Rock of Ages lyrics / Sandra McCracken

Where my title "Hope Secure" comes from:

Genesis 12:1-3

Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you. 2 And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

Hebrews 6:14-20

"For when God made a promise to Abraham, since he had no one greater by whom to swear, he swore by himself, 14 saying, “Surely I will bless you and multiply you.” 15 And thus Abraham, having patiently waited, obtained the promise. 16 For people swear by something greater than themselves, and in all their disputes an oath is final for confirmation.17 So when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose, he guaranteed it with an oath, 18 so that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us. 19 We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain, 20 where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek."

Rock of Ages lyrics / Sandra McCracken

Rock of Ages, when the day seems long
From this labor and this heartache I have come
The skies will wear out, but You remain the same
Rock of Ages, I praise Your name.

Rock of Ages, You have brought me near
You have poured out Your life-blood, Your love, Your tears
To make this stone heart come alive again
Rock of Ages, forgive my sin

Rock of Ages, Rock of Ages
Bind your children til' your kingdom comes
Rock of Ages, Your will be done

Rock of Ages, when in want or rest
My desperate need for such a Savior I confess
Pull these idols out from my heart embrace
Rock of Ages, I need Your grace

Rock of Ages, broken, scorned for me
Who am I that You would die to make me free?
To give me glory, You took the death and pain
Rock of Ages, my offering

Rock of Ages, "It is done," You cried
The curtain's torn and I see justice satisfied
Now write Your mercy here on my heart and hands
Rock of Ages, in faith I stand

Rock of Ages, my great hope secure
Your promise holds just like an anchor to my soul
Bind your children with cords of love and grace
Rock of Ages, we give You praise

New

I started this blog back in 2008 as I had just decided to return to Kenya for a second 2 month trip with Mission to the World on a "StreetChild" Internship.

Now my desire is to share my love for missions and photography through this blog. Here is an article that gives more background on that:

http://www.thewestminstervision.com/2012/10/30/alumni-spotlight-joanna-haas-hancock-07/

All the proceeds from my photography go toward supporting a missionary or a missions organization that is currently on my heart at the time. It is a joy for me to be able to give above and beyond in this creative way.

My hope is that this blog will help me remain focused on God's Kingdom and my role in taking part of His desire for his name to be spread all over the earth. The spread of this good news that Jesus has come to rescue us from death to give us new life in Him for eternity and is working now to make all things new.

Revelation 7:9-10

 9 After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”

Peris, one of the many children in Kenya whose beauty I loved to capture and who ignited a passion in me for family and child photography.

My poster girls, the first little ones to be photographed for my missions photography!

 

I am grateful for the friends who have trusted me to take their photos and have encouraged me in my pursuit of photography and support of missions.



"Therefore we do not lose heart."

Friday, July 10
Jacob led our "rumination" (discussion) time on 2 Corinthians 4:16-18.
" 16Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. 17For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. 18So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal."
It was encouraging to remember that Kibera, poverty, pain is what we see and experience here on earth, but is temporary. There is something completely opposite in extreme that we will one day experience that will be so glorious and amazing. When God returns to make all things new and right, there will be joy and worship of God that will be so incredible, that will outweigh all the pain experienced on earth. We talked about how we had been hit hard with the poverty this week. Yet in spite of the poverty, we have seen how Christ has transformed their lives. They know that Christ is all they need in this life and they are joyful in that hope. While nice homes and clean water would help, eternally, only Christ can give life (that is eternal) and the hope to live in this life. His love is what is sustaining.

Saturday, July 11
Prepared all morning for the Uhuru girls Bible Study with Grace. We decided to talk about the 5 women in Jesus’ genealogy and tie it into 1 Corinthians 1:26-31 where God uses the weak things of the world so that he might receive the glory. I really enjoyed preparing the lesson and looking through the Word to prepare. We left for Uhuru at around 2pm. I spent the first part of the time playing frisbee with a bunch of younger kids. Derrick, from the 5th grade, and his friend Ada, then Paul and Collins joined us. They did not attend the Church, but I tried to invite them, through Derrick translating. They were kind of shy and left a bit after a larger group of boys came to join us. They were a lot of fun and I learned most of their names as I tried to make it a game to say the persons' name you were tossing the frisbee to. Then it was time to meet for the Bible study. We had a pretty large group of girls and Grace, Carol and I taught together. Then we split up into two groups, older and younger, to dive a little deeper and ask questions. It was very difficult and the younger girls with me and Grace were very shy. After the study, we passed out sandwiches and juice. Ended with prayer, and last words of good-bye as this was our last Saturday at Uhuru with the youth. Everyone was so sad and as each of us were given a chance to talk, I told them I'd had fun with them and would be praying for them. Gave hugs and hand-shakes and said good-bye. Most of the girls had been so shy around me and I was surprised when I received hugs from a few of them I hadn't talked to much.
As we drove home for dinner, our van broke down and it took us a while to get it started again. We at at the Karen Blixen House for dinner, and it was amazing. We went with the Makuku's and it was fun to hang out with the boys, Elmer and Isaac. They are about the same age as my cousins and so it was funny to see the similarities in their interests and personalities. Isaac was showing us a "magic trick" and they both made faces with us.
Sunday, July 12
In Church I enjoyed the singing and dancing so much. It was really amazing to experience their joy that they have in Christ amidst the poverty that is here. You can't fake that kind of joy.

