Home for the Holidays...

Thank you so much for your prayer and financial support this last year, it has meant more than you know!!

Wow!!! Christmas has now come and gone!! I'm home with mom and dad for the holidays before I embark on another faith step. It seems as if each time I come home God is preparing me for something greater. Its been a tremendous year of breakthroughs and growth in my spiritual walk. I am so thankful for God's unending grace! I am thankful that He makes us brand new. He meets us in our weaknesses and day by day shows more of himself. He is a gracious and loving God!! AMEN!!

I have had such a privilege of meeting, working with, and living in community with some incredible people this year! I love how it feels like I have family all over the planet. It really is a small world! This year has been very fruitful as relationships have been cultivated, lives have been restored, and the youth are getting lit up for Jesus. There is a generation of young people that are being raised up to be radically devoted to Jesus Christ. I feel called to be a part of this process. I feel called to really spur them on toward love and good deeds.

I am 10 days away from stepping out again. This time I will be staffing a school called Fire and Fragrance in April of 2012 back in Kona, Hawaii at the YWAM base. It is a 6 month school devoted to teaching students the importance of prayer, worship and missions. This school has a 3 month lecture phase and a 3 month outreach phase. This outreach phase will take the entire school to London and teams will scatter throughout Europe. Outreach locations have not yet been disclosed at this time, but I will let you all know as soon as I am informed. I am super excited to be raising up the next generation of leaders. I also am looking forward to teaching and preaching more this year. I have always enjoyed encouraging others to walk in their true potential, and identity. There will be many opportunities for me to do this, this next year, as well as disciple these students.

I have officially stepped out as a full time Missionary. Wether I am home or away my purpose is to save the lost, revive the saved, and love the outcast. I am still writing and rapping for any audience, and am not turning down opportunities to record my songs. This is where I need your help. I am asking that you would take a few moments and pray. Please pray and ask God how you may be a part of supporting me in this journey. I have financial needs of $750.00 a month. This amount includes room and board, health insurance, and phone, for the next 6 months. I know that this number is a bit intimidating, but I am not asking that you cover the whole thing. 10, 20, 50, 100, one time donation or even small monthly contributions will be such a blessing. For your convenience there is a donate button on the bottom left of my blog, (erincrain.blogspot.com) and it will walk you through the process of donating. Or you can make checks payable to Erin Crain and send to the address at the bottom of this letter.

Please consider partnering with me also through prayer. Prayer needs include: financial provision for these next 6 months and beyond; wisdom and discerning where God is calling me; my health; a greater revelation of God's love for me and others; and for many student's heart's to be open and hungry for God during this training season and beyond!! God is on the move and the time is now! Let us reach the lost together. Join me on this journey. May God bless you this Christmas season and New Year!

Much Love,

Erin Crain
14416 254th St E
Graham, WA. 98338

Gettin prepaired for the New Year

What an amazing season!! Everywhere I have gone lately I have been surrounded by amazing friends and family. Amazing community! I can feel the love! God is so faithful! My heart has longed for this and now reaping the benefits of living in these amazing communities God has placed me in.

I want to tell you what God has done!!! I am overwhelmed by the love of God! I have been daily coming more and more alive! I have had the great opportunity of witnessing the Love of God being poured out all around me. What Joy!!! While I have been here I have been apart of New Song Church and helped minister to folks here, in Irvine, California, where my outreach team came for my DTS with YWAM. I have lived with an amazing family. Not going to be easy to say goodbye to them, especially their 5 year old, we have been real pals. I love this community! I could totally see myself living here, sometime in the future for sure! Lord willing. About 4 weeks ago I dove into the journey of learning to play the guitar. Its a new love! By the grace of God I am coming along very quickly, which is very fun!! I also really have been focused on not only growing deeper in my walk with God but also taking better care of my physical body. I looked into maybe doin a race near the time I go home. I found a 10k that is on the 10th of Dec. I am super excited about this. I have learned during this season, that I am a runner! Both my parents were runners when I was a baby and I am now seeing this new passion flourish in my own life!! I really enjoy the feeling of finishing a run and it was longer than the last run or a quicker time than before! I love the challenge!

