Mathias

That's the name of the man that works from 7 AM until 8 PM selling kleenex, necklaces and lottery tickets to traffic during each red light at the same intersection every day. He's from Uganda and Nigeria and came here because of wars going on in Africa.

I initially approached him to give him 20 Euros. I had been planning on doing this for a while. Can you imagine working 13 hours a day in the Sevillian sun, selling with a VERY low success rate, and a sale gets you maybe a euro? I sit with plain view of him every day I have coffee at my favorite coffee place. He's always working hard and has a great relationship with stopped traffic. He speaks English and Spanish very well but couldn't understand why I had 20 euros in my hand. Finally, after I explained it twice, he said "Quieres cambio?" which means, do you want change? (Break the twenty) No I said, take it. It's for you. He was so happy! We talked for about 20 minutes. I learned that he has to hit a quota before going home each night. He explained why he was in Spain, to avoid the wars in Africa, and that he doesn't want to do anything wrong, he just tries to earn what he can. I was shocked, but apparently he sends some money home. I don't know how he makes enough to send some home, but yeah. He said that God brought us together. He said that God made us know each other. He said that he works hard every day because God is eventually going to open up an opportunity for him. 1 Peter 2:19. I told him - I believe all of those things as well. What I find interesting is always the homeless or very poor will say "God bless you" when you do something nice. Jesus was poor and sought to help the poor.

He asked if he could see an ID card of mine, because he'd never seen one before. He was just so happy to talk to an American. I clarified that one of the reasons I mor or less randomly gave him this money is because I see him work so hard every day. That meant a lot to him. Anne - I'm prolly going to give him my Vikings hat. I wasn't wearing one or anything, but when he was talking about America he said that's the one thing he has always wanted. He definetly wasn't taking advantage of me or anything - just a genuine guy. He told me, "I have caps(he was wearing one), but they're no good in Europe. I have always wanted an American hat."

We swapped names, phone numbers and emails. I look forward to hearing from him. Pray for Mathias if you can!

Today I went to Al Campo, a huge mall, in search of reading materials for the trip home. No luck. Two rows of books with nothing in English. Sure I can read Spanish, but it takes waaaaaaay too long and too much brain power. No magazines in English either. A business week at the airport costs about 5 euros, I do not want to spend that much. It's now 1 and I am going across the street to get a nice cold juice and to read my bible. I still haven't heard if Anne has made it to florence!