The Power of Prayer

This time I am not telling you a story about a specific person, but about the women that we see in general.

When we go to the abortion mill and we try to talk to the women that are going in, sometimes they don´t listen to us. Or if they do, they don't have the time to understand what are we trying to say. In these moments, prayer is the only means we can rely on.

Well , SOMEHOW some of these girls that don´t want to talk to us end up come out of the abortion clinic keeping their baby. Why? Yes, they changed their minds about having the abortion, but, the real question is, what changed their minds when we can't reach them and no one is else trying to help them as we do?

The only answer is that God touches them through our prayers; He can reach what we can´t, the inside of the clinic and the inside of their hearts. When our words and presence fail to help them choose life, God makes a way and somehow our prayers and yours play a part in this.

A Mother and Daughter

Today I went to do sidewalk counseling at the abortion mill. It was busy, and we helped a girl keep her baby.

She was 17 years old and was there with her mother. The girl didn´t want an abortion, but the mother was pressuring her to have it.

I asked her if she regretted having her daughter and she started talking about the usual justifications: she is so young, she is not prepared, etc…

I listen to her for a while and tried to convince her to let her daughter keep the baby, but it is so difficult to convince a mother not to tell her daughter to have an abortion.

So I finally got a little angry and said firmly, ¨A mom should take care of her family and what you are doing is pushing your daughter to do something she will regret forever! Forever!¨

Her eyes started to tear up, then she started crying and said, ¨Help me, help me please. I don´t know what I am doing.¨ So I talked for an hour with her after that and she finally decided to let her daughter keep the baby.

Teaching a lesson

Today I went to our center in Brooklyn. It was my first time there and I didn't know how they work there because (although they do pretty much the same job) there are little differences between the offices. I walked into the office and there she was: Linda, the woman in charge of the office. The minute I went in she was giving instructions to everybody and going from one room to another.

She told me to go into one the sonogram room to see a miracle. She asked a pregnant woman to hold her baby´s hand. So the woman, trying to understand what that ment, put her hand on her own belly and told her preborn baby several times, "Hold mommy´s hand".

We saw in the sonogram how the baby, instead of putting his hand up to meet the mother´s hand, raised his foot and held his foot against her hand! We all thought that was funny and we started laughing. The mom was so happy and she said her baby was going to be a soccer player :)

After a whole day of work at the Brooklyn office I could say that Linda is a strong woman who knows what she wants and how to get it. A good leader I thought. As good leaders do, she shared her enthusiasm with me and I learned a new lesson: the only way to touch the hearts of women is to have empathy for their pain and troubles; then you can talk to them heart to heart.

Work Hard, Play Hard

Today is Thanksgiving day in America and we didn´t go to work. We had a lot of fun.

We woke up early in the morning and went so see the Thanksgiving parade in Manhattan. To those who don´t know what that is, it is a parade of floats and big balloons, gigantic balloons! There are also famous singers like Carly Simon and Andrea Boccelli. It is put on by Macy´s and they´ve been doing for 77 years. Those balloons were amazing and we took a lot of pictures. It is a review of the pop culture over the past 77 years. Sponge Bob, Mickey Mouse, Spiderman and more.

After that exciting experience, around 1:00 pm we went to have a snack before going to the best show I´ve ever been. We went to see the “Christmas Spectacular” at Radio City Hall. The famous Rockettes were performing. It was awesome.

Then we went to mass at Saint Patricks and afterwards to see some decorated store windows on fifth avenue, until we got hungry. Even though we didn´t have the traditional turkey dinner we had a great meal in Chinatown.

It was a really nice day for all of us. As Chris (our boss) says, if you work hard, play hard.

What a day!!

Today was very busy at Dr. Emily´s abortion office in the Bronx, and we were short one helper. There were just 3 of us to be there for the women: two at the front door and me at the backdoor, alone.

Thirty girls went into the abortion clinic today!! You’ve got to be paying attention 200% to every girl that comes along next. We felt as if someone had thrown five balls at one time and we had to catch them all. There were times I had to watch a girl pass by on her way into the clinic as I spoke with another one.

But wait, this is not a bad story. I don’t know how, but at the end of the day, there had been five women who made a choice for life! FIVE! We couldn’t believe it. I said to Julie, one of the other counselors, “What did you say? That girl leaving is not having an abortion.” and she said, “Nothing, I just handed her a brochure as she passed by.” And then Julie asked me, “what about her? she just told me that she is keeping her baby, too!” I replied, “Well, I talked with her, but I thought for sure she was having the abortion…”

So there were we, amazed, trying to understand why these girls today were keeping their babies.

What I learned from this experience is that one word, helped by prayer, will make a difference in the life of a young woman, if you have faith and don't give up.

We will be there for the women every morning; please be there for us in your prayers.

A Change of Heart

It was cold when we left the Lifehouse early that morning, and by the time we arrived at the abortion mill we were freezing and sleepy.

We didn´t have time to eat breakfast before leaving the house and we started thinking about the rumbling in our stomachs. We´re not supposed to leave the entrances without counselors, but when you´re starving and you´re cold it can be very tempting to disregard directions. However, we stayed there knowing that directions are given for a reason.

That reason came walking up to the clinic door: A couple came five seconds after we decided to stay and not give into the temptation of breakfast. We spoke to the woman, but she passed by uninterested. The guy however, stopped and spoke to us for just two minuets, and we knew in that short time that he didn´t want his girlfriend to have the abortion. Then he followed her into the clinic.

They came out of the abortion mill 5 minutes later and left. I walked behind them, speeding up to catch them because they were pretty far away. The guy listened to me again, but he didn´t say a word. What was going on?

