My Awful Blogging Skills...

I have to be one of the worst bloggers on the planet. It's been about 6 months since my last post, so here's a quick recap:

-Moved to Austin to go to UT
-Met some awesome friends through HCBCUT (Hill Country Bible Church UT) and my classes
-Watched UT football games, even though we lost most of them
-Saw tobyMac, Third Day, Michael W. Smith, Jason Gray, Jars of Clay, Brandon Heath, and Cory Morrow in concert
-Survived my first semester with Mostly A's and one B+...stupid Chemistry
-Had a relaxing Christmas break with my family
-Started my second semester in January
-Studied like a maniac (and still am-this is just my procrastination activity for the day...I have a biology test in two days)
-Went to my first Texas Longhorn Baseball game
-Just got back from a stinkin' amazing mission trip to Memphis, TN with the best HCBCUTers in the world
-Did a TON of other fun things in between!

The Lord has blessed me and taught me so much in the past year, I don't even know where to start. I guess I'll just talk about what has impacted me most recently, and that would definitely be the Memphis trip, which was the best trip ever.

After lugging all of our stuff down the drag from Kinsolving to the church and getting strange stares from homeless people, my friends, Kaitlyn and Amanda, and I set off with about 20 other people crammed in 2 vans for Memphis around 6:45am the first Saturday morning of Spring Break. I have to admit I was nervous about this trip- I only really knew 3 people going. Once we got going, it was like we had known each other forever though. The 12 hour trip didn't seem so long. We got to the church we were staying in Saturday night, and went to Fellowship Memphis downtown the next morning to hear Ricky Jenkins speak. He definitely did not water down the Word. After that we ate some great burgers, learned a little bit of Memphis' history, and headed out to Zion Christian Cemetery - one of the oldest African American cemeteries, but not always has it had a good reputation. At one point, it was a huge center for all kinds of crime because of the huge overgrowth. Luckily, a group stepped up to start the cleanup and it's been getting better ever since. There are about 22,000 people buried there, but you wouldn't even know it driving past the small entrance. Crazy stuff.

The next day we were supposed to go back to the cemetery, but it was rainy so we got the chance to go to the Civil Rights Museum and site of Martin Luther King Jr.'s untimely death. So much history recorded in that place from slavery to Jim Crow to the end of the Civil Rights movement. After that we went to a neighborhood called Uptown where we helped clean up a church/community center.

There was so much going on last week that it's going to take me a while to get it all in, so enjoy the break as I head off for some intense biology studying. You'll get the rest of the story soon, promise! It seems like a slow start to the week, but I'm telling you - it picks up! Hang tight and I'll get you the details. Be prepared for some awesome stories of God's work.

-Alicia