Home Visits in Kibera (July 9)

Thursday, July 9,2009: Today we did home visits for the first time in Kibera. Purity, Carol, Wycliffe, George, Josh and I were able to go. We followed one of the little girls from the school to her house to visit her mother. The way was windy and sometimes very narrow, through mud and piles of trash, jumping over streams of water beyond dirty. The path took us through a large market road with a variety of shops on both sides, so different from our usual walk through neighborhoods into Kibera.
We walked through a corridor of homes and found Sarah cooking chapatis outside. Sarah picked up her baby and welcomed us into her home. It was a small room, with a few chairs and a bench around the sides. The curtain that was hanging down from the ceiling near the door was pulled back to let us pass and let in some light. A few pictures and calendar hung from the tin walls. Other than a cabinet and table, the room held little else. We sat down, made introductions, I prayed for her, and Wycliffe shared Psalm 62. Carol translated for us and shared that Sarah is HIV+ and attends the Church’s Support Group Bible study. Sarah’s family had been dealing with a lot of sickness recently and she asked that we pray for her man, who many not be born again. We were told that the community Sarah lives in is predominately Muslim, a difficult place for her to be as a born-again Christian. I shared Ephesians 3:14-21 with her and said we’d be praying for her; that God would strengthen her, heal the family, and I encouraged her that God is a great God who can do big things-nothing is impossible for Him to accomplish. *Pray that God would protect her from persecution, that she would know God is always with her and loves her, that God would use her to reach out to her community, and that her man, whether her husband or not, would put his faith in Christ if he hasn’t already.
The next path we took was in a much worse condition. The path was narrow between homes, trash and dirt everywhere, and a darkness that was more than just a lack of sunlight. I was so confused when we met a man in the narrow passage, talked with him and then we were guided in through a small doorway. It took a while for my eyes do adjust to the darkness. I felt like I was entering a cave. The floor was uneven and I had a hard time keeping my balance. I scooted over to sit by Carol on a bench. I saw an older woman sitting on the bottom of what looked like a tiny bunk bed. Purity sat near her on it, then Carol, George, Josh, and I sat on the bench, the man sat across from us and Wycliffe stood in the doorway. There literally was no room for anyone to fit in this room. It could have been the size of a closet. A little table stood in the middle of the room.Black and grey rags covered the lumpy dirt walls. The tin roof had tiny holes that let in little streams of dusty light. Finally I discovered that these were the parents of Tina, a little girl who attends the school in baby class and hangs out by the Church a lot. She was the little girl I had met my first week who had been abandoned at birth and adopted by this family. The parents spoke no English and so Carol and Purity talked with them a lot in Swahili. Carol told us they were not born-again and that she didn’t need to tell us what they needed prayer for; it could be plainly seen in this room. That broke my heart. Never before had I seen this kind of poverty, this hopelessness that they lived daily in, unaware that they have a creator who is a loving Father. Carol asked us if we had any encouraging words to give them. She repeatedly asked us as she continued to tell us that they had just lost their grandbaby from a daughter who was not married, their 12-year-old daughter had run away, and the father had serious headaches. I was at a loss for words as I found it hard to process what I was hearing and seeing so quickly. To think that there are millions more living in this kind of poverty of life without Christ and horrible living conditions was heartbreaking.
Carol told us that we had something to learn from them. They had done more and sacrificed more than we have done, as believers, by adopting Tina. Matt 25:31-46 What you do for the least of these you do for Christ. They already had children of their own and barely any means to support them yet God used them to bring life to this beautiful little girl. It was an incredible picture to me of how God has adopted us as his sons and daughters. We were helpless as babies, bound to die, when God reached down into our filth and mess, our sins, and lifted us to life and to be his sons and daughters. He gave us His name, His love, provides for all our needs, and gives us an inheritance of eternal life.
I was encouraged to find out that Tina’s father had been to Church the previous Sunday and Tina’s mother had been to Bible Study on Wednesday. It was so amazing to see how God has used Tina going to school here to bring her parents to Church. Pray that God would continue to work in Tina’s family to lead them to salvation.
As Purity prayed, I prayed for their family and thoughts kept racing through my head: Carol telling us she didn’t have to tell us what they needed prayer for, did I have any encouragement? I forced back tears with all these thoughts and remembering truths of Christ’s love in the midst of it all. We left with hand shakes and a good-bye, silently walking back to the Church.
At lunch I tried to talk to the kids. Victor, a third-grader, is really good at speaking English, so I talked with him a lot and he would translate for me with the other kids when they didn’t understand me. I asked him what he wanted to be when he grew up. He told me he wanted to be a policeman to protect people from robbers. Elsa, a 2nd grader told me she wants to be a doctor. Others told me they wanted to be drivers and pilots.
In the evening, the team met to talk about our days. Lydia shared stories she had learned today from Purity and Carol. There are 6 boys living in the Church. One of them, Kamau I think, was kicked out of his family for being a Christian. Kennedy had been missing for a year and thought dead, but was now back at the Church. John and Joseph are brothers who live in the Church and the brothers of Sarah and Lucy from Shuname Shelter. Lydia also told us that one of the little boys, Ronaldo, 8-years old, who hangs out around the Church all the time, is HIV+ and he doesn’t know it yet. I had met Ronaldo the first day we were in the school and he had always tried to get my attention and we were pretty good friends. He had recently received new clothes ad a Bible and had showed them off to me so excitedly. He would point at his new shoes, shirt, and Bible and I told him how good they looked and good it was that he had a new Bible of his own. It was hard to find out he was positive. *Pray that Ronaldo comes to know God as his Savior soon and that when he finds out his status, that he would put his hope in God.


