Marriage Letters

My friend Audrey at Q and A started this new thing called Marriage Letters where every Monday she posts a letter to her husband, Quinton. (Check out my Linking Up! at the bottom of this post.) She got the idea from a blog that she reads, but you will have to go to her blog to find out more! I was joking around with Audrey saying that I was gonna write a letter to my future husband since I am not married and don't even have a boyfriend. She said she thought it was a good idea...... so here goes!

Dear future husband... where/whoever you may be,

This is me. 

I sometimes find myself wondering what you are doing at a certain point in time. I like to think you are in Mexico or India or anywhere really, pouring your heart out in the mission field. I like to think you are doing something totally amazing that is furthering the Kingdom so one day when we are married I can say, "Listen to what my husband did before we met." There are a few things about me that you may want to know before we get married:

I don't know if I want children.

I don't like to wear make-up on most days, but I will always want to look my best for you.

I don't like to cuddle... but maybe I will get over that.

I can't imagine sharing a bed with someone... but maybe I will get over that, too.

I like to talk, A LOT. and I hope you are a great listener.

I love the Lord with all of my heart, and I hope you are okay with being second to Him.

I also hope that you love the Lord with all of your heart and know that I am totally okay with being second to Him.

My clothes hardly match or are ironed... and I love it that way.

I don't know how to cook, so you will have to be patient with me.

I will never settle down and live in one place the rest of my life, but I will always want you by my side. I hope your heart is as restless as mine.

I don't like to shave my legs all the time (gross, I know) but for you I will try to do better. 

I don't like to receive flowers or gifts, I would settle for a love note or text.

I have a board on Pinterest of what our wedding will look like, and I haven't even met you, yet. 

I spend way too much time over analyzing things.

I get jealous really easily, but the Lord is helping me work on that.

I can only hope that you will embrace and love these things about me and help and encourage me to do better on the things I need work on. Please be patient, because I really will try my hardest to be the wife I know God would want me to be. I can't wait to meet you and I hope you can't wait to meet me, either! 

-Love your future wife, Breanna 

*Linking Up!

If you want to read real love stories between husband and wife every Monday check out these posts:

Missionary Friends Spotlight: Ashley Lightfoot

Meet my cousin, Ashley.

She is 17 years old and lives in Senoia, Georgia. You may remember her from my last blog post. I met Ashley when my mom married her uncle when I was about 5 or 6 years old and she was probably 4 years old. Okay, so she is not technically my cousin anymore, but even though we were only related for a few years, we've always considered each other family and claimed one another as such. I remember screaming at her when she was at my house for a sleepover and telling her to go home because I was tired of her... I remember teaming up to play jokes on my brother... I remember wishing I didn't have to go to her house to play. I have a lot of memories with Ashley from when we were little and I look back now and cherish all of them. I have watched her grow up for the most part and now looking back and seeing the awesome young woman of God she has become is such an awesome thing! We got to spend a week together when I was home for Christmas... she came in from Georgia to stay at our house with us, and it was definitely a fun week full of laughter, shopping and inside jokes! I wish we could spend more time together, for sure!

Ashley is taking her first EVER mission trip to Romania in the Summer to work with an orphanage. I am SOOOO excited for her! I love that she is stepping out in faith and doing what God has called her to do, and I know that she will return from her trip a better person than she already is. She has an awesome story about how God got her attention turned to Romania and you can read that story on her blog. It is one that gave me chill bumps for real! Our God is just so overwhelmingly AMAZING! It is great to see young followers of God taking up their crosses and following Him with everything they have.

**A Romanian Orphanage background:

Under the rule of Nicolae Ceauşescu, contraception and abortion were illegal, which led to an increase in birth rates... which led to an increase in children being abandoned on the steps of orphanages or worse, the streets to fend for themselves. Images of Romanian orphanages were released after the fall of the Communist government in 1989, and the standard of living for the orphans is still horrible, despite huge improvements. The children have no access to medical treatment or proper food and clothing and are often subjected to physical and mental abuse in the orphanages. There are some, obviously, more poor than others and some where the children are not treated totally horrible. The number of orphans in these state ran homes are increasing and the amount of care providers is not, so this leaves many children without the comfort of having someone wrapping their arms around them and being nice.**

