There is hope!

I was nervous about working outside today, showing a video to passers-by and handing out pro-life literature, ten feet away from an abortion clinic. I was expecting to be spat on, have things thrown at me and insulted, but was pleasantly surprised! Most of the people I spoke to agreed with us about the countless injustices abortions bring about. One man even stopped to shake our hand! Of course there were a few who shook their head or walked very fast past us trying to avoid eye contact with the screen. However I think those who try and ignore the truth are ones who this type of activism affects most. It seems most people are against abortion and think it’s ‘wrong’ but do not want to do anything about it. That’s why it’s so important to educate the public in this way. And of course it’s definitely worth taking a few blows to save even one precious life! 

Building a relationship

Having worked at the Queens centre for the past couple of days I have realised the whole process is a learning experience. My pro-life activities in the U.K. have always been politically based.

 I didn’t realise there’s a whole other side to making a difference in this movement; offering practical help to these girls in vulnerable situations. This type of work is just as, or even more important because it is quite literally, working at the ‘front line’. This became most evident to me when I counselled for the first time. 

The young girl was considering abortion due to fear of disappointing her parents and the pregnancy having an effect on her education. She was trembling when she spoke, so nervous and afraid. All I wanted to do was give her a hug! Just letting her know I was there for her as a friend calmed her down and she opened up and told me about her life; her friends and family and plans for the future.

That itself felt like such an achievement, knowing this girl could trust me enough to confide in me. Very excited for the next eight weeks! 

The Truth Will Set You Free

Unless we know the truth we cannot choose freely. That seems very ovious, but at the same time there are lots of women out there willing to make a life changing decision such as abortion without really knowing what is that they are really doing.

This is where the truth makes an appearance, and with abortion this is even more true, because you are not just messing with your body but there is also an independent life involved.

The other day, as I was counseling a young woman strongly abortion minded I asked her, do you really know what abortion is? She tought about it for a minute and then told me, she didn't. She was about to get a surgical procedure without really knowing what it was.

 

When I showed her that abortion was not a curative procedure and that pain and suffering were atached for her as well as her unborn child who would feel the whole thing, she realized she wasn't freely choosing it, she would never do something like that.  She chose parenting without even thinking about it twice, because when it comes to the truth there wasn't a choice for her.

Hello!

I’m Anna and I’ve come from London. I think I’m the only British intern this summer but that hasn’t made it hard to make friends at all! It’s been such a pleasure meeting other young pro-lifers from around the world. I’m hoping to learn some Spanish by the end of my time here as I’m living with seven lovely Spaniards in the Queens Life House. I’ve been involved with pro-life activities in the U.K. for a few years and decided it would be great to experience the pro-life movement in the States, and try and make a difference in America's abortion capital. I’m both really nervous and excited about working with EMC. I’m sure it’ll be hard work and physically and mentally challenging trying to help women in these difficult situations, but with the Lord’s guidance and grace I am hopeful I will be able to be a good friend to them. Please keep me in your prayers! 

Baby Bottles

Sometimes we don't realize small gestures can make big changes, so we dismiss the chance to do our part, as little as it may be.

For a week, I've been doing the pick ups  for the baby bottle campaign, wich raises money via filling up baby bottles distributed by parishes with whatever people can afford. Sometimes they are filled with bills, but other times they are just full of pennies.

Those pennies are just as precious as the big bills because those can also make a change, and added all together are a big help to the struggling mothers that are looking for help. My penny with your penny and everybody else's means big hope, so we can never dismiss the power of little efforts, because as I've witness this week, that put together, do great things.

Hope for YOU

When problems appear on your way sometimes your vision can be clouded with concern, and not see clearly all the possiblilities you could encounter.

The other day, a young woman came to the Queens office desperate for a way out of her unplanned pregnancy. We talked to her, and for the frst time she realized there was hope for her. We could help her, she was worth all the troubles and she and her child deserved a real chance.

Life had not been gentle to her,  but getting rid of her baby, she realized wasn't gonna solve any of her problems, it was just going to add to them. Now she had a chance, an opportunity to do things right, with some help, there was HOPE.