Well, this season is coming to a close in 23 days. And I will go home for Christmas and then pack again to go back to Kona, Hawaii in January to the YWAM (Youth With a Mission) base to staff a school in April. This isn't the life of a vacation. Yes it is a nice place to live for a season. But I truly believe this is the road that God has me to travel down and raising up the next generation to be radical lovers of Jesus is what makes my heart truly come alive!!! I have seen this happen with many young people, but now I get to have a more of a hands on role in their lives! I love this! I love this opportunity! God is so good! This school will be 3 months of training for me and the rest of the staff, 3 months of lectures and mentoring the students and 3 months of outreach, which will bring the entire school to London to finish up lecture phase and then we will all spread out in perspective teams to evangelize parts of Europe. I am praying about bringin a team back to Orange County... Still waiting on God where I will be leading a team to. But in the mean time I am trusting God to show me everyday how to love better, and how to surrender what I think is best.

Please consider partnering with me in prayer in seeing the lost saved, the saved revived and the gospel preached to the ends of the earth. Please also consider partnering with me either with a one time donation, or a monthly contribution. Lets reach the lost together! Lets revive the saved together! Lets see the great commission fulfilled together!!! Thank you for your love and support. I am so greatly appreciative!!!
Please let me know also how I can be praying for you!!!
Much love to all!!
Erin Crain

Faith Journey

Here I sit 2 weeks into one of the greatest adventures of my life so far. I had no real idea of what I would be doing this fall. Until about a month ago and even then not real sure what it would look like. I felt as if God was telling me that this season would be a season of training more technically and really advancing my music. Yes I am a rapper. But I have also been called to lead worship vocally as well. Every one who has a desire to get their stuff out there has to really train and take responsibility for their craft, so I am doing just that. I also am taking guitar lessons and am spending more of my time growing deeper with God and writing some fresh music.

I left home 2 weeks ago to come back to Orange County where I did my DTS (Discipleship Training School) outreach with YWAM (Youth with a Mission). I really felt that it was important for me to take God at His word, and really believe Him when He said that this would be an amazing 2 months.

I am living with an amazing family! I don't think that they realize how much of an answer to prayer they are!! Will and his wife Edi are amazing!! Will is this ridiculous beat genius who is very gifted with compiling music. He can hear it, if you know what I mean? I have been praying that the Lord would bring a beat guy in my path. And He has brought me here to the OC. Will is blessing me with his beats and helping me find my sound! Plus we are workin on some music together. And he is teaching me the guitar. I'm catching on pretty quickly, gotta love that!!! Edi is such a joy we laugh a lot. She is so generous! I've been so blessed by their hospitality and feel like I'm apart of the family. Thankful for them both in my life.

From here I go back home for Christmas and then back to Kona, Hawaii in January to staff the Fire and Fragrance school at the YWAM base in April. I don't have to pay for school fees but I do have to pay $350. a month to live on campus. Outreach fees will be half the amount being staff, which means that if the students pay $6,000. I will need to pay $3000. I am so excited to see what God will do.
Please consider partnering with me monthly with a financial donation and also in prayer.
Thank you so much for taking the time to read my updates and for all your support.
Much Love,
Erin Crain

Revived of Soul...

Defining moments are moments in time that radically change history... a turning of a leaf... changing of seasons... starting a new chapter in life... finishing something you have started. These moments test our character and show where we have grown. 6 months ago I started on a journey not knowing where it would take me. 6 months ago I committed to a DTS (Discipleship Training School) with YWAM (Youth With a Mission) in hopes for a great experience, in hopes to be revived, but I encountered more than that. I got hit head on with myself along the way and really had to come to terms with the reality that I didn't know me, the me that God made beautifully and wonderfully. I have had glimpses along this path of life but nowhere the fullness. I don't believe that I have the fullness now, but as time goes on I will get to know more of the delicate and beautiful facets of me that are all made in the image of a mighty God. So many times in my life have I built my house on the sand like the Bible talks about in Matthew 7:25-27.

The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”

I am waiting for the cement to dry. The Lord has laid such a security in him that will not be shaken and we have laid it out together, diligently side by side in this process. What is more I am walking in the fullness and reality of "ERIN" which means PEACE. I am a carrier of peace and am walking content and breathing deep.

Hope has been restored unto me. I am finding that hope is not common. Hope is a joyful expectation of something good about to happen. I have never been this joyful expecting anything good to happen to me or let alone for me. I am entirely brand new!

This 6 months has radically changed my view on how I interpret the world and how I view my circumstances. God has given me family from all over the globe. I want to go to these places and encourage those there to continue in the hope of our God.

I grasped in Tacoma 2001 that I was the one that Jesus loved... And I fell in love with this man Jesus in Orange County a decade later... That seems like a long time to figure that out... but in the big scheme of things its how the Lord new it would happen. Oh how I love Him.

