is doing in Greece. So please feel free to contact us (spencers.abroad@gmail.com) if you are interested in having us come and share.

Thank you for all of your prayers and encouraging notes. We appreciate them so much, and we really appreciate you back home, interceding for the work here in your prayers.

In His everlasting love,

Travis, Kristin, Ksena, Katienne, and Baby Boy Spencer

Prayer Requests:

1. For Kristin’s dad’s upcoming heart surgery. That Brian would have a successful surgery to repair his mitrovalve and that he would have a quick recovery.

2. Kristin’s pregnancy. For her and the baby to be healthy. For the baby to develop correctly, and the birth coming towards the end of the summer.

3. Travis’ opportunity to disciple a young man we know, and that God would continue to grow the Tuesday night studies in His timing.

4. Furlough details, visa paperwork, provision for both.

5. The nation of Greece to recognize their need for a loving Savior who wants to have a personal relationship with them.