As seen on TV!

Today I was selling sweets, a little bored, a lot tired. Business was pretty slow today. Not as many people walked by. It was cloudy. I´d begun to think maybe this wasn´t going to work out after all. We went to the city hall to get a permit. I thought it would be a problem but it wasn´t. But in a few days we´ll be moving and we´ll need to work to build up clientel in the new place. Not that I´m wanting this to be full time, just that people know I´m available to bake a birthday cake or whatever when they need something. WEll, after a few hours this morning to break up the monotony, down the street comes the town´s nightly news anchor man of the little tv station here. I was giving out free samples today, which people don´t seem to understand here, but it helped a lot. So I offered the anchor man and his cameraman some samples and he asked what i was doing out there. I told him and he said, ¨Well, can we interview you as a story on how people take good advantage of their free time?¨ ¨Sure!¨, I said, very nervous. He interviewed me and i was all excited but after they left I thought of stuff I should´ve said. I mentioned we were moving but didn´t mention they could still call and I would still be in business. I went in soon after becuase it started to rain. I told Beto what happened and he wasn´t excited like I thought he´d be. He thinks a little more realistically than me sometimes. He was worried that becuase we are ¨temporary¨foreigners, the authorities might shut us down. Or that the school apt. owner would be upset for publicizing the fact that i´m doing a little business in front of his apts. So I called the owner and he said it didn´t sound good, but for different reasons. That they may take the story and twist it to show ¨this gringa that is taking Honduran jobs and money and why does she need to be working?...¨etc. I guess I was really naive. After all, ¨This IS Honduras¨, he said. Well, he said to just leave it and see what happens. It will be on the news tonight at 7pm. If you read this in time please pray it turns out for the glory of God and for good and not for evil.
It really got me thinking a lot. Beto and I, both foreigners here in La Esperanza. What are we doing? And since my friends left for the States I´m starting to feel really lonely. I feel like I´ve seen more of the ¨real Honduras¨ sitting out on the street this week. In the school, I see the wealthiest kids in town, I speak English all day and it´s a very almost ¨non-honduran-like¨environment. In just the past 4 days I feel like I´ve really learned a lot. I sit across from one of the public schools and see kids going in and out the gates all morning. They should be in class but they run out the gate and down the street out of sight. Some of them come back, some just sit up on the wall staring at me, asking me how to say all kinds of words in English, and asking me the prices of my goods over and over and over. Or asking me to give them something for free. yesterday I saw a truck pass filled with fire wood inthe bed and a small dog on top of the driver compartment. I wish I´d had my camera. it was like a circus trick! I see men chopping down trees with axes and I wish I had a chainsaw to offer them. I see women stealing the shreds of bark after they chop down the tree to cook for her family. I see 60ish year old women carrying 25 pounds of fire wood on their head to sell, and lots of other men and women carrying things into the center of town to try to sell. I have learned...again...that you really can´t judge a book by its cover. I try to offer goods to everyone who passes. Most say ¨No, gracias.¨Actually most lie and say they´ll buy when they come back or tomorrow, but I know they just mean, ¨No, don´t ask me again.¨ Sometimes I almost don´t ask someone becuase they look too poor or for some reason like someone that won´t buy, and they end up buying the most. The people who look like they have enough money to buy are usually the ones who pass with a scoul on their face like I can´t belive you just asked me to buy bread! ugh!

It´s been a good experience and I´m grateful for it.

to conclude, Please pray for Beto. he´s got a high fever today but was starting to feel better about an hour ago. Please pray he continues to improve.