What is Ashley going to be doing in Romania? Here is her story below: 

I am going on a mission trip this summer to the country of Romania. I am going to be part of a team of people from Crossroads Church who will hold a summer camp for orphaned children, ranging in age from 8 to 18. I am very excited about this opportunity and I would like to ask that you prayerfully consider supporting me through prayer and giving. The dates I will be traveling are June 29-July 8 and the cost is approximately $2,800. I’d like to share some information with you about the children we will be serving.
There are approximately 125,000 orphaned children living in Romania. Many of these children have grown up in state run orphanages from the time of birth. Some have been left on the doorsteps of these institutions by family members or parents who suffer from poverty, addiction, and mental illness. These children grow up suffering physically, emotionally, and psychologically. They are regarded as unwanted and undesirable and are treated as outcasts in their society. The care and education they receive is substandard and sets them up to repeat the vicious cycle of dysfunction.
For the past 10 years, teams from Atlanta, California, and Colorado have gone to Mures County in Romania to minister to the "least of these." These teams have held week long, overnight camps that focus on sharing God's love and His hope with these children. These teams have built play structures, provided dental care, and transported medical supplies, clothing, and school supplies to various counties in the western region of the country.
I believe that God is calling me to join Him where He is already at work and be a part of this year’s team. I want to share His love and His hope with these children at camp and remind them that they are cherished and valued and that their lives have purpose and meaning.
Please pray that our team will be knit together and that God will speak through us during our week with the children in Romania.

These children need someone to hold them and tell them it will be alright. They need to find some kind of hope, and the hope that will get them through these tough lives they have can only be found in Jesus. It is our job, as people who are not able to attend these trips ourselves, to send workers out into the harvest as Jesus says in Matthew. Mission trips, especially foreign ones are so expensive. There is the passport expense, the visa expense(if she needs one) the travel expenses, and of course the base expense of the trip as listed above. The first $100 is due at the end of this month(in 2 days!!) and then 75% of the remaining balance is due by March 15 which is $2,025 if my math is correct, plus anything else that needs to be bought or paid for as this trip winds closer. I fully believe with all of my heart that we should support missionaries both monetarily and prayerfully. Ashley is going to receive the funds she needs to get to Romania, because the God of Creation is on her side. I totally believe that this is what God wants for her life in this moment, and if it is... He will make it happen! Please join me in prayer for her and her team and all of the people the team will encounter on this trip. If you would like to help support her trip in any way, send me an email at breannarains@gmail.com :) 

*photo credit: Blog post*

Missionary Friends

I am so lucky to have friends who love the Lord and follow Him anywhere in the world that He may lead them. Check out my blog post from the other day about missions HERE. This is going to be a short(maybe) sweet and link filled blog post(inspired by Quinton Williams) just to spotlight some of these people.

Brooke Davidson: She has been to Mexico mission trips with me and has recently returned from Nepal where she spent July-December serving the Lord. We picked her up at the airport in Atlanta and were so amazed and blessed by the stories she told us on the way home. No way is the Lord done with Brooke and Nepal, you can hear her passion for the Nepali people in the words she speaks. She is also a dear friend of mine who I look up to and respect! She doesn't have a blog, but follow her on twitter @brookeisaflower.

Kerrie Williams over at The Williams Post: Life on a Mission. She and her husband Wade have been on many foreign mission trips including Mexico(Kerrie and Wade), India(Kerrie and Wade), Jamaica(Kerrie), and Uganda(Kerrie). Kerrie is the Missions Coordinator at Lifepoint Church and can be credited(but not without God, of course!) with the success of many many foreign and local mission trips with people from Lifepoint. I am not too good to admit that Kerrie and Wade are both role models in my life, for sure. I long to have the giving hearts that they have. They seriously are two of the most giving people I have ever had the pleasure of knowing. I have been so blessed to know them and to have the opportunity to serve with them in Mexico many times and India next January.