So whats next?... Even though I have finished this DTS, it just doesn't end here. I continue on in this wonderful journey of falling more in love with love, falling more in love with Jesus.

I am going back home for 2 weeks to see family and friends and then jump right back into this where I left off. I am going back to the OC for 3 months to press into training... voice lessons, guitar, piano, writing, really pressing into worship. God is really setting me up for success.
I will go back home for Christmas and then back to Kona to staff a school similar to what I just did. From there I am not sure, but I wanted to give you a little update so if you could, please keep me in your prayers.
Much love,
Erin Crain

I'm in Love with Love...

It's really happening! My heart is beating outside my chest... I am more alive and more on fire and more filled with JOY then I have ever been in my entire life! I am in love with this man Jesus!! His Spirit is tangible! His presence is so sweet! I have been rocked by His tender mercies. I have been compelled by His kindness that leads me to repentance. I have been revived of soul! I have had vision renewed. My eyes have been opened! I hear His voice more clearly than I have ever heard! He has transformed me by the renewing of my mind. He has given me a heart transplant and exchanged my heart for His. He has turned my mourning into dancing. He gave me hope when I had none. He blotted out my past. He has given me a future and has spoken destiny and greatness over me. He loves me with a love that is irrefutable, unstoppable, irrevocable, undeniable, it can't be snuffed out, it can't be taken away. This love takes risks. This love always hopes, always perseveres, it never gives up on me, it never fails. This love is PERFECT. It casts out all fear, it casts off all restraint. This love is mature and makes me lack no good thing. This love has changed me from the inside out. This Love hung on a tree, died and rose for me. This Love compels me... to love.

Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law. Romans 13:8

My Heart is in His Hands.

God is so good!!! He is faithful to my heart! He is faithful to the end! I am just over the half way mark of my outreach and I can't believe it! Time is literally flying by. This is by far one of the greatest experiences of my life! I am learning the importance of outreach. Its not just a period of time that I set aside just to do ministry and love people but it really is becoming a way I want to live my life. My goal at the end of this, is that it would be a cultivated lifestyle generated out of the place of intimacy with Jesus. Love responding to Love. I'm learning that God establishes his plans for me. He really knows me. He knows the ebbs and flows and my comings and goings. He knows everything. I want to live in the light as He is in the light. I don't want anything hidden. The enemy of our souls has no power when we are living in the light. In the light every lie is exposed, every weakness is made known. And the best part is, is that my King knows whats best for me. I love that! He knows what I need. He knows me. I may not know all the details of whats going to happen next or where I will live next or how provision will come in. I don't need to know that. Everything to the very last detail will be accounted for... Because He simply is that good. He is a great and mighty King!

I can tell you though what is on my heart...
I want to be apart of abolishing the sex trade industry, however that looks... and see the little girls and young women that have been taken from their homes and sold, brought back to the original design that the Lord intended over their lives.
Whether this is in Mexico, Orange County, Hawaii, Thailand... I want to go... first hand and rescue these ones.
I want to go to the nations... wherever the door would open, bringing as many young people with me that I can.
I want to continue living in community... IT'S THE BEST!!
Please pray with me that the Lord would bring clarity and understanding and that He would point me in the right direction.

California Outreach

I am overwhelmed right this very moment of the Lord's great love for me. I am blessed to be running this race with the crew I am running with. The Lord has blessed me abundantly with family everywhere I go. I have family in the Tacoma area, family in Kona, and now family in Irvine. The Lord never lacks in the love department. Everywhere I go the Lord abundantly pours out. There is no way to feel alone with as much love that is here! Home is anywhere you have meaningful relationships... I just love that!

I love the girls in my life! Each one is so special to me. The team the Lord has placed me in is literally everything that I have needed in this season. We as humans all have these desires in our hearts to be known and to be loved, and I feel that around all of these amazing young women. They are all so gifted and anointed by God. They all house a gracious authority and a beautiful fire.

The Lord is moving in our midst. His strong and mighty Spirit is guiding us to where He wants us to be. We have been so blown away by His faithfulness in this hour to tangibly speak to our hearts. Sunday night the leaders of our team sent us out on a faith journey. We were given a list like a treasure hunt and told not to come back with out it completed. Our faith was being tested. We left with great anticipation of what the Lord might do. Where would He take us? What would it look like? I think each one of us envisioned something different. I don't think anything could have prepared us for what would happen next...

