“God has given gifts to each of you from his great variety of spiritual gifts. Manage them well so that God's generosity can flow through you.” 1 Peter 4:10 What are your spiritual gifts? Are you allowing God to use you and your gifts to bless others or are you holding back? As a home school mom, serving others and serving at church in variety of ways, and having been on 2 prior mission trips, I thought I was surely using my gifts to their full potential. Whenever God called I was there or an opportunity arose I was available. What else could HE do with my gifts? On a recent short term mission trip to Africa, God showed me how HIS gifts may not all be so complex or require skill as I had thought before. They may be as simple as a smile or an encouraging word. My expectations of gift potential were not in line with God’s and were hindering me from being used and from sharing the simple Gospel message.


First, I will share that it was not my desire to go on another trip. I have gone for the past two summers to Uganda and Australia and was looking forward to a “normal” summer. Through a series of events and prayer the Lord changed my heart towards returning to Africa and showed me HE wanted me to go on this trip. I remember the Spirit telling me “Obey when I command and I will supply for your needs.” HE paid for my trip fully through donations of others and donations of items that I sold at yard sales. It was amazing watching every penny come in.

My trip was not without opposition from others and the enemy. The WORD says in Ephesians 6:12, “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” How true this verse was for this time! I knew this trip would be more challenging and stretching than ever before. Thankfully I had people praying for me everywhere! Half of them I did not even know! I was so blessed by the prayer. It made the challenges to come, easier to bear. I had an array of challenges DAILY. The top 3 challenges were; being sick before, during, and after the trip with a number of things including the swine flu, a few trips to the urgent care to receive an I.V., and my luggage was lost for the duration of the trip. I had prayed prior to leaving that nothing would change hinder me from doing what God had called me to do on this trip or from utilizing my gifts. Thankfully, none of it did.

Two teams left for an amazing life altering adventure to Kenya and Sudan. Teams have been going to Africa for the past five years, with our church; Maranatha Chapel and Far Reaching Ministries (FRM), a global missionary organization. Teams are sent to serve and encourage the churches FRM has helped to establish in Uganda, Kenya, and their main base in Sudan. Teams assist with an array of ministry activities; women’s conferences, retreats, Pastor’s conferences, Sunday school, and more. They also help with a Love Covers event, which is like a VBS but on a larger scale. Typically there are 500+ children who are taught Bible lessons all day, and the final day they are presented with backpacks packed with toiletries, underwear, a blanket, mosquito net, a set of play clothes, and a uniform for school. These kids never see anything new let alone receive anything new. It is an amazing blessing!!

In Sudan, FRM is widely known for their Chaplain program. Men are trained extensively through the Bible, women’s and children’s ministry, and are trained for battle. Upon graduation from this program they are restationed and are daily working to spread the Gospel with others, protect the innocent from war, and aid the people in their area. It is their prayer to change the heart of Africa through these Chaplains.

The Lord blessed us in the beginning of the trip with extra time in London, so we were able to walk around London, which I have never done before. When we finally arrived in Entebbe, Uganda airport, we were exhausted, but overjoyed to see what the Lord had in store for all of us. The following day we took small airplanes and flew over Uganda to Sudan. From that high up you really are able to appreciate God’s creation and HIS greatness as you fly through clouds, fly over the Nile river, and over miles of green.

We were greeted on the dirt airstrip by the Chaplains singing welcoming songs and praise songs. The large compound in Sudan is guarded and very basic; bed and mosquito net, electricity on from 7-10pm daily, community sink, toilets that flush with buckets of water, and water conserving showers (turning on and off in between lathering). There is a kitchen area where your meat is freshly killed and skinned, your beans, rice, posho (rice flour paste with the consistency of play-doh), and chipati (the African tortilla) is made over open flame. There are barracks for men going through the chaplain program, seamstress school building, literacy program building, and to many local kids hanging out to count!!

During our eight day stay in Sudan, we helped with a 3 day Love Covers event at a primary school in Pageri, (a bumpy one hour drive), a women’s conference and Sunday School at the compound, a two day women’s conference at Calvary Chapel Nimule (a bumpy 1.5 hour drive), childcare for the women at the conference, shopping and a home visit to women attending the church at the compound. The women at the conferences gave our team gifts of a goat, eggs, chickens, and katanges (African patterned cloth used to make clothing) through very special dances and songs they had learned just for our arrival. They worship through song and dance. This “dance party” can last for hours! During this time we really connected with the women and shared lots of laughs as we attempted to dance as they did! At the end of the conferences we handed out small gifts to the women that Maranatha ladies had made and put together. They were thankful for all we had done which was humbling as we consider it nothing in comparison to what we do here at home.

Everyone had their own assignments for the trip along with teaching the kids. I was in charge of writing 7 dramas for the kids and women. This was a huge challenge for me. After endless prayer, countless hours of preparation, writing and rewriting, and losing half of our props because they were in my luggage that was lost, they turned out amazing! The kids and women laughed and laughed! The children at the school went home and did the plays for their parents and friends. Many parents came back the next day and were commenting on how much their children had learned in one day because of the plays. They were sharing these simple plays with their communities and sharing the Gospel without even knowing! Praise the Lord!!

After a busy time we were blessed to fly back to Uganda and visit Calvary Chapel Kampala and Calvary Chapel Entebbe. Having been to both churches before, it was awesome to see their growth, church services, and their fire for the Lord. My heart leaped for joy when I got to revisit these churches I had had spent so much time at before.

After such a jam packed time of worship, service, chatting with new friends, witnessing God’s grace unfold before my eyes, and being challenged beyond belief, I was praying for God to show me a verse or an epiphany to take back home. He had already showed me my expectations of the entire trip were not in line with HIS, how only when I disregard those expectations, HIS glory can truly shine, and when I allow God to work rather than me take over, HIS message will be shared to the ends of the earth rather than this group we are with. HE had revealed so much more through every trial and challenge, but I still felt like there was more. That is when I heard the Lord say, “You have finished this race well.” After all the praying, planning, and preparing, and throwing it all out the window, HE still thought I had finished the race well!

All the gifts I thought were my greatest asset turned out to actually hinder how God wanted to use me. HE wanted my availability to smile and serve without being prepared or thinking about it first. HE wanted me to play and teach without a lesson plan but with HIS real love that I experience daily. HE wanted me to depend on HIS physical strength and depend on HIM for the words to share when sharing my testimony. Trusting the words would be HIS used for HIS glory despite how embarrassed I am about my past.

Thankfully the trip has radically changed my life, again. It has made me bolder, humbled, and truly seeking the Lord to find out what my gifts are, and where HE desires to use me. So I challenge you, where does God have you serving now? Do you think you are being used completely according to HIS desires? Are you avoiding potential growth by limiting yourself through personal expectations? Pray and allow HIM to work through you so you may bless others according to God’s will. It will be so much more than you ever could imagine!! Ruby Boveda