My name is Maria, I am one of the interns of the EMC program this summer, and evr we have livesd millions of wonderful experiences I am going to tell you one that touched me deep inside. This is the story of Magda, a 31 years old and she found us by chance. But from the first time that I saw her I felt something special, like she was one of the women that you would never forget.
She had a special situation, she had had 5 abortions in her life, and she was looking for another one.
Mercedes and I talked with her for a while, we asked her if she knew what an abortion was and she just said that she had had 5 abortions and she really knew what was going on.
We used a graphic video in order to showed her the reality of the abortion, and she found out that she didn't know what she have been doing with her life.
Suddenly she started crying like she has never cried in her life and then we found out that she was ready to been asked the biggest question...What re you going to do?
She looked us with such a thankful eyes that we knew that she was going to keep the baby.
A week later we called her and she was with a completelly voice, full of hope and joy, and she told us that she was full of happyness because she WAS HAVING BABY!!!!!
This is for me the most important and special experience that I have had here, in NYC, tha capital of the abortion in USA.
I will never forget this woman I will never forget lots of situations and experiences that we have lived this special and complete summer, and for this I will always be thankful.
Maria
Sunday, August 3, 2008
Saturday, August 2, 2008
RAN OUT OF WORDS:
My name is Nikos Daley. I came to the Bronx life House on May 28th not knowing what to expect. I'm blind and partially deaf and I had never counseled in a crisis pregnancy center or in front of an abortion clinic before, and I felt I was unprepared to take on this task. Even after the training I still felt like I was missing something. This is when I began to realize the importance of prayer.
Abortion counseling cannot succeed with out prayer because you are not doing the talking, God talks through you. I found that out the first time I counseled a woman. I wasn’t even a minute into the conversation when I just ran out of words. Try as I might, nothing came. Then I said a quick prayer asking for help and the words just came I didn’t even have to think about them.
I was also coming to realize that the devil was very real and was coming after us for doing God’s work. Satan wants to kill these babies and God wants to save them. If you don’t ask for his help you will not save anyone. God is always there with you in every conversation whether it’s in an office’ or in front of an abortion clinic; or in the middle of no where; God is always guiding you and running the show.
When I reflect on my experience here, I realize two things. First that God called each and every one of us for a reason. We may never know that reason but we didn’t come here by accident. The second comes from a quote my friend told me. "God doesn’t call the equip, he equips the called," And especially for this job, I think it’s very true. He doesn’t call millionaires or people with a lot of political power to do his work. He uses ordinary people to do extraordinary things, just because you are disabled doesn't mean you can't accomplish things, you just have to look inside a client's heart. You can physically see and be spiritually blind. If he calls you, he will equip you well!
Abortion counseling cannot succeed with out prayer because you are not doing the talking, God talks through you. I found that out the first time I counseled a woman. I wasn’t even a minute into the conversation when I just ran out of words. Try as I might, nothing came. Then I said a quick prayer asking for help and the words just came I didn’t even have to think about them.
I was also coming to realize that the devil was very real and was coming after us for doing God’s work. Satan wants to kill these babies and God wants to save them. If you don’t ask for his help you will not save anyone. God is always there with you in every conversation whether it’s in an office’ or in front of an abortion clinic; or in the middle of no where; God is always guiding you and running the show.
When I reflect on my experience here, I realize two things. First that God called each and every one of us for a reason. We may never know that reason but we didn’t come here by accident. The second comes from a quote my friend told me. "God doesn’t call the equip, he equips the called," And especially for this job, I think it’s very true. He doesn’t call millionaires or people with a lot of political power to do his work. He uses ordinary people to do extraordinary things, just because you are disabled doesn't mean you can't accomplish things, you just have to look inside a client's heart. You can physically see and be spiritually blind. If he calls you, he will equip you well!
THE SKEPTIC:
I will have been interning with EMC for over 2 months by the time I leave, and I will have talked with many girls by then, but my best memory may be of my talk with a girl during the second week of my internship. It was the first day I had been counseling in the office alone, so I was very nervous. This particular girl had been in the waiting room for a while, and when I initially met her and handed her the paperwork, she was laughing and wisecracking with her friend, completely skeptical of anything and everything we could say or offer.
Once she came into the office, though, and began to talk to me, she became an entirely different person. Gone were the cynicism and mockery, and what was left was a real, loving human heart which had taken a wrong road and had been broken. She had had a good education, and she was confidentof her financial future. Society and her friends had told her she wasn't cut out to be a mother, but with all the love and gentleness that she showed ot me while we talked, I have no doubt that she will make a great mother.