3rd Grade boys (Victor on the far right)

Ronaldo and Tina

Tina and I

LORD of the nations

This week we spent our time in Kibera, which was so nice after being gone for a week. The teachers asked us why we had been gone for so long.
Monday I was in Teacher Cecilia's Baby/Nursery Class with the little kids for the morning. The kids barely speak English in this class and so they would chatter away in Swahili to me and I would try to catch a few familiar words here and there, but really had no clue what they were saying and would just smile and laugh. In the afternoon I played with the little ones who hang out in the Church in the afternoon and helped grade with the teachers. Then the students had a little competition where they were asked to complete sentences, like "As quiet as a _". The kid answered "water" and the teacher said "have you been around water? There's nothing really quiet about it!" So it was a lot of fun to hear and to guess the answers.
Tuesday I attended the Support Group Bible Study and sang songs with them and prayed. Then I went to Cecilia's class and read a couple stories, about the Prodigal Son and Abraham's sacrifice of Isaac. I got to read it, ask questions, and sing songs. I sat talking with Cecilia while we waited for lunch. She told me some really encouraging things about her family and her husband becoming born again. Then she asked me "do you pity us who live in the slums?" I don't think anyone had asked me that before, so I was surprised by the blunt question. I told her it wasn't pity. I told her I thought that education was very important for the children to receive so that they might be able to support themselves and help their community. Cecilia replied that she was glad Christian education was happening and that the children could learn about God at a young age and would make Kibera a better place. She said that many of the adults are not Christian in Kibera and still hold onto old traditions and customs. I asked her what kind of customs, and she said that they don't go to doctors or take medicines, but often go to witchcraft to find healing. One of Cecilia's students had come to school with a black band on their wrist because their mother had taken them to a witch. The Child had been gradually getting more and more sick. So when the Pastor found out about the bracelete, he talked to the mother. Then he cut the bracelet off and prayed over the child who recovered from its sickness. So that was really interesting to hear as well as a great testimony of God's power. In the afternoon I spent time with a few of the teachers in the staff room. We were talking about different tribal names and I asked them what mine would be. Ann immediately answered "Mwende" and Cecilia agreed. It means something like "lovable one". Dorothy and Abigail gave me the name "Kanini", from their tribe, which means "little one". So now my new name is Joanna Wamboi Kanini Mwende.
Wednesday I helped take care of the little kids during the Women's Bible Study in the Church. Most of them cried when they saw us and their mom's left them with us. In the afternoon we had staff devotions, with Zechariah 2 as our discussion. Afterwards, we celebrated all the staff's birthday with a cake and singing.
Zech 2:5,11 "'And I will be to her a wall of fire all around, declares the LORD, and I will be the glory in her midst.'...And many nations shall join themselves to the LORD that day, and shall be my people. And I will dwell in your midst, and you shall know that the LORD of hosts has sent me to you."

