January 2012
by kspence2627 on January 27, 2012
I think we should start out this newsletter by saying Happy New Years! We are so excited to see all that God will do in 2012.
The first thing we ask you to do is pray for Kristin’s father, Brian. We found out today that he is in the hospital undergoing tests to see when he will have heart surgery. Before he came to visit us for Christmas, he had an echo cardiogram done as a routine check up after some minor problems he had a year ago. When he got home his doctor said it looked like there was a leak in his mitro valve in the left ventricle. Two weeks ago he had an angiogram and he was still waiting to talk to his doctor about the results until he went in to the hospital today. It is very likely they will do open heart surgery soon, and they will also be placing a stint in his aorta because it is enlarged. We have recently seen a huge change in him as he recommitted his life to the Lord several months ago, and he is trusting the Lord in all of this. Please pray that God would be with him and give the doctors wisdom. Please also pray for Kristin, as it is very difficult for her to be away from him during all of this.
We also got some big news last Friday at Kristin’s OB appointment, and that is we will be having a little boy! We still haven’t picked out a name yet, but we are very excited about this little addition to our family.
And speaking about the newest edition, we have been praying and seeking the Lord on how we should approach getting this little guy a visa. Very recently, Greece started offering visas for Volunteers. Prior to that they were only offering Independently Wealthy Visas, and we weren’t sure we would be able to qualify for that. Since we will have to get a new visa for this little one anyway, we are planning on making a trip back to the US to apply for the new Volunteer visa. We need to find an organization that will sponsor our visa in Greece, and also a second organization in the US (this basically means that both have to give a reason why we would be living and volunteering in Greece). Please pray that God would give us the right connections and relationships in order to get everything together to be able to apply. We are planning on returning around early September and leaving again around October or November. During our trip we are also praying about having the opportunity to go from California to Colorado to visit family that lives there.
In the last few months we have seen our monthly support drop off a bit. We are trusting the Lord in this area and have been praying and feel that the Lord is telling us to let our needs be known to the body of Christ. We are currently praying for more monthly supporters to co-labor along with us so we can financially afford to stay ministering in Greece. For more information, or if you want to pass on our info to a person or church that might be interested in supporting our family, please check out the PDF on our website.
We also added two new pages to our blog to help people understand what it is we do as missionaries on a day to day basis, and what the religious climate is like in Greece. You can check out these new sections on http://sgwm.com/spencer titled, “Life in Greece,” and “Religious Climate.”
Prayer Requests:
-Brian’s health and that the doctors would have wisdom on how to move forward with his heart condition.
-Health for Kristin and the baby boy she is carrying.
-Provision for our daily needs through more monthly supporters.
-Provision for airfare, visas, and other miscellaneous costs associated with furlough.
-Greece as a country as the government struggles to deal with the financial crisis.
-For the hearts of Greek people to be open to the gospel of Jesus Christ.
“For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” – Romans 8:38
May the Lord bless you,
Travis, Kristin, Ksena, Katienne, and Baby Boy Spencer
December 2011 – Spencer Family Update
by kspence2627 on December 11, 2011
Praise: We wanted to start off this update with the news that God provided for us to purchase αστερι, our new (to us) family car!
As we are writing this update and listening to Christmas music, it is hard to believe that November marked us being out on the field for an entire year. This year has been amazing, and God has shown His faithfulness over and over again in different ways. We went from planning to move to a country none of us had been to before to being at the Bible College in Vajta, Hungary. Then we moved to Greece with 5 suitcases and each other. From there God provided a flat, furniture, and a new life in a new country. We also traveled to Hungary again during the summer to deal with visa issues, and as always, God came through in time for us to return back to Greece. His timing is never too early or too late. Kristin and I celebrated our 6 year wedding anniversary on November 26th, and as we sat at dinner together while friends watched the girls, we were both in awe of God’s plan for our lives since the day we said, “I do.” It’s an understatement to say a lot has changed since then.
We found out a few weeks ago that Kristin is pregnant with our third child and we are joyously anticipating this new addition in late July. A friend was able to point us to a really great OBGYN who is the leading VBAC doctor in Greece, and he has no problem with Kristin attempting a natural birth, just like she had with Kati. So please keep her and the baby in prayer as she is still in the early phases of this pregnancy. That God would develop every finger, toe, brain cell, and everything else.