We got on the free way traveling south for about 10 minutes. We parked near a hospital and what we would find out later was a mall. We had a team of 2 and a team of 3. We dispersed.... You know when God really wants to get your attention when what you think is random repeats itself. I don't like to use the term ironic but instead replace it with DIVINE! It can only be God when both teams going different directions can end up talking to the same person. Rosi, one of the girls on the team going to the mall met this 19 year old girl who was pretty open to talk. She spoke truth and prayed for her. The girl thanked her and left.

Me and Nali decided after we prayed for a lady in the hospital that we would go try to find the other team so we headed toward this mall. We walked by this gal on a bench and began to talk to her. Come to find out it was the same girl that Rosi prayed for. This girl began to share with us that her mom had prayed for her the night before that God would give her a sign. She began to weep and tell us her encounter with Rosi and how it so impacted her life. She knew God was speaking to her. Not only did God confirm with 1 sign but 2. She was tired of running but to her church was boring... she is a pastor's kid. I told her that I rapped and she got excited. There is power in proclaiming the gospel no matter how its done. After I rapped she burst into tears again telling us of her heroin addiction, and how she was kicked out of her house. We believe God to be the Healer. We asked if we could pray for her. She was open. She poured her heart out before the Lord in such desperation. It was beautiful. The other team met up with us and we collectively prayed and ministered to her. The Lord did amazing things in that prayer time.

While we were waiting for her ride, we asked her to give us her contact info. She told us her last name and I seriously paused and was like huh... "Do you know so and so?" I asked. She said, "that was my grandfather". I immediately freaked out! Her grandfather was responsible for the salvation of my dad. This brings tears to my eyes even now writing this. We had a date with destiny Sunday night... or rather PURE JOY!

I am so excited to see what the Lord will do next... I love outreach. I am fully convinced that I am on the right team... in the right city.... in the center of God's will for my life. I love it here.
More to come...

Awaiting Departure

WOW!! So many mixed emotions as I am 4 days from my departure for LA. Campus is quiet. Its like a ghost town around here, as teams are heading out for their outreach locations. There are other schools still here but our entire school minus my little team of 7 are all gone. We just spent the last 2 mornings getting up @ 3:45am to see our teams off as they left for the airport. We are exhausted. We spent yesterday cleaning a family's condo as they went on outreach earlier that morning. Even though there hasn't been any lecture for 3 days we have been extremely busy, mostly cleaning and packing and helping others clean and pack. Its crazy to think that we have just had 11 weeks. It has flown by so fast! It is cool to watch what God can do when you make yourself fully available for his use. My heart is fresh and new. My eyes are daily being opened to His great love for me... As I receive His love, the greater I can love others. I am so excited to pour into my team and to the broken and the lost in LA and NY.

We watched a documentary on the child sex trade in America on Thursday night. It was very well put together. Pretty heavy... Not something you want to think is happening, but awareness is critical on this issue as it is going on in not just major cities but even in small towns... its going on right in front of our eyes. I will be seeing a lot of this especially in LA and in NY. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GsY93C8cm54

I am really looking forward to getting on the plane. My team is ready! I will be updating you hopefully more frequently as we venture to the mainland.

Pray also for me, that whenever I open my mouth, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should. Ephesians 6:19-20

His Mercies are New Every Morning

I cannot believe how fast these last 6 and a half weeks have gone! Seriously! My heart is fully alive beating with a steady beat. My heart is full; full of delight, full of laughter, full of grace. My heart is happy. I have never in my life let my guard down long enough, opened my heart up wide enough, embraced friendships with long term expectation, and smiled this much consistently.

I am so in love with this man Jesus! His mercies are more than I can handle! His Love is ridiculously extravegant! He knows me! He knows me! He loves me! He protects! He provides! His voice... oh His voice!! With one word He creates! With one word He breaks chains! With one word He has stolen my heart! I am forever wrecked. I cannot ever live an ordinary life. I must go where He is. I must walk where He has walked. I must be available for disposal. I must die to my desires for others to live. I want to see the broken restored, the deaf hearing, the blind seeing, the dead raised to life again, and the lost saved. Does it really take death for all that? Yes!

