This is an article I wrote after returning from Ghana in 2006.

“This Trip Will Change Your Life.”

“This trip will change your life!” I had been told this from the time I decided to take this missionary trip to Ghana. Time and time again I was told: “This will change your life.”

As I think back on the trip and consider our experiences, I ask myself if my life has “changed”. Am I somehow different? I wonder?

I think about the personal hardships we endured on the trip: the long hard travel to remote villages; the heat; the conditions in which we lived; the strange foods we ate and the fear of disease or sickness; the long hours and little sleep. The poverty we all witnessed. The three and a half weeks away from family. These things and more were endured. Would this change me?

Then I think of the accomplishments we were blessed with during the campaign. The Word of God was spread all over Ghana. From the South Region to the North, then to the Eastern Region and back to the South!

I consider the numbers. Three congregations were established and several existing congregations were strengthened. Souls added to the church: 165! Unnumbered souls will assuredly be added to the church as Christians, new and old, were encouraged and will continue the work.

I wonder how many of the 437 people served will remember the church that provided the medical treatment and medication, free of charge, during the clinic we hosted? And how many lives will be changed by the wells the church has drilled providing safe drinking water. And how we were there to witness one of these wells joyfully opened for use. Will the church grow as “Living Water” is preached and provided with the “physical water” from these wells?

I think about all the preaching we did and the Gospel that we were blessed to spread, and how the Bible assures us that His Word will not come back empty.

Finally, I consider the life long friendships I’ve made on the campaign. We leave these faithful Ghanaians behind to continue the work throughout the year. These are men and woman who long for July to come around so that they can once again travel Ghana with their U.S. brethren taking the Gospel to their beloved countrymen.

So, have I changed? I think so. My experience leaves me with a greater compassion for the Ghanaian people and a greater passion to preach God’s Word. I have more confidence as well. I am also left with a feeling of accomplishment and a desire to do more. I see the “goodness” in people who support the work monetarily or through prayer.

So yes, I have changed. My faith has been strengthened. I better understand the plight of the missionary and his work and am more ready to support such works. I realize that anyone, even “little old me”, can make a difference when God is placed first in one’s life and we simply “Get to the Work.”

Am I ready to go again? As one of my Ghanaian brothers says, “Eveready!” To God be the glory in all things. Thank you for your interest.

Tim Simmons