My experience in Ghana was one of the most important experiences of my life. I knew that God took me out there for a reason, and I am thankful because I know what that reason was.

When God has called me and I have accepted, I have seen His hand working through me in very vivid ways. This trip was no exception. God put me on that plane, flew me for about 20 hours, and began to teach me my mission. However, the process was not easy. I faced trials and obstacles different from any I had ever faced before. I encountered a culture foreign to my own. I was completely ignorant about it, but once again, God used me in spite of me!

When I arrived in Ghana, I was clueless to all the experiences I was going to encounter in that place. I had no idea of the great war zone I was about to step foot into. However, God fought the battle for me, and was victorious.

Each night, as I stepped unto the platform and stood behind the pulpit, I could feel the great controversy happening right before my own eyes, God in one corner, and Satan himself in the other. Just like any good match, there was tension in the air, and the opening bell was the sound of my voice. As soon as my opening prayer would begin, I could literally feel all the energy begin to drain. Little by little, as the sermon went on, my energy would leave me, to the point that I would have to hold on to the pulpit, or drink full bottles of water. The devil was trying to stop me from preaching God's truth. It was interesting, and somewhat scary, because whenever we would mention very important points of how Satan is trying to deceive us today, he would try to interfere by bringing on a distraction. Many times, as we would mention important points, our lights would go out. Also, whenever we were making an appeal for people to give their lives to Christ, as the appeal was being said, the microphones would stop working. One night, this happened repeatedly—eight times in about ten minutes. I would get all sorts of distractions, even a goat walking back and forth in front of my pulpit. Any little thing the devil could do to distract, he did. Thankfully, the prayer teams were doing their jobs, and the translator and I were praying, and in the end (of course), Jesus was victorious.

One of the most amazing experiences I went through during the meetings was when we were going to talk about the Sabbath. Before the service began, I went to my usual praying spot, a soccer goal, and prayed for a good 15 minutes. As I was praying, I noticed the sky, and realized how cloudy it was, and that it would start raining any second. Our site was outdoors, in a soccer field. Therefore, I asked God to stop the rain, so that the people could hear the message, which was very important. After I prayed, I looked up to the sky, and realized that it was slowly clearing up, so I went up on the platform feeling confident. The crusade singers began to sing, and I prayed. As soon as I began my sermon, the rain began to fall on us. A big tent covered me, but the congregation was out in the open in chairs. The rain got intense in a matter of seconds, and the people were beginning to get up and leave. As I realized that this was Satan himself trying to ruin our meeting and obstruct people from learning, I decided to pray. I stopped in the middle of my sermon, and asked the congregation to join me in prayer. Everyone was somewhat shocked because preachers do not usually interrupt their sermons with a prayer! However, I knew that it was the right thing to do. I asked God for help. I said, "Dear God, I know that the devil does not want this meeting to go on. But You do. So in the Name of Jesus Christ I ask that you cast the devil and any other evil spirit out of here, and may Your Presence be the only one here tonight."

As soon as I said this, I paused for a little while and realized that the rain was diminishing little by little. There was silence for a few seconds as the rain was stopping. Then I stuck my hand out of the tent to feel the rain falling and said, "Lord, we can see that You are answering our prayer as we speak. We want to welcome you to this, Your service. Please be with us for the rest of the night. In Jesus' name, AMEN." When I finished praying, I heard a powerful AMEN from the congregation. The rain had stopped. God answered our prayer as we were praying it! It was the most amazing feeling in the world.

There were countless other experiences where we could feel God's hand working right before our eyes. A mother asked me to heal her son from occasional blindness. I knew I that I did not have the power to perform a miracle. Therefore, I told the woman that I did not have the power to heal her son, but I worked for someone who is the Giver of life, and only He could heal her son. The three of us, in faith, prayed to God to have mercy on the child and if it was His will, to heal the boy. I went to my hotel, and prayed about it some more. A few nights later, the woman came to me rejoicing and thanking me for praying for her son, because ever since the night we prayed, the blindness had not come back. This experience brought me to my knees. There is so much power in prayer, and now I do believe that faith can move mountains.

All these experiences showed me how great and powerful the God I serve is, and that in His presence no harm can reach us. I matured spiritually during this mission trip. I had the opportunity of going back to the "old school" Adventism, and I realized how beautiful it really is. In addition, I realized how much truth we have and how urgent it is for us to take the message to the world. There are so many important things that we should know. Many of us have grown up Seventh-day Adventists, but have no idea why. It is time to go back to the basics.

It is now time for some action. That is exactly the call that God had for me out there. God flew me 20 hours over the ocean to tell me that I need to preach this same message to the people that surround me. I believe I have been called to speak to people who have heard the truth, but have not given truth the importance it deserves. Therefore, it is my goal to continue my evangelistic work here, at home. I want to show my youth group that we are all part of this remnant movement, and are a group of God's people who will be seeing at the end of time. I want my friends and family to be aware of how important these messages really are, and that they have to be taken seriously.

I thank God for the opportunity I had to go and preach the Word, and for the new call that He has given me. We saw God working in and through us for the three weeks we were there. And by the grace of God, 1,415 people gave their lives to Christ in baptism. It is amazing, all the things that can happen when you say yes to God when He calls.

I recommend this experience to everyone. If you hear God calling you, go. The twelve disciples were not the best-qualified people around, but God knew He could use them. In the same way, the nine disciples from La Sierra University: we were not qualified, but God used us in spite of ourselves. "God does not call the qualified, He qualifies the called."