But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.
Philippians 3:7-11

A Cry Heard Around the World

I woke up hearing a child crying this morning. He was hungry. He was broken. He was dying. As I was listening I could tell that the boy was getting weaker. His cry had turned into a slow, intermittent moan, as he was short of breath, fighting for the next. I am here lying in my comfy bed. I am healthy, and breakfast is just an hour away. But that little boy who lives on the other side of the planet will die today because he has no clean drinking water. He has no food. He most likely has Cholera, lice, scabies, infected goopy eyes and a myriad of other things. How many times was he raped? How old was he when his parents died? Does he have anyone to hold him and tell him that it’s going to be all right? That sounds like a weird question though, but wouldn’t you want someone to hold you when you were sick and dying and love you and tell you that?

I have to be honest I would not have known that a boy like this really existed until I read the book “Always Enough”, by Heidi and Rolland Baker. They have not only heard a child but millions. Not only do they hear them but see the destitute and do something. I have seen on the news a couple times kids in Africa that have big tummies and have flies all over them. There is part of me that has fought to change the channel that even fights to look away. What does that mean? Am I really that heartless? I think mainly I am just plain old ignorant. I don’t want to even imagine a kid up like this because that is too much for any human to bear let alone a small child. I am blind. I am starting to hear a little so maybe I am hard of hearing and not full blown deaf. This isn’t even an isolated incident. Children of all ages are just like this boy all over the world, even in my back yard. I think maybe the reason that I don’t want to see is because with my physical eyes I don’t see an answer. No one person can help so many? Have I forgotten all together that the Savior of the world is the Great Physician? That He lives inside of me. I can do something! He is the answer. He can feed them and heal them and love them and save them from their misery.

Is it that poverty, brutality and sickness are a new thing? No its not. We as humans though don’t want to know or even care because we live for our own gain. “It’s my right” “It’s about my comfort”. I live in a world where humanism is the religion that is most practiced by western cultures. If I am so concerned with me how can I possibly see or even hear you in your pain?

I can only imagine what the Father must be hearing in heaven, as He knows where everyone of His children is at all times. The moaning must be so intense that it must sound like bees buzzing times a billion at all times. He sees them all. He hears them all. He loves them all.

I am fully convinced that there is no way physically possible that we can fully see or hear like Jesus does unless He himself opens our eyes and ears. And that is what He did in the lives of Heidi and Rolland Baker. He grabbed hold of their hearts and minds and turned all the switches in the on position. Heidi was incapacitated for a week as the Lord gave her His heart. And from that moment she was in overdrive. By loving these dear little ones she has been near death more times to count on both hands. As she has loved the children and held them, she in turn got their lice and their scabies. She got their fevers. But by her actions the child was healed. And usually within six weeks time the child was fully restored from everything. When asked how she kept at it she simply said, “We have nothing to gain by slowing down and trying to hold on to our lives. We give ourselves as a fragrant offering to the love of Jesus, and in return He gives us his supernatural life. We have to stand up and preach to the poorest people on earth, who suffer, starve and die, as most of us cannot imagine. Yet we can confidently preach…

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: “For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:35-39””

This scripture makes so much sense to me now that I have read about the Baker’s and how they have given up everything to go and live in Mozambique. They gave up all rights to self. God loved them to death so they could love the least of these to life. They fell in love with the people and this country in South Africa. They took in every child. The broken, the destitute, the unloved, the abandoned and they simply loved them. These children were going to die physically. They were emotionally and spiritually dead. Most if not all have nobody, no family. They live lives of prostitution just trying to get by. These children know neglect and poverty. They know sickness, disease and death. They are very familiar with witchcraft and the occult. They are tormented daily. Mostly they are hungry. They are hungry for love, and desire to know the love of a father. So with their hunger and desperation it makes it easy to preach the gospel. These children I believe are so radically transformed because their hunger and desperation are so huge. These children encounter Jesus. They are healed from their diseases, set free from their addictions, delivered from demonic spirits. They are immediately filled with hope. Some have been caught up to Heaven, encountered Jesus and sat on His lap. They are so filled with a passion to know and love God and now enter into a lifestyle of repentance. These children are the preachers and evangelists that go out then and share the gospel of Jesus to the dying villages all up and down the country. They know what its like to be raped. They know what its like to be beaten, burned, and to be cold and hungry. So they are quick to run ahead to find the broken and the destitute. They walk in great authority because they know what it is like. They can step into the shoes of the dying. And God moves mightily. They walk in boldness. They walk in faith. They walk in victory.

So the key is in the dying. There must be a reckoning. There must be a death. If I want to see the least, the last and the lost know the love of the Father, I must die, and the quicker the better. I must say yes to the death of my wants and desires, only then can I be useful to Him. It’s not an option to die it’s a mandate. In the words of the Apostle Paul as he shares with us the secret to contentment… I can do all things through Him who gives me strength. Lord, help me. Love me to death so I can love others to life.

