Hi everyone! I hope your Saturday is going well! I want to thank fellow blogger Roberta Pimentel for letting me guest post in her blog for the second time. Roberta is looking for guest bloggers for her “Be My Guest” series until September 10. If you’re interested in guest blogging, check out her blog and contact her. You can take a look/follow her blog here. Please stay tuned here for my Saturday Evening Interview with Roberta later today. If you’ve been following me for awhile, you might remember me blogging about Pay it Forward in the past. In case you missed it, here it is. So, have you ever had any Pay it Forward experiences? Please feel free to share in the comments section.

Hi everyone! I want to thank Roberta for allowing me to guest post on her blog for the second time. She asked me to write about me and my blog. I’ll tell you a little bit about myself and then talk about Pay it Forward.

My name is Lisa Amaya and I’m a 34-year-old blogger/freelance writer from El Paso, Texas. El Paso is the sixth largest city in Texas. It’s a border town that’s 45 minutes away from Ciudad Juarez, Mexico and Las Cruces, New Mexico. El Paso has a rich Hispanic/Latino culture. Eighty-two percent of El Paso’s population is Hispanic. There’s no place quite like home! We have delicious Mexican food, beautiful art, about 300 days of sunshine every year, friendly people, nice mountains and lots more!

I’m a single mom to my 10-year-old son, Jacob. I started my blog, Life of an El Paso Woman on Feb. 25, 2015 after a five-year hiatus from writing. I started writing stories at 6 years old. My blog is about my hometown, the people and places here, music, the Hispanic culture, current events, etc. Aside from blogging, I enjoy spending time with loved ones, attending concerts, gardening, reading, traveling, music, Netflix, watching sports (I’m a die hard Dallas Cowboys fan!) and eating. I’m a 2004 journalism graduate from New Mexico State University. I’ve written for various newspapers and magazines over the years. You can check out/follow my blog at: http://www.lifeofanelpasowoman.com I hope to see you there!

Pay it Forward has become a beautiful trend worldwide. It’s happened to me, my family and a friend! According to the Pay it Forward Foundation, the movement was started in 2000 by Catherine Ryan Hyde. She’s also the author of  the book, “Pay it Forward.” The philosophy of Pay it Forward is to perform random acts of kindness for strangers in order to create a caring society. Kevin Spacey, Helen Hunt and Jon Bon Jovi star in the 2000 “Pay it Forward” movie.

Me and my family have had our lunch paid for by complete strangers at fast food restaurants. A good Samaritan once paid for a friend of mine’s groceries. I forgot my debit card at home and the cashier allowed me to leave the restaurant without paying. Me and my family will never forget those days. A kind gesture like this can go a long way. It can also make someone’s day for a long time! Although I haven’t tried it yet, I would like to purchase someone’s breakfast or lunch via the drive-thru window, especially at Starbucks.

My day job requires me to help customers purchase advertising and answer questions in the lobby. I always meet all kinds of people. I recently had the opportunity to meet Larry Hinkle. Larry is doing wonderful things for veterans. He is a former marine who completed three overseas tours of duty. He and two other veterans are walking more than 2,600 miles to help veterans. They began their walk at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina on April 3, 2016. They hope to reach Camp Pendleton, California in 26 weeks. They organized 10 vet-togethers around the U.S. The vet-togethers is a grass roots approach that helps veterans with life and necessities. I was fascinated by their wonderful story! You can take a look at his web site here. How about you, have you ever had a Pay it Forward experience? Please feel free to share in the comments section.

Photos from Google Search