ch ch ch changes

So I have been totally slacking here lately on the whole blogosphere, and I have a big excuse why: I have had a lot of big changes happening lately and have not had the chance (or desire, to be honest) to sit down and blog about everything. Have you ever gotten so far behind in something that just the thought of trying to catch up seems super overwhelming and intimidating? That's exactly  how I have been feeling.

So first off, let me tell you that I have officially moved back to Alabama from Oregon. The timing was right and a lot of things fell  into place at the right time for me to move on; so I did. I am so forever grateful for all the friends and experiences that I gained during that chapter of my life and I will never regret moving there, and so far I don't regret moving back. I officially moved June 2 to come home, but I've only been back in Bama since June 6 because we had a mini vacation in Nashville after I flew in on the 2nd. I have thoroughly enjoyed seeing family and friends again and I am looking forward to jumping head first into ministry at Lifepoint. Man, I have missed that place. I went back for the first time this past Sunday and it was like I never left. Like a breath of fresh air after feeling like I was sinking for so long.  With all of that being said, my blog will be going through some major changes in the next few days/weeks. For starters, I'm still technically considering myself a part of The Crash team, but I am not currently with them in Oregon. I hope to join back up with the officially again wherever they head to next. I am kind of tossing around the idea of a blog name change, and while I contemplate that decision, I will be making some layout changes and possibly making new buttons(if I end up changing my blog name, obviously.)

One thing I ask is that you all please just hang in there with me as I make this transition into a new beginning of a new chapter in my life.

What will I do now? Good question. I do know that I will be going to Mexico in July(thank You, Jesus! I sure do miss that place!) and then I plan on getting a job in my hometown for the summer, going back to school in the fall to finish my Religious Studies degree(only one more semester!), and going to India in December. After that, good question. One thing I do know, it's all in God's hands from here!

Oh what a night

Or should I say day/weekend?! My birthday was on Thursday and it was so much better than I thought it would be seeing as how this was my first birthday away from home. I plan to give a play-by-play of my day... so just bear with me!
First, I was greeted with a coffee from my favorite coffee place when Audrey got home from taking Deci to school. Journey came in and told me "happy birthday" lots of times... well, she tried to tell me "happy birthday" and it's the thought and effort that makes it special!
The mailman came and brought me lots of birthday cards and a package! I was so excited, because while I was expecting the package... I was definitely NOT expecting cards from anyone!
I received one from Nick and Brandi Longshore that included a Starbucks gift card, one from Nancy, Anna, and Allison Montgomery, one from Miranda and Erik Emanuel(and their sweet children), one from my sweet mother, and one inside the package from my favorite cousin ever, Ashley who lives in Georgia! (and has a blog here, in case you are wondering)
Inside the package was a super awesome journal/scrapbook thing that I am SO excited about using, I just have to think of the perfect thing to do with it first, an awesome 2-3 page letter and, like I mentioned earlier, a card!
I was literally in tears at the outpouring of love from my friends and family back home that I was totally not expecting to experience! Just when I thought my birthday couldn't get any better(seeing as how my friends in Oregon already threw me a surprise birthday party on Monday!), my friend Kylee showed up at the front door with a HUGE chocolate cupcake and beautiful flowers for me! It was so sweet of her to stop by on her way to work... go out of her way(because my house is DEFINITELY not on the way to her job) just to make me feel special!
I'm telling you all... I have the best friends/family in the entire world. You could try to argue that statement with me all day, but I would win! I never expected gifts or anything from anyone(except maybe my mom), but I was blown away at the things I received!
Here is a pic of all my gifts(including the ones already mentioned in my blog about my surprise birthday party.)

Later on in the day, I skyped with my mom, sis, and brother back in Alabama for a while and that was such a fun time! I love getting to skype with my family, but with the 2 hour time difference it is so hard to coordinate a time where we can all sit down with nothing to do for a few minutes. I'm so glad it worked out where I could see them on my birthday. It was definitely more special than just a phone call. 

After our family skype date, Holleigh, Maribel, Audrey and I went out to the Granary (an awesome pizza place in Eugene) to eat. It was so good! Our awesome server took our picture for us:

There is no group of girls I would have rather spent my birthday with! I would have added a couple of people to this picture if I could, though. Since my birthday was a weird day of the week, a lot of people had to work... sad day. But, we had an awesome time and yummy pizza!

After this we went to the rose garden where there is this super old tree that sits smack in the middle of the rose bushes and such. It just so happened to be blooming and it was so beautiful! 

We left the rose garden and took Holleigh back to her car because she had some things to do at home, and Audrey, Maribel, and I went to Yogurt Extreme for dessert! I love frozen yogurt so much... it was only fitting to eat there on my birthday! It was so yummy! 

After Yogurt Extreme, I went to Maribel and Thania's apartment for Bible study and to hang out with my working friends who had finally gotten off work! When I got there, there was another cake waiting on me! It was an orange jello cake and it was awesome! 