Outreach Location Released!!!

I know a lot of you have been just as excited as I have been to find out where I am going on outreach!! Well... I am going to Los Angeles and New York!!! There are a total of 7 of us going, all girls!! I am the oldest on the team. I am close to 13 years older than one of the leaders of the outreach and another girl. How exciting, that I get to watch God move in the young. The rest of the girls range from 20-27.

Our focus in LA will be a mix of working with the Dream Center, which is pretty much a street ministry that has been going on for years. And working with prostitutes and young people on the streets as well as doing street evangelism. We also will be going to college and high school campuses preaching the gospel of Jesus. We will be there a total of 7 weeks building relationships with each other and with those that we will be ministering to. God is so fantastic!!

New York is going to look quite a bit different. We will be there during fashion week. This gives us opportunity to be with the models. We will get one on one time with them, taking them to coffee and the like, getting girl time. When it comes down to the runway we will help prepare them for their walk, dressing them and praying for them. What a wonderful time to share the love of Jesus. What a wonderful time to speak life and encourage these women who so struggle with image.

When I found out where I was going and what we would be doing there as a team, I got super excited. I long to see women restored to the fulness of what God intended!! I love to speak life and to encourage! What a joyous opportunity to be apart of a team that will go in and make a difference, because the Lord goes before us. We will see so many women restored! We will see hope where there has been no hope! We will see many come to know the Lord! God is good!!!

Please be praying for me and my team. Some of the core strongholds that these women and young people live in and under are: self-hatred, comparison, insecurity, depression, anger, and suicide. Please be praying that these areas would break over their lives and over these regions. Please pray for our protection as a team. Pray that we would be unified, and there would be no dissension among us. Please pray for great opportunity to minister and share the gospel. Prayer is so essential for God to move mightily. Please pray in a paving of the way for signs, wonders and the gospel to be preached. Please pray for boldness.

I am so excited!! I can't wait to post the updates of what God has done!!!

If you feel led to partner with me in bringing hope to a dying world you can do so financially and as well through prayer. Outreach costs are roughly $5000. which include airfare, food and lodging for 3 months.

You can make checks payable to Erin Crain and send them to;

Erin Crain

14416 254th st. e

Graham, wa 98338

Thank you for considering. Thank you for praying. Thank you for believing in my dream. Lets continue to dream big together!!!

Much Love!!!

Erin Crain

The Key... is the Key.

So my Call2All DTS life so far looks somewhat like this... wake up throw any kind of clothes on because that just doesn't matter here, and go find my seat that is strategically placed if front of a fire hydrant. As I twist off the cap, it is launched at me with so much pressure. The water pummels my face as I try to drink in as much as I can. You see I want all that the Lord has for me!! I want all of Him!! I want to know Him more and more and more every single day.

For as long as I can remember I have longed for so much more in my walk with the Lord. And I am learning so much of what I have known in my walk with the Lord has been based on experiences and how Jesus Christ makes me feel. Or what He can do for me. Or what He can free me from. You see I love Jesus but its a puny love compared to how much I have loved myself. I have cared more about my failures and concerned more about my succeeding than people dying without ever knowing the great love that is found in Jesus Christ and what He actually did for mankind. I have been more concerned in what I can do for people for them to hear about Jesus than knowing Him for myself. I have jockeyed with the Lord for the glory that has always and only belonged to Him. My mindset is still one of Jesus help me to do great things for you.

The gospel of Christ is not for the faint hearted. Its not for goose bumps. Its not for what I can get out of it. Its not about what feels right in the moment, or what gives me peace. Its not for my gain. Its not about Jesus being in my life. Or how He can make my life better. He is not an accessory. I can't have God's life and keep my own.