My Savior, He can Move the Mountains, My God is Mighty to Save

Last Saturday we had our first Youth Bible Study at Uhuru Gardens. The youth group has grown since last year, which is a huge praise. We began with two big games of football (soccer) with the older and younger youth split up. I found myself useless playing, so I helped Carol, Purity, Lauri, and Grace make butter and jam sandwhiches for the youth. We sang a few songs with everyone together, then split up guys and girls for the Bible Study. Lauri shared her testimony with the girls and did a wonderful job leading. The girls were pretty shy and didn't ask many questions although they seemed to listen intently. When we had prayed, the guys rejoined us and we passed out sandwiches for everyone. After eating and the kids were messing around, I saw two of the guys, Joseph and one other talking secretively. I asked them what the secret was and they said it was Pastor's birthday and they were going to sing for him. They said not to tell anyone, but I was like, why don't we get everyone to sing? As we gathered in a huge circle with everyone to pray and end our time of fellowship, some of the guys said to a few of us that we'd sing for the pastor right after prayer. So as soon as the prayer was over, Joseph grabs my hand and he and about 5 other guys and I walk to Pastor and begin singing happy birthday while they beat on the plastic water containers. It was pretty funny. They tried to grab him and pull him into the middle of the circle, but he fought back a bit, then finally they pulled him in. He gave a little speech and thanked us. Then we said good-bye to the youth and they walked back across the street to Kibera, while we drove home.
Sunday, I shared my testimony in the youth sunday school and it went well. Thanks for your prayers in that. We sang a few songs in Sunday school and in Church as well. I got a sweet note from Truphena, one of the girls from the shelter and was very encouraged by it.
Monday through Thursday we were in Muthiga again doing all different kinds of things. Monday and Tuesday we worked on the property in the mornings, digging the pit latrine, pulling weeds, burning weeds, digging holes, and planting grass. In the afternoons, we had VBS for the kids. We had a small turnout because the weather was rainy and cold. Monday, I met two older girls, Monica and Esther, ages 12 and 13 who go to school and speak better English. They were really sweet and talked to Grace and I while it poured rain outside. Esther was practically attached to my hip and hugged me the whole time. I asked if their mothers gave them hugs often and Monica replied that her mother wasn't alive. She lived with her grandparents, while Esther's parents were still living. Esther started talking to me something about how the children who live with their grandparents need help. We had to leave pretty quickly after that, so I was unable to ask her more about it. I hope to see her again the next time we go to Muthiga.
Wednesday we worked all day at the property; digging the pit latrine and using machetes. We had fun throwing dirt at each other to pass the time. In the afternoon, the children found us and we ran up and down the dirt lanes chasing each other and having fun.
Thursday we were able to do home visits. Grace, Jacob and I were with Nancy and John who translated for us. We would go home to home, introduce ourselves, learn a little about the family and find out what was going on in their lives. Then we'd read a Bible verse and prayed for them. It was really awesome to meet the mothers, grandmothers, and youth of Muthiga through this time. One family had gathered together because of the death of a 24 year old woman in their family. She had just died on Sunday and they were gathering together, cooking, and preparing to stay up all night in order to honor her as is their tradition. It was hard to come in on that situation and I can only pray that God's word we shared encouraged them. In another home we found a woman with a week old baby. Grace and I were so excited we got to hold him and we jokingly asked if we could carry him around on our backs while we did house visits. We ran into a few people who did not attend Church and were not born again, but they were still open to us reading Scripture and some of them allowed us to pray for them. Please pray that they would remember God's word and that they would have their hearts opened to recieving Christ.
Saturday we had our Fourth of July party at the Shuname Shelter! We prepared bbq chicken, potato salad, beans, jello, guacamole, and also had chapatis, pineapple, chips, and cookies. It was a delicious feast. I rolled out a few red and blue died chapatis. Jackie, Neva, Geretti, and Winifred (some of the younger girls) put on a show teaching me Swahili words and acting them out. We played with the balloons and listened to music. After we feasted, Pastor had us do what we normally do on the 4th of July. SO we sang a bunch of America songs and the National anthem. The last song, we acted like we were in a parade and then they popped balloons like fireworks. We sang some English worship songs, prayed, and said good-night!
Today we worshipped in Kibera. We sang "Mighty to Save", which the youth from Shuname know well.
Prayer Request: That God will continue to work on our hearts and show us how we can best serve Him here in Kenya. That we wouldn't get in the way of God's Word going out to the people. That we would love each other well.
Thanks! God Bless

