“As it is written, how beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!” Romans 10:15. It has been my aim to advance the work of the Lord wherever and in whatever situation I may find myself ever since I was delivered from the bloody war in Liberia. I came back home to Ghana, where I took upon myself to enter into the Lord’s vineyard to work for Him. I started the work by going from house to house and into the market places and doing dawn broadcasting (going through communities early in the morning with a loudspeaker attached to a car and either preaching or announcing evangelistic meetings), etc.

Later, I began to evangelize the nearby towns, which meant I had to walk long distances, sometimes even at night. Some of my brethren and I were thrown away from some of the homes simply for the sharing our belief in the Sabbath. With all the troubles and discouragement, I took courage from the words of the Lord, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?” Romans 8:35. Therefore I worked assiduously for perishing souls at all times, as the scripture says, “In the morning sow thy seed, and in the evening withhold not thine hand: for thou knowest not whether shall prosper, either this or that, or whether they both shall be alike good.” Ecclesiastes 11:6. “Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.” 2 Timothy 4:2. In spite of all this, the Lord was not forgetful about the work I was doing; some souls were converted and added to the faith, and many consciences were aroused to the Sabbath light and health reform message.

As time passed, our Lord God blessed me with a motor bike with which to work. The bike was actually a big blessing to me, because it made the work easier and made it more convenient to reach the people wherever they were.

I entered into a new field with one brother, an evangelist, to hold an evangelistic crusade after some footwork through personal contact, house-to-house work, and dawn broadcasting. We spoke for a two-week-long nightly crusade in the town called Abenase in the Eastern region of Ghana. During the whole crusade, there were about a thousand people each night, which was very impressive, because the brother who joined me in the crusade program brought with him PowerPoint equipment and a nice, clear PA system.

After this nightly open-air crusade, a government-school classroom was acquired for evening classes and Sabbath morning services. We had thirty to fifty souls attending the evening service and close to thirty converts coming to the Sabbath worship services. As we went on with the follow-up work, a Seventh-day Adventist elder and his family were won to join our true and pure faith. The people of this town are mainly farmers, so we decided to start a farming project to help their living and the church, but the funds that the brother brought to support the crusade were spent. So there were no funds to acquire land for the farming project. Therefore, I planned with some other churches to host a camp meeting in order to raise some funds to acquire land for the farming project.

But unfortunately for the brethren and I, I had an accident with my motorbike when I was returning to the new church for the evening service. I was preparing to go to the camp meeting with the brethren the next day. A larger motorbike ran into mine from behind and crushed me to the ground, knocking me unconscious for a time. I had some deep cuts on my face, hands and all over my body and was bleeding. I also had severe pains at my waist, which made it very difficult for me to walk. I was carried to the surgical ward for some stitches on my face because of the bad cuts. I ended up being hospitalized for some weeks before being discharged. When I was in the hospital bed, my thoughts were of how this young church could survive and how I could walk on my feet again, because of the bad pains at my waist. Praise be unto the God that we serve, for He has kept the church in existence until today, and I also am healed and can walk and work normally like any other person. Even though my motor bike is totalled and the farming project could not go on because of the lack of funds, members of this church have been baptized and are now joyfully worshiping and serving the Lord.

Last year, I planned to enter a new field called Akim Asene near Akim Oda, but had nothing with which to start. I prayed to the Lord for help; and our God, Who is not forgetful of His workers, provided for me some funds to carry on His work. As usual, I began the work with dawn broadcasting, personal contact and literature evangelism. This time, I was the only speaker for the two weeks of the nightly public crusade. During these meetings, I touched on health, the gospel and the prophecies. The attendance during the crusade was great.

After the crusade, I got two brethren to help with the follow-up work. I got a classroom from a Methodist school, where we attend evening services and Sabbath worships. For this room, we were asked to pay some money for rent. A church has been established in this town, by the grace of God. These souls are seriously evangelizing and working for other souls to be won to Christ; therefore, the newly born church is always receiving visitors.

Among the converts, there is a boy named Kofi Emmanuel from a Pentecostal family, whose parents have threatened the church with the police and more. The parents asked the church to expel this boy, so that he might give up the faith of Adventism. Sometimes when this boy is ready for the Sabbath service, his Sabbath clothes will be pulled off of him so that he might not attend the gathering, but he still finds his way to the service. At one time the Bible and some books given to him for studies were confiscated by his older brother, a policeman, and set ablaze on a Sabbath day. Many, many things were done to this boy in order for him to forsake the faith, but it is not to any avail, and he is still remaining in the church until now.

I took a loan from my bankers to purchase an urban bus to run a transport business in order for me to raise funds for a bakery to be established as a project to support the church and an FM radio program. But unfortunately, the vehicle got in an accident due to brake failure. The bus is badly damaged, and I am praying to the Lord to replace it or repair it so that I can continue about His work.

By Samuel Botwe. Ghana. E-mail: s.botwe@yahoo.com