To love the poor, persevere in the same,
live die and rise with them.
“Seek to capture the people and the places of every nation of the world showing off their
beauty but not masking their pain.”
Hello loved ones,
I have been overseas for over half a year and each day I am reminded of how I got here: YOU! I am incredibly humbled and blessed by the continuous love and support from my friends and family back home. You have helped me raise over $14,000! Thank you so much for your dedication and partnership. You sent me to spread love to eleven different countries and I am now on the seventh month of my journey! My hope was that by dedicating just one year of my life to serving those hungry for love and affection I would be able to see if serving overseas long-term was something that could be a part of my future. My heart longed to see, learn, and grasp a hold of the different facets of hunger worldwide; to learn from and to love on these people that are often overlooked in a world painted with beauty. I wanted to share a piece of my heart with them and though I believe I have they in return shared with me a piece of life I will never forget. Their smiles and appreciation towards living and merely breathing has taught me about the daily gifts that are bestowed right before my very own eyes. The gifts that I too am grateful for and am reminded not to take for granted. The gift to simply eat when my stomach tells me I’m hungry and drink when my palate cries for water. The ability to shower and use a regular toilet at anytime, anywhere. Shoes, clothes, toiletries, clean water…etc. The basic necessities that grant us dignity as human beings. The simple little things that are so easily taken for granted and the always wanting “more” mentality of never being fully satisfied with the things in front of our eyes. All these are just “things”, but I realize the biggest appreciation I have is the love I’ve been experiencing from my friends and family. In a world where there are thousands of people unloved, faceless, voiceless, hopeless and forgotten, those without human contact and a heart that yearns to be touched, I have been given the greatest gifts. Because of you I’ve been able to touch, love, and hold the very same people that are hurting to be seen, heard, touched, and acknowledged. I’ve been able to share with them how beautiful, special, and unique they are. A message most have never heard.
To the people that have been displaced and taken out of society, young and old… I write this to them and to you…
In my heart is a mansion for the poor filled with many rooms. In those rooms you will find a bed of hope and a blanket of love for the broken hearted, the overlooked, the weary, the outcasts, the sick, the disabled, the lepers, the ones society ignores. The rejected, the lonely, the ones who think they’re not enough, those that think they aren’t worth much. The cutters, the anorexics and bulimics, the drug addicts, the drunkards, the abusers, the criminals, the mute and deaf, the ones born without limbs. The ones who refuse to believe they are special, the ones who are haunted with lies. If they could only see themselves, as God sees them, as I see them. People of beauty, strength, power, radiant, resilient, unique, with angelic spirits. The words I desperately want them to hear:
You are so unbelievably special. You bring a powerful story into this world. You are called for so much more than you may ever know. You are beautifully and wonderfully made, with no one else in the entire universe like you. Thank you for teaching me about life, about truth and what it means to live life with what I’ve been given. To count my blessings and to know that I am blessed. To live life in love and to never hold back from a chance to bless others. When I met you, I saw a reflection of myself. We share the same hunger and thirst for life, the same yearning for love and affection. Without love, our soul faints. Thank you for sharing this gift with me. When I meet each of you, I feel as though I encounter another one of heaven’s angels.
As I reflect upon the last six months of my race, I see pages in a book flipping with the many different faces I have met and the people I have had a chance to extend a lending hand to and experience their story. These people have impacted my life forever. I am now venturing on to the final halfway point of my journey. In order to do so, I am required to raise the balance of $1,182.38 by the end of this month. These numbers have gotten increasingly smaller through each one of you who has supported me this far. I wouldn’t have encountered this love and servanthood without the support of my incredible friends and family. I’ve learned and experienced more than I signed up for and it’s because of your support that I’ve had the opportunity to meet the extraordinary and reach the people in broken places in Mozambique, Swaziland, South Africa, India, Nepal, and Thailand. Thank you so much. It truly means the world to me.
If you would like to be a part of this journey, you can buy a little square, you choose! Ex. If you buy #15, you donate $15. I’ll be crossing them off as I go. My next stop is Cambodia, Vietnam, Malaysia, Moldova and Romania . If all 50 squares are bought, I will be fully funded!
Donate online:
https://www.adventures.org/give/donate.asp?giveto=worldrace&desc=For+Rebecca+Pokryska
Here is just one man you helped me find in a busy street fair. See story below if you haven’t already:
As thousands of people swarmed the streets of the Chiang Mai night market, my heart was instantly captivated by a man’s presence. Faceless in the crowd, I reached down to greet him. Without hesitation, I whispered in his ear, “You are beautiful, so special, never forget." Not sure if he would understand English, he whispered back, in a faint voice, “Thank you, what is your name?" The moment my friends and I noticed him, the entire market became aware of his presence. His money cup became full, and as the crowds drew in, I screamed aloud and painted the picture for him. “There are people gathered around you because of your beauty. They are all your new friends, they think you’re special too. In the moment, the atmosphere changed completely. These people for the first time, looked passed his burns and saw that he too was a human being in need of love and compassion.
On the last Sunday I came to visit him, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a recorder that played back a very familiar voice. The voice said, “ You are beautiful, so special, never forget.” He grinned with a smile and whispered in my ear, “ I recorded your voice so I wouldn’t forget…" He played it over and over, repeating back, “I am beautiful, so special.”
If you would like to hear more about my journey, please e-mail me or follow my Facebookhttp://:https://www.facebook.com/rebecca.pokryska
Thank you so much for your dedication and partnership in this year long process of funding. You’ve sent me to spread love to over 11 different countries. A year ago around this time I started fundraising, and a year later I will finish. I couldn’t imagine journeying through this race without you.
With all my love,
Rebecca Pokryska
