A Wonderful Turnaround In Brooklyn

This week, Linda, the amazing director of our Brooklyn center is on her very well-deserved vacation. No one could ever fill her shoes, but I have been trying to hold down the fort while she is away.
Today, I counseled a girl I'll call Krista. She came in with her friend, and it turns out she was already well into her second trimester, and her situation is one of the most difficult I have encountered. Her boyfriend is extremely abusive, she is living with her aunt (who is pushing very hard for her to have an abortion), she is unemployed, she just had an abortion in January, and was formerly addicted to painkillers and has only been clean since February. Wow. I could tell that she didn't really want to have another abortion, but really truly felt that it was the only solution to her countless problems.
However, that mindset soon changed when she realized just how extremely dangerous an abortion at her stage of pregnancy would be. Her certitude began to crack, but she still didn't see a way out of her problems. When I told her that we could help her find a safe place to live, and help her find a steady job, she soon realized what she had to do.
We went to have the sonogram and it sealed the deal. She was able to see her daughter's little heart beating and her little hands waving, and even her friend shed some tears. As they were leaving the office, Krista said "I can feel her jumping around in there. There's no way I'm gonna get rid of her."

EMILY´S

Today I was at Emily's. As you already know Emily's is one of many abortion clinics that is in New York.The aim there is try to save the most babies that we can, by helping the mothers with those things that are problems to have the baby. 

Our work here is so difficult because we have only a few seconds to talk to a mother about what she is going to do with her son, what are the risks and if we could help her to resolve her problems.Anyway, in spite of the difficulty, it is very gratifying and I can say without fear of being wrong that it is one of the works you can be the most proud.

I can also say that there are a lot of days that you arrive home with the feeling that you have not done anything, because no woman has paid attention to you. But one of the important things is to make them know that we are there to help them.

EL TIMBRE

The last week I worked as a deliver. I had a lot of pending tasks but between them there was a really special one that shocked me up deeply.

 It was my third delivery of the day and I was driving the car to the address that a mother told me. After a time seeking with the gps, I didn´t find the house.

She had told me that she was going to wait me outside her house but I didn´t see her anywhere, so I decided to call her one more time. I told her where I was and she answered me that I had to continue through that route until a  fire station. So I did it and I didn´t see any fire station. After a long time seeking for all the city unsuccessfully I decided to check with her the address and finally we discovered that it was wrong.

Finally, after two hours of search, I found out the house of this woman. She was the mother of three small kids. What was really impressive is that she had been expecting me for three hours. In that moment I realized how important is my work.

EVERY SUMMER

Every year  I used to spend the summers on the beach with my friends having a lot of fun and enjoying a lot. But this summer I am having a radically different experiences that, with no doubt this year at EMC, are touching me as deep as I have never live and feel before.

This is one of those experience. Last week I had to deliver some stuffs to a family that lived in the Bronx. A nice old woman opened me the door with a huge smile. She started telling me how much does she appreciated the baby things that I was giving to her sons. She told me that her husband run away a year  ago and since then She had to work really hard to feed their kids.

Now I really appreciate all the things that I have. I can´t upload a picture because She told me that they preferred be anonymous.

American History

The intership experience took us last week to visit the Atlantic City, Philadelphia and Boston. During our stay in NYC we deal not only with the local culture, but all the states´ culture that form the USA. Through these visits we know better the thoughs, history and arts of different places and people.

This also allows us to be more open to the situations we face with women in counselings, and to give them the better advice in their difficulties.

Furthermore, the trips are the perfect experience to know better the others interns and have fun with them!

 

Last Goodbye

It has been two months since I fisrt put a foot on this city. It's impossible to describe how wonderful this city

is: its magical places, its diverse people and the magic hidden in the sky full of skyscrapers.


This is The City, New York, an incredible place wirth visiting and worth living at. For me, this is one of the

most wonderful experiences of my life. Not only because of the millions of good times I have had, but also

because of the people I have met, and most of all, because of the people I have been able to help and to

counsel in order to change their lives: value the treassure that God has given to them and respect life as it is

the greatest gift we have.


I am proud to say I have saved some lives, not as many as I would have liked, but every little help is huge. I

have no words to say how amazing this has been, or what it has meant to me. The truth is that I am still

astonished by the miracles I have seen: the miracle of love and life.


I very much encourage everyone to come and have this experience because it will change your lives as much

as it has changed mine.


Goodbye New York, it has been a pleasure.

Good bye New york

What can I say..How to start?
It´s been two long months. Long and incredible months...best summer ever. I have learned two much from everyone!!! The interns, offices directors but above all..from those special women that are trying to continue their lifes despite all their big problems. I know that it is not easy for all of us but believe me, this girls have very hard circumstances and no help at all, and this is why deciding to keep a baby in this city is like a miracle.

