In West Africa, the Adventist presence pre-dates the first missionaries sent by the Adventist Church. This episode explores how this came about and the early history of Seventh-day Adventist mission in West Africa. It brings out the importance of literature in spreading the Adventist message where missionaries had not yet gone, and the crucial role of indigenous believers in propagating the three angels' messages, but it also highlights the self-sacrificial commitment of missionaries to the region, who regularly suffered serious illnesses for which there was then no cure, and had a high death toll.