I thought my birthday was over(and technically it was) but the next day I received another birthday card and some drawings from 2 of my favorite little girls from back in Alabama, Emma and Ava Rhoden. Also, my mom bought me a NOOK tablet from Barnes&Noble that came in that day as well! I have been playing with it nonstop and already have like 4 books downloaded to it. I love it so much! It's the best birthday gift I think I have ever gotten(thanks mother!)

My birthday festivities continued yesterday(sort of) when Holleigh and I got the chance to go to a Ducks baseball game for free! I love baseball here lately for some reason, and it was like 75 degrees outside... perfect day for baseball! It was an awesome time, for sure! 

I am so thankful that the Lord placed me in a place like this with so many people who care so much about me! I don't know how my birthday would have been without all of these amazing people He has placed in my life. Thank you, Jesus! 

*Tonight is our first service project in the Whiteaker district with The Beautiful Mess! We will be cleaning  up the neighborhood and inviting people back for dinner in the basement afterwards. Please be in prayer for our team as this happens. We really hope the Lord blesses our efforts and plants seeds and fosters relationships tonight.

Happy birthday(week)to me!

My birthday is tomorrow and I am so excited! Honestly, I'm not sure why I am so excited about it... other than the fact that I will be 20! No longer a "teen." I don't consider myself a child as it is since I don't live with my mom or even in the same state as my mom, and I am totally independent, but it will be nice to have an age to reflect my responsibilities, ya know?!
I was a little worried that my day/week would be sad because this is my first birthday I will have spent away from home EVER, but it has been surprisingly spectacular so far!
On Monday, I went with my friends Thania, Derrick, and Maribel to the movies to see "The Vow" for the second time, and then they made up this big lie to get me to go into McMenamins where so many of my friends were waiting on me for a surprise party! It was totally awesome! :) and I am so blessed to be here with all of these guys who care so much about me to make me feel so at home during a time I have felt the most homesick.

McMenamins is my favorite place to eat in Eugene, and their strawberry lemonade is my favorite thing there! Audrey had ordered me one and had it waiting on me when I arrived at the party!
It was so special. Sharee made me a cake that was the most delicious cake I have ever had, they sang happy birthday to me TWICE, I received some birthday gifts, some homemade and some not, ....and SHAWN MCDONALD came to my birthday party! Yes, you read that right! Here is proof:

It took me forever to get the courage to ask him for a picture haha! But, I am so glad I did! He is good friends with Ethan, who is good friends with The Crash team... and he was in town and in Portland recording so decided to join Ethan at my party! Totally awesome! Check out this creeper stalker video my friend Holleigh made at the party. She was supposed to be taking a pic, but ended up videoing by accident. Look to my left and you can see Mr. McDonald sitting and chatting away at MY BIRTHDAY PARTY!

Here is a picture that Ethan took of the group at the party... 

Is that enough proof for you?! 

He was there... legit. And I felt like a little school girl because I was so excited and shy haha! BUT, it was the best birthday celebration so far and I am so blessed to have such great friends/family here in Oregon!

Please listen to and enjoy this Shawn McDonald song, which happens to be my favorite one by him.

Wooh!

Finally!

Oh my gosh.... I can't believe it has been so long since I have posted a blog post. To my faithful readers: thanks so much for emailing and commenting and checking on me, but I am still alive and well! Life just gets so hectic and I am the worst time manager EVER! Not an excuse, I know. But, I have been busy with Bible studies and moving houses and starting work(and then getting fired from work), looking for new work, school, and The Beautiful Mess which is our missional outpost/eventual church in downtown Eugene has officially started up and it has been so AWESOME and uplifting and encouraging, and busy! I love it so much, though and I am so glad God gives me great opportunities to serve and that my life has been consumed by Him! Our first service project  is scheduled for April 22! We will be cleaning up the neighborhood and then inviting people back to have dinner with us! Check out the website here.

I hope you all had an amazing Easter! I got to spend mine serving homeless with some other churches/ministries. We had a worship service, short message and then served dinner afterwards to a crowd that I don't think any of us expected to show up. It was so awesome to be able to serve alongside my friends and be able to share the love of Jesus with a group desperate for some kind of love. Below is a video taken by one of our friends of the dinner.

If you look when it goes to the water coolers you can see me standing there! woop woop!

Here are some random pics that describe what has been happening in my life in the past month or so!

.I got a hair cut! Rocking the new bangs and hanging out at a park on a beautiful sunny day! Notice the capri pants, sandals, and sun glasses!

Brooke came to visit and we took her to the coast! It was far from warm and sunny, but it was a BLAST!

Maribel and I took Brooke up to Skinner's Butte one sunny day to enjoy the day and soak up the vitamin D that we are all lacking due to NO sunshine ever haha!

Went to a new restaurant called Off The Waffle and had this amazing waffle. It was the waffle on bottom, a fried egg, bacon, and maple syrup. It was called something like Prophecy or Prodigal something or another haha! Anyways, yummiest waffle EVER.

The very first Beautiful Mess meeting in the basement of Eugene Evangelical Church. This is also where Hosea Youth Services meets on Monday, Wednesdays, and Fridays.