I cant believe that this experience is coming to an end and that probably i would not have the opportunity to know this babys.

I dont have words to explain or describe this experience, i cant!!! The only thing i can say is that everyone who can and wants to come has to do it. This makes you grow as a person, appreciate simple things, learn values and most of all, advocate life, because life is all we have.

shocking story

I talked to a girl that was 25 years old, had two children, lived in an small room and her family did not supported her. 

Raped and pregnant were her first words. I could not believe waht i was hearing and after that word my brain could not process the rest of the information. I did not know what to say!!! I looked at her and she was crying so much that i could not hold my tears. That was really sad.

Like me, i am sure all of us would think in that moment what to say but i realized that sometimes is not what you say to comfort somebody but the way you offer all your help. When i told her everything about how we were going to help her the hope came again to her eyes. 

Nothing is imposible and we always have a way out, we just have to learn how to find it and how to help others everytime we can.

16 and pregnant

Two days ago a very slim girl walked into the EMC Brooklyn office. She came in with to friends making fun about something. A few minutes later i realized they were laughing because one of them was pregnant.
I started talking with her.... Lets call her "pink" because of her clothes. She told me that she was pregnant and that she wanted an abortion because she was too young and that she needed it in that moment because two weekd before she told to her boyfriend that she already had an abortion.   But isnt she that young to have sex with her boyfriend???

We made the sonogram. She was 24 weeks....SIX MONTHS far... Now she cant have and abortion. When she heard that she couldnt believe it because she doesnt know anything about this and she thought this was a very easy thing to do and that she could do it in any moment. 

Obviously she is keeping the baby because theres nothing else she cand do but know she is afraid of her violent mother and a boyfriend that doesnt care as she thought.

I really wish her the best because everyone deserve it and hope she learns that everything we do has consecuences, and that for certain things we really need to be mature enough.

Landing in NYC and the counselings

Hi everyone,

My name is Cristina Muñoz, the new intern in the Bronx Lifehouse. I arrived at NYC on the 8th August and since then I have been so lucky to go to two trips with the other interns, and be in two different pregnancy centers.

My first contact with the women attended by EMC was in the Queen's office, in a really busy and hard work day. I did my first counseling with another intern, because I wanted to learn how to do counseling, talk the women, what to say them. But the real fact is that there were so many women waiting for us in the office, so I had to face my first counseling alone the same day.


The most shocking for me was that women arrive aparently strong, determined to abort, but his facial expression changes when they watch in the video Choice Blie the atrocities they are going to suffer in tthe surgery, and the ones made in the children they have inside.

I met a young 20 years old woman, married and with 2 little kids. She was worried because she though she won't be able to attend their children, even with time, money or affection.
After watching the video and have a talk about the solutions we could find to her worries, she decided to keep on the baby, and tell her husband that she had made her decision. I realized that in the depths of  women's heart, they really want the children in their womb, but they're blinded by fear, loneliness, complications. When she left the office she hugged me and thanked me for helping her to understand that the babies have the right to born.

Good Bye! :D

Today was my last day of work at the Queen's office. I was alone for the first time in an office, but thank God it was a slow day.
It's difficult to describe this summer in just a few words. This summer has been amazing. It has exceeded all my expectations.
When I first came here I never though it would be such a fulfilling job helping all the mothers in need of someone to talk to or to be there for them.
I've had the chance to meet some really great people and to learn the reality of abotion and loads of other things.
I'm very grateful to have had this opportunity. I will recommend it to all my friends. It's been great. Thank you everyone for making it one, if not the best summer of my life. I will keep praying for all the mothers and for EMC. Good bye!

Moving!

This summer, the number of EMC interns has been very high. But, since many of them have gone back to their respectives countries, there are only a few of us left. Therefore, some things have changed, because we need less space.

This means we are moving! We were living in two houses: one in the Bronx and the other one in Queens. In the Queens house lived some girls, but now there are only two of them left, who are going to join us in the Bronx house today.

We the deliveries men have been very busy moving furniture from one house to another. Cabinets, chests of drawers, mattresses, chairs... All these things have been going in and out of the van these days. It is very tiring indeed, but it is also a good help for EMC!

Time flies

I cannot believe today was my last day working at Brooklyn's office.I have no words to describe how my experience was working in here. Such a great experience.
I have learned a lot, I met really nice people including Linda, the director of the office and from my point of view, I believe is the most hardworking and nicest person I have met in all the EMC's offices. Also Sandra one of the nurses that makes sonograms and check-ups. Sand the other nurse that comes the days that Sandra cannont come to the office. And of course for last all the girls and their partenrs I met working in here. I will always pray for them.
I am really looking forward to the day they will give birth their children. Those kids that thanks to God's help, the workers I just mentioned and Andrea the other intern that worked with me the last four weeks, we all saved.