Quinton Williams over at "Q Crashing" (linked to blog above) is the one who dreamed up and started the Crash Mission organization that I am a part of here in Eugene, Oregon. He has also been to Mexico on mission trips along side me, Brooke, and Kerrie and Wade. He is also living out a mission here in Oregon. He is the chaplain at the Eugene Mission where he has the opportunity to work with homeless guys every day providing them with hope, friendship, and love as well as speak at chapel meetings. He has dreams of making trips to India, Russia, Ireland and other places in the future all for the purpose of spreading God's Word to the ends of the earth. His wife Audrey at Q and A has also been to Mexico as well as Africa, Ireland, Arizona and other places. They have the sweetest family(2 girls; December-4 and Journey-1) and are great examples of what it looks like to "raise up children in the way they should go." Visit The Crash on Facebook.

My friends Aimee Jung, Chrystal Campbell, Brittany Rundt and Lisa Cain all also have passion for serving in Africa.

My cousin Ashley Lightfoot at Living this life for Him will be making her first foreign mission trip to Romania this summer!!!! I have watched her grow up and we have always okay, not always, but for the most part we have been really close and it is so exciting to see her step out in faith like this and follow God's commandment to us all to GO. Stay tuned to my blog in the next few days for a spotlight blog on her!

My fellow Crash team members Audrey and Quinton Williams, Alec and Holleigh Woodward, Luis Corona, Zach Gideon, Jeff Tennant, Derrick May, and Richie and Sharee Powell. I am so blessed to be able to work alongside people who are truly after God's own heart. I consider these people family and love that we get to run this race together everyday.


Rebecca and Roy Busby over at Until the Whole World Hears. I have known Rebecca and Roy since around 2008 when I made my first trip down to Mexico with Lifepoint. They are the missionary family that our team works with when we take our trips. I truly consider these guys my second(or 3rd or 4th?) family(have I said that about everyone else above as well? Maybe so, but it is true!) This past November I had the opportunity to go down an extra week before Lifepoint arrived, and I was amazed to get the inside "behind the scenes" look at all the things they do on a regular basis when there is not a group down there building. This family is one of the hardest working families I know. They currently have a mission house down in Reynosa, Mexico, on the "canal" where they live mostly. While you are at it, go check out their friends Bruce and Paula who are also doing ministry on the canal.


I have a lot of other friends who are missionaries and I am so so thankful for all of them. Please join me in prayer for all of these people as they step out in faith and do what God has called all of us to do!

Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest. -Matthew 9:38

A Proverbs 31 Woman

I have recently been thinking a great deal about being single. I have been single for like.... 2 years or more now? (Not that I necessarily want to be married or have children right now or within the next few years) Sometimes, when I have those days of self-pity, I start to really feel sorry for myself and think "Lord, what is so wrong with me?" Then I realize, I have a Man in my life who would never forsake me, never cheat on me, never ever ever leave me, someone I can tell all of my secrets to and not feel like I will be judged, and who will always love me no matter what life brings and His name is JESUS! That sounds so cliched for a Christian woman to say, but honestly, when you just really think about that, isn't it amazing?! The God of the universe wants an intimate relationship with you and can totally fill all of the voids in your life that you think having a worldly relationship will fill. We all have heard the old quote that says "A woman's heart should be so hidden in Christ, that a man must seek Him first to find her." and this has been my adopted quote for life lately. My prayer is that I will fall so much in love with Christ that the idea of being single will never even cross my mind because I am so infatuated with the Lord, and if someone happens to come along and wants to run the race after God with me, then so be it. Also, I have been focusing on a couple different scriptures lately that have brought a great deal of comfort to my soul regarding this topic. These scriptures paint a picture of what an ideal wife should look like based on what the Lord says about it.

A wife should put her husband first, as she does the Lord. -Ephesians 5:22

So many times in my life I do not put the Lord first. Why do I think I could have a relationship with the right perspective, when I do not put the Lord first and foremost in my life EVERY. SINGLE. DAY? 

The steady dripping of rain and the nagging of a wife are one and the same. 

-Proverbs 27:15

Okay, so this one is definitely more on the funny side, seriously?! haha this just cracks me up. But on a serious note, I complain A LOT! I try not to be so negative all the time, but it just leaks out before I can stop it sometimes, and I don't want my husband to hate me because of it. It's something I am working to overcome.

And lastly, my prayer is that I can become a Proverbs 31 woman. 