Kristin was also asked to be part of a Mommy Group at a local evangelical church, and is really enjoying being able to minister and be ministered to in this group. Please pray God would use her and the girls to further His kingdom.
Ministry has been going steadily. We are still having Tuesday night bible studies and Frank is currently teaching through John, and we have also been meeting as a team on Sunday mornings where Frank is teaching through Philippians. We are trying to be faithful to the vision that God has given us, and flexible to new things He wants to bring into our paths as well. We are praying for a full time translator that feels called to Greece to join our ministry. God has been placing it on our hearts to pray for someone that is familiar with Calvary Chapel style, is firmly grounded in the word of God, has a missionary heart, and a heart for Greece specifically. Having a full time translator would really open up the things we could do here, as we are nowhere near fluency ourselves. Language study has been going well, and we thank the Lord for His provision, and our teacher Panos. It feels like we are finally starting to learn the glue that holds this language together.
Please continue to pray for our finances and the finances of the country in general. I read an article in Athens News yesterday that one out of two families cannot afford petrol to heat their homes. It is cold here, and heat really is a necessity. We are praying that God would provide for us to be able to pay our heating bills throughout the winter. They use petrol here, and as you can imagine with gas prices for your car being so high, filling a heating tank to heat your home is very expensive.
We will be having family come and visit for Christmas, so we are very excited about that! Kristin’s father, Brian, and brother, Brandon will be arriving on December 22nd. It will be a blessing to be able to introduce them to all of the new friends the Lord has given us here.
Prayer Requests
1. Please continue to pray for Greece, and as you are celebrating the birth of Christ with your family, please remember to pray for the salvation of so many lost souls here who need Christ in their hearts.
2. For the baby in Kristin’s belly, for health for mom and baby.
3. God’s continued direction for ministering here.
4. A full time translator that is familiar with Calvary Chapel style, is firmly grounded in the word of God, has a missionary heart, and a heart for Greece specifically.
5. Continued grace and diligence in language study.
6. A blessed visit with family.
7. Continued grace for my health and my Ulcerative Colitis.
We truly thank you for your prayers and co-laboring with us over this last year. We pray that the holiday season brings you blessed times of fellowship with our Lord and Father, and that you would be richly blessed in whatever He has placed you in.
“For all the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us.”
2 Corinthians 1:20
Love in Him,
Travis, Kristin, Ksena, Kati, and bun in the oven Spencer
Humbled As Always
by kspence2627 on October 10, 2011
Hey everyone,
Thank you for all of your prayers for the country of Greece and for our family. We have a few things coming up so we thought it would be good to send our a quick prayer update.
There will be a team coming on Friday, October 14th from the bible college in Vajta, Hungary where we attended the Missions Training Program in 2009-2010. Please pray for all of the various outreaches and for wisdom and flexibility for the team coming, and for all of us that are here serving. Our friends the Styles, currently in the Missions Training Program, will be leading the team, so Ksena and Kati are very excited to see their three daughters and have some play time.
Here is "Midas"
God also brought us something we honestly weren’t expecting, and we are humbled to say that we have the opportunity to purchase a car for our family. Thank you all for praying for us in this area over the last six months. God is so good, and He truly hears our prayers. Another missionary family that is going back to the UK was looking to sell it and contacted another family about it that didn’t really feel led to buy it, but that family pointed them to us, knowing how difficult it has been without a vehicle (especially since the transportation strikes have become so frequent). We are really blessed that the Lord placed it on their hearts to think of us. We need to raise approximately $4,000 US dollars to pay for it and all of the fees that go along with registering and insuring a car, so please pray that the Lord would provide. They will be leaving November 1st, so God knows. It is a 2001 Skoda 4-door hatchback that is strikingly similar to the car we sold before we left the US in 2009, a car we loved very much. Since it’s gold we are thinking about naming it “Midas.” Any suggestions are welcome 
On Monday a fellow believer was arrested on the island of Crete for “convincing” a minor to follow Jesus Christ. We are not exactly sure about any of the details, but we ask that you would please pray for this brother during his trial and also for the boy that he witnessed to. We are praying that this will bring more attention to the fact that the EU policy of religious freedom is still not practiced in Greece. Although this is not common, we still want to bathe this situation in prayer.
As always, we appreciate your prayers more than you know, and we thank the Lord upon every remembrance of you!
Servants by His will,
Travis, Kristin, Ksena, and Katienne Spencer