I fulfilled my dream of coming to New York, one of the most amazing cities I have ever seen, and doing volunteering plus saving babies from scared mothers that are willing for help.

I hope come back next summer. I truly recommend this amazing experience.

I am very grateful to my parents that made this experience happened.

There's No Way I Can Do That

Today was a wonderful day in the Queens office. I had a very unique case, two roommates who both thought they may be pregnant! It was a busy day, so I decided to counsel them together! It turned out that one girl (I'll call her Sara) was negative, but the other (I'll call her Kendra) was positive. I began to tell them both about the abortion procedure, and Kendra began to tear up. It's always hard when a girl starts crying while I'm talking to her, because it makes me want to cry with her. But I held it together because it was important to continue telling her about all the risks and complications that could happen. As I continued, Sara moved closer to Kendra and wrapped her in a hug to comfort her. When I put the Choice Blues DVD on, which shows the abortion procedure, Kendra started to full-on cry and said, "I can't do that, there is no way I can do that." She is coming back in later this week for a sonogram and figure out where to go for prenatal care. I am blessed to have met these two beautiful and strong young women.

Camp Esther!

Last weekend, I, along with Eduardo, Cristina, and Alejandra, went to a pro-life training camp run by the New York State Right to Life. It was in Utica, in upstate New York, so we got up early Friday morning to be there in time for the introductory session that afternoon. We heard talks, and did apologetics exercises into the evening and all day on Saturday. We covered everything from abortion to euthanasia, and chastity to organ donation. But don't worry, they did give us breaks and fed us (REALLY good food!), and all the campers were really able to bond. The camp was geared towards high schoolers and early college kids, but even though I was the oldest camper there, it was still a great experience to reaffirm the pro-life principles that I have heard my whole life. It's never a bad idea to go back to the basics, especially with new people, because they will always teach you something new, or help you look at the same problem in a different way.

Photo credit: Cristina Macias Serra

Camp Esther

This past weekend I went with 3 other interns to this prolife camp called camp Esther.
At first we though it would be like for little kids and that we wouldn't learn anything. But actually, some sessions were really interesting for example the testimony of Brendan, a man who had a very serious accident and was in a coma for 3 months.
There were also sessions about abortion, euthanasia, stem cells...
We had a great time too, we played some cool games and met really nice people.
And the food was also delicious.
Definetely I will never forget this weekend and all this amazing people I met.

Bye bye

Today was my last day of work. Sadly, this intenship is coming to an end. However, I am taking a lot valuable information and knowledge back home. These 8 weeks in the City, working in the offices and dealing with pregnant mothers in crisis have thought me the importance of life and the gift of pregnancy.I have realised that anyone willing to help can make a difference, can save a life. This is an experience i will remember all my life. I will ot forget about all the mothers and babys I have met this summer.

THE BABY

This week I have lived very good experiences, I met a partner who invited to her house a mother who didn’t have anything. She asked me if I could bring them some things that they needed. I have realized that there are a lot of people very generous in the world.

 When I arrived to their house, they  helped  me to pick up all the stuff  that I had brought them. The mother was very excited and was all the time thanking me for the job I was doing.  

Then in the house they introduced me to  the baby who was just  three months old  and he was very big for his age. One of the boxes, which contained a baby seat needed to be set up. Afterwards, we put the baby in the baby seat and after a while he fell asleep. This little thing that happened made me feel really satisfied.

busy day in queens

Last thursday was quite a busy day in queens, probably the most busy day we've had this summer.
In total came 15 girls. And only 2 of them left wanting still an abortion.So that's pretty well.
I remember specifically one of my turnarounds. She was 19, and went to college, her boyfriend wanted it but not her. She had already come on tuesday and I told her to come back on thursday for a sonogram. When she heard the heartbeat she completely changed her mind and decided to keep the baby.
That day we had 3 turnarounds, 2 abortions, 5 sonograms and 5 undecided.
It was a good day. We ended really tired, but proud and happy of all the hard work we had done.

Camp Esther

Last Friday I left the city with other 3 interns to go to  prolife training camp at the north of the state in Utica. We were excited about the idea of meeting young prolifers and havening the chance of learning more about the prolife movement in the US.

Once we got there, he had a very warm welcome. Right after lunch, the talks started.We had experts covering themes like abortion, euthanasia, organ transplantation or stem cell research as well as political lessons.

Moreover, we were able to learn from the testimony of people who survived a come and a woman who had had an abortion. We met amazing people there, both the campers and organizers were great!!