Who can find a virtuous and capable wife? She is more precious than rubies. Her husband can trust her and she will greatly enrich his life. She brings him good. not harm, all the days of her life. She finds wool and flax and busily spins it. She is like a merchant's ship, bringing her food from afar. She gets up before the dawn to prepare breakfast for her household and plans the day's work for her servant girls. She goes to inspect a field and buys it; with her earnings she plants a vineyard. She is energetic and strong, a hard worker. She makes sure her dealings are profitable; her lamp burns late into the night. Her hands are busy spinning thread, her fingers twisting fiber. She extends a helping hand to the poor and opens her arms wide to the needy. She has no fear for winter for her household, for everyone has warm clothes. She makes her own bedspreads. She dresses in fine linen and purple gowns. Her husband is well known at the city gates, where he sits with the other civic leaders. She makes belted linen garments and sashes to sell to the merchants. She is clothed with strength and dignity, and she laughs without fear of the future. When she speaks, her words are wise, and she gives instructions with kindness. She carefully watches everything in her household and suffers nothing from laziness. Her children stand and bless her. Her husband praises her: "There are many virtuous and capable women in the world, but you surpass them all!" Charm is deceptive, and beauty does not last; but a woman who fears the LORD will be greatly praised. Reward her for all she has done. Let her deeds publicly declare her praise. -Proverbs 31:10-31

I pray with all of my heart that one day when I am married and later when I have children, that I will be the wife that the Lord has laid out here in Proverbs: smart, brave, trustworthy, God-fearing, loving, motherly.... all of these things. I know that I am single because I am not capable of being all of these things right now, and I fully believe that my ministry here in Eugene is best done while being single(not true for everyone here on our team, ie: Q&A, Holleigh and Alec...just me personally) and the Lord is working on me and molding my heart to His will and to be able to one day be the best wife and mother I can possibly be to bring glory to His name. 

So, what does that mean for my life right now? It means I will focus on falling more and more in love with the Lord everyday. It means I will not let being single get me down ANY LONGER. It means I will be satisfied with the life God has placed in front of me. I will chase after His will with all of my heart, soul, mind, and strength. 


*Linking Up!
I was referred to this blog today by Kerrie(The Williams Post) and I have been reading it all day! Her name is Casey Wiegand and she is an awesome blogger who is totally transparent in her writings in a way that I wish I could/would be. Go check her out and show her some blog lovin' ;)

Mission: India and Mexico

We are all called to be Missionaries. I fully believe that with all of my heart and soul. Actually, so does God. Don't believe me? Well check out Matthew 28:19 which says,

Go therefore and make disciples of ALL NATIONS,

 baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

This does not mean some people need to go and make disciples, or most people need to go, or only the ones that God calls should go... this means all people. All of us are called to go and all of us are called to go to all nations. No excuses. 

This summer I am taking a trip to Mexico. I believe it will be my 7th or so trip. I have begun to lose count. To see a video about what we do in Mexico and to read an awesome blog by the missionary family that our Mexico team considers our own family go here.
 Anyways, I am also planning on making a trip to India in January of 2013 with Lifepoint which I a TOTALLY STOKED about. It will be first of many overseas mission trips I take. 

Please be in prayer for me as I prepare spiritually and physically for these trips. It takes a lot of preparation to go on mission trips, including raising funds and making travel arrangements, and since I live across the country from Lifepoint, I have to do all of that myself where Kerrie (who does a WONDERFUL job) plans all of that for the people there joining the trips. It can be a stressful experience while planning and preparing, but I know without a doubt that God is calling me..... and you, for that matter, to GO. I know it will all work out, because He will provide! Also, please be in prayer starting now for the people that we will come in contact with, whether they accept Jesus during our trip or not, pray that seeds will be planted. Also, pray that everyone who is making the trip will find the means to get there and will be changed for the better because of the trips. 

And He said to them, "The harvest is plentiful, 

but the workers are few. 

Therefore, pray earnestly to the Lord

of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest."

Luke 10:2

Girl's Night Out

Every Monday night our team comes together for Bible study at our house. This past week (yesterday) we decided to do something different for a change since Audrey's mom is in town and can babysit the girls. We decided it would be fun to split up guys and girls and do our own thing, not necessarily a separate Bible study or anything, just a fun night doing whatever we want. So we met at our friends Richie and Sharee's house where we then split off and left the guys to cook bear meat (lol) and play video games while us girls went out for a night on the town. We had absolutely had no idea what the plan was for the night, but we started our night out at Sweet Life for dessert.