About an hour later the couple came back again, and they went inside. The guy looked at me with helplessness in his eyes as he followed his girlfriend in. Within twenty minutes they were back outside again. We needed to know what was going on. We were not going to go home without an answer. This time the couple motioned to us to come over. ¨We know Mom, that you don´t want to talk to us, we just want to help. This is not the way, this is not the answer to your problems.¨ ¨I already have a son, I can´t take care of a new one.¨ she said. So we asked the boyfriend if he would help her with the son and he said “Yes” in a quiet voice. So we thought, ¨Let´s make this guy say that a little louder, she needs to know that she has his support, she could use the encouragement.¨ As he said it, she looked at him and started to cry. It was a different kind of crying, a peace-filled crying. They got in the car, smiled at us, and left.

We don´t know what happened next, we did our best and something changed in their hearts, we could tell.

New EMC Office in Queens Open for Life Saving

Over the past week we have been working very hard to open our new EMC Crisis Pregnancy Center in Queens. We were asked to have everything ready for the first appointment on Thursday morning and we didn´t know if we were going to make it in time.



To say that we worked hard would be an understatement. We painted a whole room in two days, transported a sonogram machine, cleaned, moved furniture and cleaned some more! All in preparation for the first appointment! Thursday morning came and went and thanks be to God we got the job finished in time! We made it!

A very nice couple came in at 11 am, and everything was prepared and ready to go. Since we had such a short amount of time to work, we were a bit worried, but in the end everything worked out well. After a pregnancy test, consultation, and an ultrasound, the couple left with an appointment to return in 3 weeks. When that moment came, at the end of a successful appointment, we were all very happy, it made all of our hard work worth it.
We can now say that the new center is up and running, ready to save the lives of mother´s and their children from the horrors of abortion. This great pro-life organization is growing, and so are the needs. Thanks to all the volunteers, workers and last but most certainly not least, our donors without whom none of this would have been possible.

Great Day

Last week when we were at Dr. Emily´s I handed out pamphlets. Monday, Chris asked me if I would video tape Julie while she was sidewalk counseling. He wanted this so that we would have proof that none of us is breaking the law, in case we are falsely accused by the abortion clinic workers of harassing the girls, as happened last week.
We were at the clinic´s back entrance when a girl came out of the abortion mill. As usual, the indefatigable Julie talked to the girl. I couldn’t video tape that conversation, because it is illegal to do so without having the person´s permission, and it is risky asking for their permission because it could frighten them away and then we would lose the opportunity to speak with them – “A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush”, as the saying goes.
There were a lot of policeman taking notes during this, but we didn´t get in trouble. Even with this new law that tries to hinder our work for Life, we are able to save babies. We thank Our Lord for this day and pray for protection in the future.

Richer than the Common Life

I have returned to New York City for a second internship wth EMC. I felt as if an ordinary life wasn´t enough for me, I felt compelled to do this work in saving lives. I still don´t know what I´m looking for but what I know is that here I feel satisified with life, as if life didn't make sense without saving babies and helping women in need.

It is hard for me to counsel these women but even this sacrifice, when given to God gives my life new meaning. In working with EMC, something I can't explain is going on within my spirit, making changes for the better. Life is changing it´s perspective and showing me a different part which is richer than the common life; the kind of life filled with purpose and a mission. .

This time I am staying for 3 months, let´s see if I change lives... maybe even my own.

TWINS:

We want to tell you a story. A story that could be something out of a movie. This really happens, believe it or not.

It was one of those Tuesdays we go to Dr. Emily's abortion mill. There, we usually stand at the front and back doors trying to counsel them (stop women who have appointments there and offer them free information and alternatives to abortion). Our work there is quite hard because we have very little time to call those women's attention and normally they will ignore us and keep walking.


That day, we were standing at the front door with Julie (one of the EMC's full-time employees) when the usual black car stopped. There was a woman sitting in the back seat. When she opened the door and stepped out, Julie went to talk to her but she couldn't arrange to do anything and so we went for the last try.


She almost got into the first door when we could start saying something. We were desperate. In that moment you don't know what you say. Of course you have prepared an speech but words just don't come out. You say what's in your mouth, theres just no time to think. You just...move your mouth hoping the sounds you are pronuncing make sense. What we said was more or less: "Come here to talk to us, we've got free help, abortion is not going to help you, be brave, come here, why do you think this is your last option? Mami come. Don't go through that door, if you talk to us you will lose one minute but if you go in you will lose everything..."


When we were saying that last phrase the woman had already past the first door and was holding the knob at the second one where we couldn't have talked to her anymore. Then, while we were shouting, she looked at us. Then the knob. Then she started crying. And then she looked at us again. And then, to the knob. We couldn't believe it. Ignacio and me were just shouting no sense words for 10 MINUTES to make her come to us. We needed to move that girl out of there, normally there is security. We were "lucky" that no one was there. We were so excited saying the best we could desperately. Then she sudenly started walking towards us crying. We couldn't believe it. She finally turned around. We were so happy and we told her that what just happened it was God's hand that wanted that baby to live, and she smiled. She smiled joy while she was crying. We won't ever forget that.


After she came out, Julie told us that she had already talked to her a few weeks before and she was pregnant with twins. So, our joy was doubled. Afterwards, Julie took that woman to a maternity home because she was homeless and her husband had left her. Julie told us that the woman is going to have the baby.


That is one among the thousands of stories that happened all around this organization. This is just one day in one of the abortion clinics, imagine how much are you helping everyday with your donations.


We could make this possible because YOU make this possible. Thank you.

~Javier and Ignacio