NTM

Bonjour touts le monde,
Wow what a first couple of weeks this has been. As most of you know I am in Canada now studying French. The process it took to get here was a story in itself (with all the paperwork and things like that.) God is good and as of last Friday the last piece of paperwork was finalized and I am now set to be here for a year. I came up the 3rd and as soon as I crossed the border I saw all the signs were in kilometers. My car only has a few marks on the speedometer for kilometers and none of them were the ones that were on the road signs. I am sure I must have broken the speed limit a couple of times. Oops. When I got to Sherbrooke (which is the city I am in) I drove around for at least an hour trying to find the French school. The road signs and signals have different meanings so I am sure I broke some more rules. I finally got to Parole de Vie (Word of Life). It is a great school where most of the staff here are missionaries themselves. The first day was testing to see where I was going to be placed. After the test results they said my speaking and comprehension was on an intermediate level but my grammar and spelling was that of a beginner. They placed me in intermediate but I had to do some catching up on grammar. The classes are small so that helps when a certain “person” needs help. The school also has bible school for French speakers in Quebec. Most of them are teenagers. I eat lunch with them in the dining hall and hang out with them in the lounge so that is a help to my French.
After getting settled in my apartment I went to town to do some shopping. It is so weird here because you see a modern US looking city but when people talk to you it sounds funny. I find myself thinking why they don’t just speak English. After finding the grocery store (another long story of one way streets) and going inside I was literally hit with culture shock. People in the store would bump your cart to let you know that you needed to move faster. Trying to read labels in French at the same time makes you kind of flustered. In the end I ended up with a lot of ground pork instead of hamburger. When I went to check out all the “checkout lines” (if you can call them that) were backed up. On top of that you had to bag your own groceries. I have never bagged groceries before and I had a lot of them. I knew it was going to take a long time . God must have seen my predicament and made me the last person to go through that check out. It took me long time to bag my groceries but nobody was pushing me.
I am so excited to be here knowing that this is the last step in getting to Guinea. I know that the time will pass by quickly. Thank you for your partnership with me in prayer and support in reaching the people of Guinea. Someday soon I will be writing from Guinea telling more stories of God’s goodness. I will try to keep you updated as much as possible but the emails probably won’t be this long. Below is my address. You just send mail to the school with my name on it and they will put it in my box. Another thing too is that my cell phone does not work up here so if I get a phone I will let you know the number. God bless.
In Christ
P.J. Spencer

Dear Friends and Family,

It has been awhile since I have written so I will try to catch you all up to date. Right now I am in a class called dobu. It is a class on how to learn another’s culture. It is a fun class with a lot of homework. We meet with a “tribal” helper and asks questions about the things they do and things they believe. The “tribal” helper puts on make up to make himself brown and speaks in broken English. I feel myself actually getting into the act and hardly realize he is one of my teachers. One funny instance is the dobu people believe that you have to drink water when you are learning something, and not just a little but a whole 2 litters. My partner and I tried our best to down the 2 litters but between the both of us we could only drink three quarters of it. The helper laughed and said we needed to practice more. I don’t think it helped me learn any faster and I found it hard to concentrate on the rest of the session. It is a great class and I am finding it will be very helpful in the future.
Since I have learned that I will be graduating in march, my planning for after I graduate has gone high speed. I have been preparing presentations and getting in touch with churches and such. I would really appreciate prayer in this area as it is new to me. Also I have gotten in touch with the field of Guinea and told them of my intent to go there. They wrote back and said to come on over so I am now officially on my way. They gave me a lot of good information on where to study French and it helped me to make the decision to go to a Word of Life program in Quebec. I still have not decided when to go yet but trusting God will let me know soon. After graduation I plan on going to Florida for awhile and then on to Pennsylvania. I really appreciate your prayers as I move on to this new chapter in my life. It is amazing to see how God is working already. Till next time.

P.J. Spencer

(This is my address till March 14)
134 Main Dr. #6065
Roach, MO 65787

(This is my address after that)
130 Bolivia ct
Sanford, FL 32771

Dear Friends and Family,

          This is not much new here. We have just completed a class called phonemics. It was tough and I did not understand it very well. It is good though that some people understand it and they will be staying another semester and a half after I am gone to study it more. I start a grammar class tomorrow. I don’t know what to expect though I think I will like it.

           Last night was outreach and I have been asking prayer for building relationships with the kids at young life. Well we had a scavenger hunt all around town and through that I was able to spend time with the kids. The Lord answers prayer. One last thing. I have updated my website with my testimony and a few more pictures. I am kind of at a loss at what to put on my website. If there is anything you guys would like to see pictures of or information on something just let me know. I would appreciate the help. Till next time.

Prayer and Praise

• Praise the Lord for the opportunity to be involved with the kids lives

  at Young Life

• Pray for me that I would continue to grow in the Lord

In Christ,

P.J. Spencer

Dear Friends and Family

Wow like I said before time flys! It has been awhile since I have last written. There is so much to say. First of all I will start with the Christmas Break. I had a great time in Florida spending time with family. I was busy working which was an answer to prayer. I was on a construction site working with some tough people. The language was not the greatest either. But through that I was able to be a witness. One guy in particular I was able to have some deeper conversations on God and Christ. I felt so privileged to be used of God and humbled as I was in constant prayer asking for the Lord’s help when we were talking. Through this job as well I was able to pay for this next semester of school which is another answer to prayer. The Lord is good. Also an opportunity came for me to speak at the youth group where my parents attend church. This was another time of dependence on the Lord. It went well and the kids asked questions at the end. On the way back to Missouri my flight was canceled and I had to reschedule a couple of days later because of an ice storm. I did not miss any days of class because the storm was so bad that classes were delayed a week. This semester we are finishing up Phonetics and starting a class called Christian life 2. This class teaches us our position in Christ and how that effects our daily walk. New Tribes I believe is very good a preparing us for the tough life we will have in the jungle. If we do not know how to depend on the Lord now and walk with Him we will mostly likely be discouraged and leave the tribe. That is about all for now. I would like to end with a few prayer request and praises.

• Praise the Lord that my school bill for this semester is paid off

• Pray for my outreach that I will be able to connect with the kids I work with

• Pray that the Lord will make is clear to me what to do this summer.

In Christ,

P.J. Spencer

Paul J. Spencer

134 Main Dr. #6065

Roach, MO

Website: ntm.org/pj_spencer

Prayer and Praises
- Pray that I will continue to grow in the Lord
- Praise the Lord that my school bill for this semester is paid off

- Pray for my outreach that I will be able to connect with the kids I work with
- Pray that the Lord will make is clear to me what to do this summer.

      December 2006   
      I have started a new class called New Testament Church Principles. We are taking our traditional views of church and filtering them through the Bible to determine what is biblical and what is traditional. This will be very useful when establishing a church in a tribe someday. Phonetics is still going well. It is building on itself and getting more difficult but not too hard. I have a week of classes left before I go to Florida for Christmas break. It will be good to get a little rest.
          Things are going well here. As I write I see a new four-plex being constructed. This will be for student housing. It is amazing to see God at work here. For thanksgiving I went to South Dakota and stayed with some friends that I used to work for in the summers. It was great catching up. Other than that nothing is new. Next time I write it will be 2007. It is amazing how time flys. Have a good Christmas everyone.