We had a snow day! So pretty, but it stayed around for days and got really annoying after the first 24 hours haha! Apparently Eugene was on the news back in Alabama because it was a freak snow storm... totally abnormal for this time of year.

Oh, and in case anyone is wondering: my birthday is in 9 days! And I will be 20! I definitely don't consider myself a child by any means... but I will officially be out of my teens. People keep telling me it is all downhill from here. We will see! I am excited and sad at the same time, because it will be my first birthday away from home EVER!

I PROMISE to try and keep this updated more... there was no excuse other than not wanting to take the time away from my day to blog, and then logging on to post something today totally overwhelmed me because of how long it had been. Ugh! Definitely a motivator to never go that long without posting again! Thanks for sticking around, loyal friends!

Life on a Mission: Guest Post

My blog is titled:

A Day in the Life of a Crash Team Member

But what does that mean in my life? 

Today I am guest posting on 

So, click on over to read about things that are, in my opinion, the easy and hard things about "Living Life on a Mission."And while you are at it, go visit Kerrie's store: missionary kerrie's for some super cool clutch purses/iPad cases HAND SEWN by Kerrie to support her(and her husband's) trip to India! (Yes, in case you were wondering... the same India trip I will be taking!)

Exploring Oregon: Holleigh's Birthday Weekend

Holleigh Woodward, one of the people from our Crash team and one of my really great friends, had a birthday this weekend! Holleigh has a really fun time with her birthdays; she likes to celebrate the whole month! Okay, that is an exaggeration, but she does like to celebrate her "birthday week."

While Saturday wasn't technically a birthday celebration for Holleigh, we started the weekend at Spencer's Butte. We took a hike up Mt. Pisgah last weekend (blog post here.) and while that was beautiful, Spencer's Butte is a whole other kind of beautiful. Once you get to the top (okay, confession time... I did not go all the way to the top. I blame that on my grumpy troll mood that day) but even so, once you get above the tree line, you can look out and see the Three Sisters, Mt. Bachelor, and some other mountain that we were not sure the name of. It was the perfect sunny and clear day for a hiking trip like that, if you know anything about Oregon weather, you know how that goes. 

So Sunday was her actual birthDAY, yes... Super Bowl Sunday... but we pretty much left the day open to whatever she wanted to do and the day turned out to be one of my favorite days in Oregon so far, and with Nick and Brandi Longshore being in town this past week, the day was all the more fun! First we started the day at church. We have been attending University Fellowship in Eugene. It is definitely not Lifepoint, but it is a great church that we feel will have a vital role in the church plant we are planning for downtown. After church we went to eat at a place called the Beanery which is such a cool atmosphere. It's basically deli-style food with REALLY good coffee.

After lunch, we all met back up at our house and headed to a local vineyard/winery called Sweet Cheeks. The view from there was just gorgeous, and we were lucky to have another super sunny and warm day in FEBRUARY! 

Next stop, King Estate Vineyard/Winery. This place, I have to say, was probably more beautiful than Sweet Cheeks. The building looks just like a castle. 

Thanks to our friend Ethan Holub, we received the VIP treatment! Someone from the staff picked us up and took us to a semi-secluded part up on a hill where we could look out and see the whole vineyard. It was amazing! 

After this, we all came back to our house to play games and eat junk food! Of course the game Quelf had to be involved... and then a little late night 90's Trivia Pursuit. 

All in all, it was an awesome weekend. Birthday's away from home are hard (I imagine... I have yet to experience it.) This is Holleigh's second birthday since she has been in Oregon. Not being able to see your family on what you consider to be the best day of the year takes a toll on the spirit. I am so glad we were all here to celebrate her birthday and make it something special! 

Exploring Oregon: Mt. Pisgah

I realize I have not blogged in like 2 weeks, a huge shock seeing as how I blogged every single day for a week or so. So, be prepared for the next few days because I have A LOT to blog about now :)

First things first... last week we went to a place in Eugene called Mt. Pisgah. It was a beautiful day in Eugene and we all really wanted to go hiking, but needed some place semi-simple for the girls (Deci and Journey) to be able to enjoy as well as us. Audrey had heard from our neighbors that Mt. Pisgah was a great place for kids and was a beautiful view. It was also one of the things that Audrey has on her Oregon "Bucket List" of things to do here. So we packed up and headed that way!

We started kind of late in the afternoon so as we hiked the sun coming through the trees made for some awesome pictures.

I swear, it was like we were in a fairy tale or something. The trails were gorgeous and the walk was very simple and relaxing. The farther we went up, the more we could see the countryside and mountains.

We did not go all the way to the top since it was late afternoon and the sun sets at like.... 4:30 here. But we did get to see the sun starting to set and go behind the mountains.

I loved hiking down this mountain and listening to the song "Great I Am" by New Life Worship. There is a lyric that says "The mountains shake before Him, the demons run and flee at the mention of the name King of Majesty." I just thought that song and lyric was so appropriate for the chance to really put in perspective how small we are compared to how big our God is. Amazing. 

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

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!