The gospel of Jesus Christ will change the lives of individuals that want a new life that is only found in him. The gospel has nothing to do with me... my desires, my thoughts, my aspirations, my wants, or my future. My whole view of Christianity has been a little... or rather a lot skewed. The Bible talks about daily dying to self. Pick up your cross daily and follow me. I was given a great analogy yesterday about what this would look like. In roman times the cross was a horrific way to die. You could easily invision yourself picking up your cross and carrying it daily. What would happen to my reputation? What would people think of me as I am walking down the street with this huge cross dragging behind me? Even in those questions, its still about me. Today we wear crosses around our necks and get them tattooed on our bodies. The cross doesn't so much embody a brutal death much in western cultures. It would more likely be today, waking up and sitting in an electric chair and turning it on and frying ourselves until there is nothing, until we have no input apart from what Christ would think. This is the key to salvation. Sin has no power when we are dead. The Bible says that if we want to actually identify with Christ we MUST die to self daily. We must partake in His suffering. We must live by the spirit. If we walk from the inside out we will not walk contrary to the will of God. But if we walk according to what our 5 senses are craving, we honestly cannot be saved. There is no victory. We will be slaves to money. We cannot please God. And our circumstances will dictate what we do.

What does it really mean to be saved? Salvation is a very dramatic thing. It should shift things. There is power in Salvation. There is no power in Religion. We know longer think for ourselves, but we have the mind of Christ.

Christianity doesn't look like religion in any shape or form. Christianity starts with self-denial not self-benefit. Religion is the biggest obstacle to Christianity. Jesus says in Matthew chapter 4, "Come follow me." The first thing we see is following Jesus, and Jesus did what He saw His father doing. If we live by the spirit, we won't gratify the desires of the sinful nature.

I don't know about you, but I can't picture living another minute with this mentality. I think that Paul says it best in Philippians chapter 3:12-14, "Not that I have already obtained this or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the great prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

I am thankful that it is a new day. I am thankful for God's unmerited favor. I am thankful that the Lord is beginning to take the blinders off my eyes. I pray that He continually gives me understanding how to walk and understand everything that I have already been given. As followers of Jesus we have been given everything we need to live like Christ.

Lord help me to do die to my self-fulfilling ways. Help me to press on toward the goal of having your mind and being one with you. I want more of you Jesus. Transform me by the renewing of my mind. I choose to flip the switch today Lord, to sit in that chair, to give up all my rights. I choose today, Lord, to die. Have your way Lord. I will lose my life so I may be found in Christ. Please Lord, remind again tomorrow. And then please remind me the next day and the next. Teach me a lifestyle of self-denial, for to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.

God in My Waiting...

This season I am in, has been one of waiting. Everywhere I go I am waiting. Even before I left to come to YWAM I was waiting on God to speak to direction, and to bring clarity. He did speak and it brought a lot of peace. Why does the Lord speak quickly sometimes, and sometimes not? I am finding for me that it is not so easy to wait. I have one gear and that gear is high. I don't know the meaning of slow down. I know go go go. Back home it is such a fast pace environment. Everyone is in a hurry. My dad always says "hurry up and wait," when we are driving in the car and people are speeding past us only to have to slam on the breaks at the next light. Its ingrained in us by the booming voice of society, and the busyness all around us.

Even being here there are many lines that I have to stand in and wait. There are lines to the bathrooms at break times and 3 times a day waiting in line for meals. The Lord has taken me out of the busy, busy, busy mentality of back home and brought me to a place where I am squirming in an environment that is so amazing. I am just not used to being so free in my thoughts. The Lord has gotten my attention and I am fully aware that He is doing something amazing. So here I am waiting again. Waiting on God, which I am convinced will probably be a natural thing I will be doing the rest of my life. I will let you know when I hear about what is next. I am expecting great things.

"Flungers, Signs and French braids"

It has been very exciting being a student again! So many new things. New relationships, new rules, orientation, campus tours, work duties, oh and don't forget the accents. There are so many different accents here. I think that it is one of my most favorite things ever. Its like an orchestra of language here. There are more people from Korea this quarter than there has been for a while. It has been very fun, entertaining and amazing!

We had to have a Housing meeting on Sunday and everyone from my particular building had to come. Very interesting... It took about 2 hours. I do have to admit it was kind of boring. But my building manager did share 1 particularly funny story about clogging the toilet. When you are a family I guess it is safe to say that you can potentially talk about anything... So he said that if in the middle of the night that if we happen to clog the toilet, not to wake him up but to use a "FLUNGER"... he also used hand motions. Our building manager is very funny. He is Korean. A very brown Korean. Which is not very common outside of this island. Koreans like to be white and mostly you will see them walking in the sun with long sleeves, pants and an umbrella. On registration day me and one of my roommates went to the housing table to get our keys and our building manager was checking us in and giving us our keys. He asked my roommate what she was to be called. She said, "Leslie". He replied back, "Lesalee". He looked at me and said, "you Cwain". He rocks!