This is a picture of the building that I did not take. I found this on Google, haha, but this is what it looks like :)

It was so good! Audrey and I split a piece of Tiramisu which is like a coffee rum soaked cake with chocolate and whipped cream. Anyways, it was really good. I also had a Chai Latte. We enjoyed our dessert while we discussed what to do next. 

Once we finished our yummy desserts we decided to take a drive up to Skinner's Butte where you can look out over and see all of Eugene basically. We thought it would be really pretty at night when you were able to see all of the city lights. Well, we were correct! 

This pic was taken on a cell phone so it is dark, but you can totally see all of the city lights and just imagine being on top of there looking over. 

This is me and our friend Sharee on top of Skinner's Butte. If you look behind us, you can see the city lights! It was so beautiful, but cold, so we didn't stay too long. 

Our next stop along the way for the evening was to Sundance Natural Foods. At this stop we were totally being tourists even though Sharee has lived in Eugene her whole life, Audrey has been here a year, and I have been here like six months. Sundance is the place to go to get a really good taste of the culture in Eugene (besides Saturday Market, but it is not open during the winter season.) The store is just like it sounds and packed with hippies, no lie. 

This is what we pulled up to. It is a mural painted on the side of the Sundance building. There are these type of things all over Eugene. I love it! 

Inside Sundance towards the back we see this bar type thing where they have all this locally made organic stuff that you can bottle/jar yourself to take home. There was so much to choose from like crunchy or creamy peanut butter, two or three choices of almond butter(which Audrey is jarring in the picture above) and lots of different types of honey and vanilla extracts. Audrey decided to get some almond butter for her mom, so here she is (above) trying to jar some. It was super thick and hard to get in the jar, and it made a mess. 

I just had to take pictures because it was a funny process. You could tell that we were first timers! We got up to the counter to pay for this and the cashier asked us what the number for this was..... and we were super confused! Shopping at a natural food store was a learning experience for sure. 

Our next stop was to a local Thai restaurant for some bubble tea because Sharee and I had never tried it before. Audrey had tried it in Seattle a while back, but wasn't a fan. 

If you've never had bubble tea before it is the weirdest thing ever. We got strawberry flavored, but there were like 10 different flavors to choose from. Those black things at the bottom of the cup are tapioca balls and they were definitely not my favorite thing about the drink. They are like a flavorless gummy bear, and when I say flavorless I mean TOTALLY flavorless... and gross. I ended up drinking the tea and leaving the tapioca balls at the bottom of the cup and throwing them away! The strawberry flavor was great, though! 

Our next and final stop for the evening before returning home was the New Hope Christian College campus. Sharee graduated from the school when it was called Eugene Bible College. Since then, it has undergone a lot of changes including a new campus, new president, and mostly new staff/faculty. The campus itself sits up on a mountain where you can overlook the city. My favorite part of the campus is the huge LED cross that sits at the highest point in the middle of an amphitheater type thing. It is so quiet and peaceful up there and so beautiful at night with the city  lights glowing. 

You can't see much around the cross because of the glow of it, but trust me, it was an awesome sight! 

I am currently in the process of applying for transfer to that school for the upcoming fall semester, so I really like spending time on the campus, especially with an alumni. We thought it would be cool to take our picture under the New Hope sign on one of the buildings. Its like a look into the past and future because Sharee is an alumni and I am a future student!

I am super excited to see what the Lord has in store for me at New Hope next fall! 

So, that was our last stop of the evening, but we did take a scenic route home to see downtown Eugene and the house where Sharee grew up with her family, which was really neat to see. I love the city of Eugene so much. There is so much culture here, it really is like another world almost. It was a really fun night of being tourists in the city in which we live and serve. I have a great appreciation for this place and am so glad and honored to be a part of God's vision and plan for the area. We hope you will come visit and get a taste of the city for yourself! We know you will love it!

What a beautiful day.