"Behold, I am making everything new"

A week ago, last Saturday, we had our first VBS in Kibera. The story was on Jonah and I was chosen to be Jonah. We sang songs with the large group, acted out the story, then split up into smaller groups. There was a craft group (all the little children went there and stayed for the whole time), a singing class, Bible study class, and games class. The kids rotated through each classroom. I was in the singing class with Lydia and Teacher Dorothy. I taught the kids a few new songs, but only one was really successful- "Who's the King of the Jungle", which my friend Channing had taught me during a Spring Break VBS we had done together. Thanks Channing! Many of the older children carry their baby brothers/sisters around with them. So in one of the groups, there was this little boy who had escaped and was just tottering and dancing around the room while we sang. It was so funny.
After VBS, all the kids were given butter and jam sandwhiches and tea for lunch. We were told there is a cholera outbreak, so it took longer as the kitchen staff had to clean the dirty dishes thoroughly in between classrooms. There were over 100 children there. Many of them are neighboring children who do not go to Church, so this was a great opportunity for them to hear about Christ.
Sunday we were in Kibera again worshipping. I went to the youngest kids Sunday School and told them the story of Jesus healing Jairus' daughter and the old woman. The same little boy from yesterday who had dancing around the room did the same thing today. Only now he wore a hat that was too big, which made him look even more adorable and funny. The memory verse I had for them was from Revelation 21:5 "Behold, I am making everything new." My teammate, Josh, preached and did a great job.
Monday was our day of rest. We did get to visit a missionary,Denny, down the street who invited us to come over. His home was like a mini America. We had so many delicious snacks and we got so excited about it. All of his family, but his daughter are in America until August. The daughter is 4 and adorable. After I introduced myself to her and talked a bit with her, she showed me her room and asked if I wanted to play with her. So Lauri and I ended up doing ballet with her for a while. Denny invited us to come over again sometime for pizza and a movie. We were very thankful for his generosity and kindness towards us.
Tuesday through Thursday we were in Kibera working in the classrooms and wherever we were needed. There was much grading to be done because exams were given to the children this week. I attended a Bible study on Wednesday on Jesus' second coming with some women from the area. In the afternoon, we had staff Bible study on the last few verses of Habakkuk 3. Thursday we helped stuff flour into sacks for the HIV+ people who attend the support group on Tuesdays. I was covered in flour by the end of it, after one of the bags popped and "exploded" on me. Mama Serulla from the kitchen saw my floury self and went to the kitchen, grabbed a wet rag, came back and started beating the flour off of me. It was funny/really wonderful of her. It rained and stormed that afternoon, and the sound on the tin roofs was amazing. I goofed off with the kids in the classroom and played games, sang songs, and they tried to teach me some Swahili words, clapping after I said one correctly.
Friday we went climbing on the mountains of Kenya. With a guide, we went up Mount Longenot, which was a volcano that hasn't erupted since sometime in the B.C. It took us about an hour and a half to climb up. When we had climbed up, we could walk around the edge of the volcano, which was about 6km around. It was beautiful and so different from anything I'd ever seen before. The trails tended to be made of loose dirt, so we got covered in dirt and slid around alot. I ended up sliding down the trail a few times like a slide because I didn't have good balance on my feet. At the end of the climb down, it began thundering and raining. We ran down part of the way. By the time we were back we looked like we'd just covered ourselves in dirt. The shower never felt better. I took a ton of pictures (making me often in the back of the line...plus I was just slow). I felt like I had accomplished a bit of the dream I'd been having of climbing a mountain since reading "Three Cups of Tea". Now I just need to build a school...or find sponsors for the rest of the kids in the Church's school...
Today, Saturday, we go to Uhuru (which means Freedom) Gardens to play soccer(football) with the youth and have Bible Study with them. Please pray that God would work in the hearts of the youth, that they might see our love for them and hear of God's love for them.
Continue to pray for team unity and for each of us to draw closer and grow in our relationship with God. I give my testimony on Sunday to the youth, so I would love if you could pray for God to give me the right words. Pastor has told us that these kids have seen EVERYTHING and that we should just share ourselves fully with them.
Pray that we would not get caught into just doing things in routine, but that we would stay fully invovled, heart and mind.