Options

The first day working at Queens was very exciting as well as frightening. I saw amazing counselors giving advice and offering help to girls that were lost and afraid.

But at the end of the day all that girls really want is someone to really care for them, somebody to tell them that they are good enough and capable of raising their baby.  They just need a little bit of help.

Women, specially in this city are fighters and when you give them options, the real option wich is continue to be the mothers they already are, they will make the right choices, the choice that doesn't hurt them, the choice which they already been awarded with: LIFE.

The new spaniard on the block

Hello everyone!! My name is Marta Martinez, I’m 22 years old and a law and bussiness student in Madrid which is located in the center of Spain. I’m very passionate about the protection of all life, so I’m very happy to join EMC for the summer, I’m also very excitined to be living in a crazy and amazing city like New York.

I feel very blessed to be here and work helping women in difficult situations who feel traped and wiew abortion as their only option. I hope to help them  realize the beautiful gift of the life they are carrying, and give them the tools and help they need so they feel capable to be the mothers the already are.

Busiest Two Hours of My Life

It was a really crazy day in the Queens office on Saturday. I was there with Bea, Mery, and Anna, and Rosanna our ultrasound technician. We had seven appointments scheduled between 10 and 1:30, but no one showed up until a little after 12. We counseled eight girls in just two hours. At one point, I came out of the sonogram room to find nine people crowding in our little waiting room. It was overwhelming to say the least, because the Queens Center director was attending the birth of a woman who is giving up her son for adoption, so I was in charge for the day. It was little bit like being pushed into the deep end of a pool. You either sink or swim.

We aren't ready

Today I want to tell you about a girl I met yesterday, let’s call her Maria. She walked in with a 3 year old autistic son and her boyfriend. She wiped away tears as she came in, but managed to keep it together for the rest of the consultation – until the videos. Watching the first video was hard enough for her (it explains the dangers and possible complications of an abortion), when I put on the second video and she saw the fetal tissue (the ripped apart bodies of 8 week fetuses) she said she was about to throw up. I asked her, “If you can’t watch this, then how will you be able to go through it?”

                At that she burst into tears. She had said she was Catholic, so I asked if she thought God would have sent her this baby if he didn’t trust her to take care of this child, to be the best mother for this child. She started to cry even harder and she told me about how, as a child, she had prayed and prayed for a baby. She wondered how, now that she had been given a baby, how could she reject it?

                Her next question was how could she convince her boyfriend that they could handle a 3 year old autistic boy and a newborn? I referred her to a sonogram with the hope that once he sees his child he won’t be able to destroy that life.

Prenatal day surprises!

Brooklyn was quite the site on Tuesday. 23 women came in and out of the center along with friends, family, and boyfriends/husbands to get their prenatal care. One girl who I got to talk to in particular had an interesting story. She was a turnaround who was around 24 weeks pregnant. She hadn’t gotten to see her baby on the ultrasound since 9 weeks because she didn’t have insurance so you can imagine she was just about jumping out of her skin with excitement to get to see her child. There had been no boys born in her family for 27 years, so naturally she was praying for a boy. Her mother believed it would be a girl but made her daughter promise that if it was a boy she would have to start going back to church every week. Of course, it was a boy! Tears of joy filled the sonogram room and all thanked God for this blessing.

A different type of friendship

We spend a lot of time at the offices, waiting for the girls to come, counseling them and trying to give them all they could need.
During my four weeks here, I've met a lot of girls and with some of them now I have some kind of friendship.
When they first come to the office, I write down their phone numbers so I can phone them the following days to see how it is going. Since the moment I phone this girls, it is like they are more than girls I met in the office one day, they don't only tell me about their pregnancy, they trust me about personal thing too, and in a certain way, it rests inside you.
I'm leaving the U.S in three weeks, but although I won't ever see these girls, they will be part of me always.