The title of this post is definitely misleading on the way the weather is here in Oregon today. It is cold... around 25 degrees (so says my super smart phone) with a "Significant Weather Alert" calling for snow and far from sunny. Not a day I would pick to have a picnic outside. BUT, it is a beautiful day that the Lord has made! For some reason I have had that phrase stuck in my heart this morning and wanted to share with you guys.

I also want to tell anyone who reads this that doesn't have an account that will allow you to "follow" my blog and wants to continue reading my new posts to either subscribe via email so you will get an email when I post a new blog or just bookmark this page in your browser and check back in frequently. I will not be posting every link to Facebook because a lot of my other friends have blogs as well and I don't want to drive people crazy with my link posts to a blog that is less than great.... So, that being said, if you DO have a Google Blogger account you can just become a member of my page and keep up with my updates that way :) I will continue to post links to Facebook on occasion, depending on the content of the blog. I just don't want anyone to be left out of the loop that wants to read this! Not that many people do, I mean we all have busy lives right? Right.

One more thing! I LOVE COMMENTS. If you have any thoughts on my posts or things you want to add or know about what is happening here in Oregon or anything at all... comment away! I love to read them :)

Have a great day! 

Love, Breanna 

But because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions--it is by grace you have been saved.

Ephesians 2:4-5

The More I Seek You.

I apologize in advance if this turns out to be a complaint filled blog post, but it will get brighter by the end, promise ;). I have been felling really dumpy today for no apparent reason. Not much happened in the course of the day. I woke up feeling like I didn't get near enough sleep. I sat around until after lunch and then went to get my Oregon driver's license (woo hoo, I'm legal! ...and registered to vote!) which cost $65 that I didn't really need to spend... and went to a thrift store with Audrey to look for yarn and didn't end up buying any. I still haven't eaten dinner. I feel really fat and out of shape today because I tried to exercise this morning to a 45 minute workout video and could barely get through the first 15 minutes. My jeans are no longer fitting and I just feel all around unhealthy. (Read how I am trying to change that here) Anyways, so I was sitting at my desk just about ten minutes ago reading through a devotional book that I got for Christmas and was just "taking time to walk and talk with Jesus" as so stated in my book. My side of the "walk/talk" was going a little like this:

"Jesus, I hate this day. I hate how I feel. I feel gross, fat, blah, useless, helpless and I am running out of self confidence and self esteem. I am not sure why I am feeling this way. I don't know why I am even going to bother with that stupid job interview tomorrow, because I am not good enough to work at The Buckle... come on, have you seen the people that work there? They ooze fashion and beauty. Definitely not me. On the other hand, if I don't find a job fast I am going to run out of money. Also, everyone will think that I am not trying hard enough. Am I trying hard enough? I'm not even sure of that myself. What am I even doing here? I feel dumb. I miss Alabama... I miss my friends, I miss Lifepoint, I miss my mom. I MISS MY LIFE. It was so easy to just exist in Alabama surrounded by people who make life fun and simple. WHY AM I FEELING LIKE THIS?"

Jesus's side of our "walk/talk" was going somewhat like this: 

"Are you done? ....okay good! Open your Bible and start reading. I can give you rest and peace from all of this. I am on your side even when it seems that no one else is."

So, at this point, I open my Bible and this is what I read:

Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." 

Matthew 11: 28-30

Woah!? Really, Jesus? You are amazing! Why do I ever doubt? Why do I ever question? So then, I pull up Facebook and find this picture posted on my timeline from my grandmother:

Wow.. I tell you honestly that my mind has been blown tonight. Why has my mind been blown when I should know that our God is so more than capable, yet I continue to doubt all the time.

I will go to bed a happy girl and wake up tomorrow refreshed and ready for my interview, because no matter the outcome I know that I AM good enough and I am NOT useless. Things will work out in God's perfect timing, and I am totally okay with that. :)

I leave you with a song that I absolutely LOVE... it always makes me feel like I am in the room with God. Ever since this conversation I had with the Lord took place this evening it has been stuck in my head. :) Enjoy!

A New Year a New You.

Pretty cliched statement, right? At the start of a new year it is kind of a tradition for people to make "New Year's Resolutions." Ones that tend to be broken by the end of the first week of the new year. I have never been one for making promises to myself that I can't keep, but since 2012 started, I have had this verse on my heart.

Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.

1 Corinthians 6:17

While the first part of this passage is talking about sexual immorality, I also believe it is a general statement about how we should take care of our bodies spiritually, by feeding ourselves with the Word and with healthy relationships and with prayer, and also physically by watching the foods and substances we put into our bodies. 

So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.

This is my new year's resolution: to be self aware of the harmful things I put into my body, including trying to eat healthier. If I lose some weight a long the way, that would be great! I also want to put good things in spiritually by being disciplined to be in God's Word every day and to be feeding my spiritual body the nutritional value that the Lord has waiting to give us. I want to be hungry for the Word like a new born baby craves milk from the mother. (1 Peter 2:2) I want to glorify God with my body, soul, and mind. 

Hello, my name is...

Breanna! I am totally new at this blogging thing, but I have to admit, I was getting a little jealous of all of my friends(Audrey and Kerrie) that have blogs, so I am going to give this a try! Their blogs are pretty great, and this one is blah in comparison, but I have to start somewhere...just bear with me! So, back on topic. There is so much that I want to blog about first and I am not totally sure where I should start. Maybe with some pictures?

This is my mom(Tammy), my sister(Lexus), and me. This is from right before Christmas. I ventured home on a  long 6 week trip to Mexico (I will get to that in a minute) for 2 weeks, and then to Alabama for 4 long, but wonderful weeks. We went to a local park type thing called Nocollula Falls where they have a huge display of Christmas lights and such during the holidays. In case you can't tell, we were extremely cold!

I currently live in Eugene, Oregon, with a team called The Crash.We are here to change the way Christianity is viewed in a place that is the least churched area in the United States. We hope to build relationships, love on people, and show them the love of Christ ultimately so that they will want what we have, and that is joy in our salvation through Jesus. We will be here a minimum of 5 years, probably, and in that time period we hope to have a church up and going and be able to replace ourselves so that while some of us may stay, the rest can in turn move on to the next place so we can plant churches and change the reputation of Christians throughout the United States and the world eventually. This is a picture of some of our team this year:

Pictured: Luis Corona, Quinton Williams(holding Journey Williams), Derrick May, Audrey Williams, Breanna Rains (me!), Holleigh and Alec Woodward, Deci Williams.
Not Pictured: Jeff Tennant, Richie and Sharee Powell, Zach Gideon

Now! About Mexico... I LOVE IT! Should I leave it at that? Ha! I won't, but I definitely could! I have been going to Mexico with my church in Alabama since 2008, I think? Anyways, I have loved it since the first step I took off of the van onto the dirt roads! I sometimes wish that God would call me to move there so that I would have an excuse, but I know it is His timing and definitely not about my selfish desires.

This is Natasha with Rosa on her back and me with Dulce on my back. All of these people in this picture mean so much to me! Rosa and Dulce are just 2 of the 6 children in the family from the Canal, which is what the area we minister to is known as, that I consider to be my second family. They also have 3 brothers and a sister, and a mom and dad that love them and the Lord very much.

We do a lot of things in Mexico like:

Build houses. In this picture, I am looking up Spanish Bible verses to write on the inside walls of the newly built house. It is so important for these families to be saturated with God's Word, and we strive to help them with that. :)

Here I am painting trim boards for the house. This is obviously an important thing, because we want the houses to look nice, but to be honest this is the WORST thing in my opinion haha, I hate painting trim boards! But, all in the name of the Lord, right?! :)

This past trip, we had the opportunity to go to a wedding for a couple that means a great deal to some members of our team. They planned the date around the time our team would be down so that we were able to attend. It was truly an amazing time! We also got to play games at the wedding.

Like musical chairs! We played some crazy games too, like one where you had to grab hands with a bunch of girls and we all took off running as fast as we could through the room. It was insane and people were falling everywhere. It was definitely an experience I will never forget and I am so glad that we were blessed with that opportunity. 

I could go on and on about Mexico and Oregon, but I will spare you for now! I hope this blog doesn't fail epically, and if it does, oh well! Because I love to write and this will be a good place for me to keep everyone who is interested up to date on our journey here in Oregon, as well as my mission trips and just life as a church planter in general! Talk again soon!

To find out more about me and my family visit my About Me page!