When she left the office, she was joyful and eager for the baby to come, and it was amazing and terrible to think that such a truly beautiful person could have been pressured and pushed to do something there was no need for her to do at all, and which she would surely have regretted for the rest of her life. Thank God she was saved.
~Dan
Once she came into the office, though, and began to talk to me, she became an entirely different person. Gone were the cynicism and mockery, and what was left was a real, loving human heart which had taken a wrong road and had been broken. She had had a good education, and she was confidentof her financial future. Society and her friends had told her she wasn't cut out to be a mother, but with all the love and gentleness that she showed ot me while we talked, I have no doubt that she will make a great mother.
When she left the office, she was joyful and eager for the baby to come, and it was amazing and terrible to think that such a truly beautiful person could have been pressured and pushed to do something there was no need for her to do at all, and which she would surely have regretted for the rest of her life. Thank God she was saved.
~Dan
GOD BROUGHT ME HERE:
It was a couple of days ago. She was smiling and nervous. Her name was Rosana, and she spoke in spanish, so it was easier for me.
She explained to me her situation, and she said "I need an abortion." She had a lot of problems with her boyfriend, her family, she was single with two kids, and she was only 24. Her situation was really hard. But I realized that she had a good heart, and she had faith.
I talked to her about the value of the life of her child. I said "the life is a gift from God," and she told me "God brought me here. I was going to make a big mistake here, but because you have helped me -- you have opened my eyes".
~MERCEDES
She explained to me her situation, and she said "I need an abortion." She had a lot of problems with her boyfriend, her family, she was single with two kids, and she was only 24. Her situation was really hard. But I realized that she had a good heart, and she had faith.
I talked to her about the value of the life of her child. I said "the life is a gift from God," and she told me "God brought me here. I was going to make a big mistake here, but because you have helped me -- you have opened my eyes".
~MERCEDES
AFTER-THOUGHTS:
Two weeks ago we were in front of Dr. Emily's the abortion mill -- like many times before...
Suddenly, a big group of teenagers appeared down the street. We thought that they were too young to be coming to have Dr. Emily's "services". To our surprise they went inside without hearing us because they were joking around and laughing all the time.
After a while, they came out and we were able to convince them to go to the bus where Julie and Wadija spoke with the young girl that was pregnant and showed her her baby in the ultra-sound.
They took a long, long time to talk with her because she needed a lot of counseling, she was deeply sad.
Meanwhile, Alex and Laura, we were trying to keep the rest of the group under control because they were all together inside the bus. They were so young and had very childlike behaviors so they were difficult to keep. All them were shouting and arguing about the abortion. They had a lot of different and confused opinions so we tried to clarify some things...
Despite Julie and Wadija giving a very dedicated counseling with the girl for a long time and she was pretty convinced about keeping her baby. Unfortunately she went ahead and had the abortion anyway. We learned about that two weeks after. The reason was because her boyfriend pressured her too much lot and she couldn't endure.
The nice part of the story is what we learned that yesterday.
Again in front of Dr. Emily's, when two friends of her came looking for us, they explained to us the sad story of the other girl, but they came looking for us because another girl from the group got pregnant and she remembered us...
From Wadija and Julie's words, they came looking for help because they didn't want to finish the new baby's story like the other...she wanted to keep it and go ahead with her pregnancy!
~ALEX and LAURA
Suddenly, a big group of teenagers appeared down the street. We thought that they were too young to be coming to have Dr. Emily's "services". To our surprise they went inside without hearing us because they were joking around and laughing all the time.
After a while, they came out and we were able to convince them to go to the bus where Julie and Wadija spoke with the young girl that was pregnant and showed her her baby in the ultra-sound.
They took a long, long time to talk with her because she needed a lot of counseling, she was deeply sad.
Meanwhile, Alex and Laura, we were trying to keep the rest of the group under control because they were all together inside the bus. They were so young and had very childlike behaviors so they were difficult to keep. All them were shouting and arguing about the abortion. They had a lot of different and confused opinions so we tried to clarify some things...
Despite Julie and Wadija giving a very dedicated counseling with the girl for a long time and she was pretty convinced about keeping her baby. Unfortunately she went ahead and had the abortion anyway. We learned about that two weeks after. The reason was because her boyfriend pressured her too much lot and she couldn't endure.
The nice part of the story is what we learned that yesterday.
Again in front of Dr. Emily's, when two friends of her came looking for us, they explained to us the sad story of the other girl, but they came looking for us because another girl from the group got pregnant and she remembered us...
From Wadija and Julie's words, they came looking for help because they didn't want to finish the new baby's story like the other...she wanted to keep it and go ahead with her pregnancy!
~ALEX and LAURA
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