There are always opportunities to run into new people. You can pick up a game of frisbee, chat with someone standing in line. There is always a line for meals. Or just be passing through campus. Yesterday as I was about to go meet at the flags so we could walk down to go swimming at the peer. On the way I stopped at a friends room to see if she wanted to come. On the way back down the stairs I overheard a gal hollering to see if anyone knew how to french braid. I did. So 5 mins later I had a new friend nick-named Thunder from the land down under. And her hair looked amazing by the way. What a joy to meet so many different people from all over the world. I really do love all the amazing culture all around me.

One of my new favorite games is called SIGNS. And it's absolutely the best with the Koreans. It is a group game played in a circle. Every one has a chair except for the person in the middle who is standing. Everyone has a sign... peace sign, hang loose, touch your nose, make bunny ears. We try to be as creative as possible. The person in the middle closes their eyes while we pick someone to start the sign. Whoever starts is as discreet as possible and does their sign and then someone else in the circle, hopefully without the person in the middle seeing. This gets to be very funny as the guesser is turning in circles trying to follow where the sign has gone. If the guesser in the middle sees someone make their sign but doesn't make another sign in time the middle person can tag them. But if the guesser doesn't get there in time to tag and the sign was passed and received the game continues and more laughing is the result. It is awesome! Super fun and the Korean students are the best at it. Kind of like a mime game. So other than the laughing there are really know words spoken.

We are now 2 days in and I have been super, super blessed to be here. My staff and leaders have made me feel so at home and so welcome here. I love the sense of family and community. I am doing my best to take it one day at a time. And not focus so much on what I am doing next, or what is going on back home. I want to get out of this experience as much as I possibly can. The sun hasn't been out much since I have been here. A little the first day I arrived and for about an hour today. I will post some sunny pictures when I can take them. Tomorrow morning there is an opportunity to sit in the prayer room from 7-9am. So right after breakfast that is where I will be. It is so good to be in the same place with Aaron Barker. His worship and how he leads you into the throne room, is like embracing an old friend. Especially if you haven't seen him for a while. I am so looking forward to getting to know God so much more during this quarter.

But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ and be found in him. Philippians 3:7-8

It's Official!!!

I am now a YWAM student. I will start classes on monday. I have been on campus here in Hawaii for 4 days now and am sincerely blown away!! I saw the sun today... which made me very happy. This is not at all what I had expected. God is blowing out of the water all my desires and anything I thought this might look or feel like!! I am already experiencing God's amazing love for me and am still trying to take it all in. Being obedient to the call of God is not always easy. It is stretching in more ways I had thought. But as I trust in God all my apprehensions are falling away. God is so incredibly faithful. I am very eager to experience God more and more as this time continues.

We as a student body were welcomed with a traditional ceremony from the local islanders which has been going on all day. This experience has been very honoring and overwhelming. These people truly know how to bless you and make you feel welcome as a part of there "ohana" their family. By song and dance we were covered in a blessing. It was very powerful. I know that you would have loved to be here Dad to witness this. I am still so overwhelmed with many emotions as the initial shock is starting to melt and break off.

I have met so many people from all over the world. My room is made up of a gal from Switzerland, Oklahoma City, and a gal from Oregon who recently moved to Hawaii which attend the PhotoGENX DTS which are all gifted photographers. Plus 2 others that are in my specific DTS; a Korean girl from Ecuador, and a local Hawaiian. So a total of 6 of us sharing 1 bathroom. They are all so unique and fun. There are 9 different Nations represented in my Call2All DTS. I love culture and diversity!! This has been such a wonderful time.

I am truly grateful for all the support from everyone back home who has given or is still giving to this cause of me going to the nations! I love you all! I will be in touch!

Bye for now.

Everything is about to change as I know it!!

The countdown has been in high gear as I have 6 days and a wake up till I am off for an adventure of a lifetime!! I am heading to YWAM Kona on the big island of Hawaii, and I am thrilled!! It has been a little while since I have left my home here in Tacoma and emotions are high as I am eager to get some sun!! And boy do I need it!! I will be gone for a total of 6 months, 3 of which will be in Hawaii, and the other 3 months have not yet been determined. But I can tell you wherever I go it will be hot!! The 3 months in Hawaii will be at the University of the Nations where I will be doing a CALL2ALL DTS (discipleship training school). This training will prepare me for the next 3 months of the actual outreach phase and also impact the rest of my life. There will be lots of opportunities to share my faith and the gospel as well as rapping... its just in my blood. I will be posting all the cool stuff so come along for the ride!!!