Meeting people

Hi everybody!
I'm writting this post from the Bronx Lifehouse, where some of the interns are living.
I had never lived in a house with people  from so many countries and now I think this is a great experience. We can talk and get to know each other, the culture of different countries and also make good friends.
All of this, in our case, is better done due to the fact that we all are here for one reason, helping pregnant women and saving lifes.
Meeting people who have the same feelings about abortion and are fighting with you can probably be one of the best things of coming here. Sincerely I recommend it! 

Hello!
This weeek I was in differents types of work, one day I went to pick up donations, another day I went to Doctor Emily's and the others two days I went to the Bronx office.
I like soo much to have three differents types of work, we are never bored and we can talk with all the girls that there are undecided and come into the office, and on the other hand, with the girls that they are decided and go to Doctor Emily's to do an abortion. 

Today in english too!
I hope your enjoy and I don't make a lot of mistakes!
Last monday I went with two other interns to pick up the donations of the differents churchs.It was very surprising,I never thought that so many people would help us.We enjoyed and we were so excited because in the donations there was a lot of money, and in this country there are people who are so generous.
I would like to give thanks for all the people that give money for EMC, because if these people don't do it, we can't work and we would lose a lot of babies.

New in Town

Hey there! I am Alvaro Sobejano one of the new interns in the lifehouse. I am 21 years old and I am from Spain.
I am very excited to be here. Since I heard about this wonderful prolife internship I always wanted to come.
I did not expect this internship to be this great. I have only spent one week here and it has been amazing. As I expected I am improving my english so much. And also I am meeting a lot of nice people all around the world. But the most important thing I am helping EMC with his wonderful cause of defending live and helping the most needy.
I hope my work here will help to save a lot of lives.

Introduction

Hi! I'm Fátima, one of the new girls in the lifehouse. I'm 21 and i'm very exciting of being here.
I live with spanish and american people, but also with a canadian and an english girl.
One of the reason why i'm here is to improve my english, but especially to get concerned about what abortion really entails.
I expect to help many women along my stay here, and especially to save lives.

¡Recompensemos la valentía!

¡Aquí Miriam de nuevo!
El pasado lunes estuve una vez más en la oficina del Bronx y tuve la oportunidad de hacer mis dos primeros councelings, uno en español y otro en inglés. Supongo que había subestimado lo que era realmente hacer esto... No es tan fácil como parece, y eso que yo tuve suerte ya que la mujer que hablaba en español quería si o si abortar, y la que hablaba inglés no quería abortar. Siempre es más fácil convencer en tu lengua materna que en otra que no lo es, por lo que no tuve que hacer grandes esfuerzos son la segunda.
Lo que más me sorprendió de esta chica, de esta jovencísima chica, es que estaba siendo forzada por su madre para abortar y ella insistía en tenerlo. Me parece un gran valor el que tienen algunas chicas, que aunque actúen mal al tener sexo sin el propósito de procrear, no buscan escapar por la vía fácil y deshacerse del "problema", sino que son capaces de hacerse cargo de sus responsabilidades y salir adelante con ellas.

A New Idea

This week I spent some time counseling the boyfriends who came in with their girlfriends. Every time I speak with them I’m amazed at how open they are! I ask them such personal questions, and although they seem shocked that I would ask, they answer quickly and the walls come down. In fact, this week it’s seemed that the boys are more willing to talk than the girls! I opened one conversation, “So how long have you been dating and when did you start having sex?” They sometimes show a little shame or embarrassment when answering, but often they feel nothing.

                Occasionally the conversation will turn to me: “So how many kids do you have? What about your boyfriend? You don’t have a boyfriend? What are you waiting for?” I allow the conversation to go there because of the last question. I want to tell them what I’m waiting for. Their eyes go wide and you can see them start to wonder. If I believe in finding my one true love, then how many others are there like me? And if I can wait this long, then how many others are waiting? If I am happy waiting and expecting something wonderful, then maybe they could be happy doing that too. They know they aren’t happy with their lifestyle now, so to hear that there is another way and it isn’t just crazy church ladies following it – it gives them new hope.

No More Sex

 A young woman came to the bronx office this afternoon thinking that she was pregnant. She was shaking with fear and I just wanted to take her into my arms and say "everything is going to  be okay" She came in and took a seat, I told her how much I loved her hair and asked her who did it, she told me her mother did. I asked her about her mother and she just started melting saying how wonderful of a woman she was and how so many people had told her mom to have an abortion with her but she never did. It was so wonderful to see her light up like that, to see the amount of love she had for her mother. I started talking to her about how beautiful she was and how she was a gift , and every time that she had sex she was giving a little of that gift away. As I was talking to her I could see her eyes light up and a thirst for knowledge like she wanted to know so much more about chastity. We did her pregnancy test and it came out negative and she say to me in a loud voice "I will NEVER have sex again until I am married"

Rosie

God Willing

Monday was a busy day in the Queens office. I counseled a girl I'll call Angela who was originally from Israel. Her English was a little broken, but we figured it out. She was engaged, and wanted to parent. She had just had a miscarriage in April, two days before her birthday. When she told me that she started to tear up. We went in to have a sonogram and she was about 8 weeks. Rosanna, our ultrasound technician, found the heartbeat, turned up the volume, and said "Oh, that's a good strong beat. It's a very healthy baby." Tears streamed down Angela's face as relief flooded over her. She said "My situation is very complicated because my fiance is not Jewish, and faith is very important to my family. I won't be on his insurance until September, so that is also a problem. But, the baby is healthy, and God willing, everything will work out." She left smiling, clutching the ultrasound picture of her child.

Recently Post Abortive

On Monday in Queens I counseled a girl who had just had an abortion at the end of April, when she was 22 weeks pregnant. She came in because she had had a period again in May, but then missed her last one and had been having lots of cramps and back pain. Her test turned out to be negative, but she had an ultrasound anyway just in case we could see if anything was wrong. The ultrasound looked normal, but we talked a lot about the possible complications that can happen after having an abortion, especially one so late-term. We discussed Post-Abortion Syndrome, which she had never heard of and she was very concerned about it. She had insurance, so we urged her to go to her own doctor immediately to find out what was wrong, because it was almost certain that she was having complications from her abortion.

Be Faithful in Small Things...

I know when at first we hear the word ” down syndrome ” we think WOW that’s so hard to have to deal with that ! I disagree working with Katherine has been such  a wonderful gift God has given me these past months. I think it made me see life from a whole knew point of view, its not the big things in life that matter but rather the small things. I think there is a quote that goes something like this ” anyone who ever did anything big started out small”children with down syndrome simply look at life through the “Small things” Like being able to say the word oval!!! or to throw a ball straight. We often forget to stop and look at those wonderful small things, like being able to pick up a cup of water and drink it without any hassle, or taking the lid off of something.

So the little girl has taught me so much but most of all its to be thankful for the small things in life !

 Rosie

Rosie

Realizations

Hi! It's Miriam! Today I would like to talk about my experience in Jerome, an office that you can find in the Bronx.

This would be the smallest office in New York, but what happens there, it's wonderful! Last day, two girls came. One was in her teens and the other in her early twenties. Both though they were very young to have a baby. Both wanted to have an abortion, and one of them finally decided she will parent.

What is the difference between those girls? The fear. I suppose that many girls don't know that they are terminating the life of a human being, to be more exact, the life of a baby. This is the reason most girls have an abortion, and they don't give it a second thought.

One of the girls realized the life she was carrying her child, so she is going to keep the baby. Isn't that incredible?

In front of the clinic

Good afternoon from the Bronx Lifehouse!
Today I've had a very busy day! We have been at the front of Dr. Emily's clinic, and a lot of women have come.
When I'm there I have like mixed feelings, I want a lot of girls to come and so I can talk and help them, but then, when we are hours there and nobody comes, I think it is maybe better, because that means that the number of girls who wanted to have an abortion that day is smaller.
This morning a lot of girls have come, and only a few wanted to talk to us. Sincerely, it has been hard, but I hope next time is better. We'll pray for it, and for the girls we've met today.