Philadelphia, Generation life

     Sin darme cuenta ya han pasado las cuatro semanas que tenía que pasar en Philadelphia y hoy me ha tocado despedirme de la ciudad, de la gente, la casa, el perro y poner rumbo a Virginia.  Una de las cosas que más me ha llamado la atención de los provida de Philly ha sido un grupo que conocimos el otro día llamado Generation Life.  
    Cuando nos dijeron que teníamos que quedar con este grupo de misioneros me imaginé que serían un grupo de personas mayores, probablemente monjas y curas. No me esperaba en absoluto que nos fuese a recoger a la estación una chica de pelo largo, rizado, vestido estampado y uñas rojas. ¿Eso es una misionera? ¡Pero si podría ser cualquiera de nosotras! Nos llevaron a rezar a una clínica abortista en la que me sorprendió el ver a más gente joven rezando. Después de rezar frente a la clínica, mostrándonos una vez más la hospitalidad americana, de la que no hemos parado de ser testigos, nos invitaron a desayunar a su oficina.
    Allí nos estuvieron contando cómo funcionan, cómo trabajan. Estos misioneros son jóvenes, solteros, que dedican uno o dos años de su vida a esta particular misión. Forman equipos de cinco voluntarios, dos chicos, dos chicas y un jefe que puede ser chico o chica. De estos grupos hay uno que viaja por el mundo, otro que viaja por distintos estados y otros en Philadelphia. Su filosofía es la educación, es decir, la mejor forma de evitar abortos es evitando los embarazos imprevistos, por lo tanto si se educa a los jóvenes en castidad, enseñándoles a respetarse a sí mismos y a su pareja, se está avanzando también en la lucha  por la vida.
   Para acabar dar gracias a Mike nuestro host, a toda la gente que hemos conocido en estas semanas, a nuestros vecinos que tan amablemente se han preocupado de que no nos faltaran planes y por supuesto a los otros interns que han estado o pasado por nuestra casa!!

Hope

Last Saturday the Miami crew and I went once again to one of the most important abortion clinic in Miami. A choice for women 6660 S. West 117th Ave., South Miami, FL 33143.

As every Saturday, we stay right on the place the authorities let us to stay. Just 6 feet long or less, to stay and pray in front of the main entrance of the abortion clinic.

On Saturdays we do our best to try to talk to the girls that are going to have and abortion. But its really hard beause they come by car, and as always, the pro-choice security do not let us to talk to the girls.

So even it is hard we pray and do our best.

But that particularly Saturday was one of my best Saturdays ever im Miami.

In the middle of our third rosary, at 10:00 am, a lot of pro-life teenagers were approaching to us. They were like 15 or more. 

It was amazing seeing lots of young people like us praying in front of that abortion clinic, and trying to talk to the girls.

So they joined us and we stayed the whole morning together praying for the girls and babies.

Thank God we are not alone in this battle.

Friendship

There are three fundamental pillars in life: God, family and friends. I would like to focus on the third pillar. Friends have more influence in our decisions than our parents.

Friendship is a bilateral relationship, unselfish, sincere, which always seeks the good for the other person. We often confuse what is good for what is easy. During pregnancy, women are more sensitive and disoriented so a friend is a great help in this situation.

A good friend talks honestly even if it hurts. We must tell the consequences and support our friends. We should show them the positive side of things, which in this case is to have the child

We noticed who real friends are when we have problems. Life is not easy. Having someone who supports you in everything, good and bad, makes this more bearable.

Most the abortion

After all the days I have been doing concealing. I can arrive to the conclusion that most of the women then even don’t know about different types of abortions.

Medical (No surgical): this type of abortion up to 49 days after the last menstrual period.

Is a way to end a pregnancy with medicines without a surgical procedure.

Dilation and Curettage with Vacuum Aspiration: This a surgical procedure generally used in the first 12 weeks of a pregnancy.

The doctor first opens (dilates) the cervix and the cervix and the empties the uterus with suction.

Dilation and Evacuation: This procedure is generally used after 12 weeks of pregnancy.

The uterus will be scraped and the unborn child and placenta are removed.

Abortion by Labor Induction (Medical Induction): This procedure is generally used after 16 weeks of a pregnancy.

The doctor may use instruments to scrape the uterus and make sure that the unborn child, placenta, and other contents of the uterus have been completely removed.

Dilation and Extraction: This type abortion is one of the procedures that can be done after 16 weeks gestation.

The doctor will dilate (open) the cervix. The doctor will grasp the unborn child’s foot with an instrument and deliver the child except for the head.

I think people that have an abortion have a very selfish behavior.

“La vida no se ha hecho para comprenderla, sino para vivirla”

 

Diez minutos

Hola a todos!

Aqui en Texas hemos abierto una nueva oficina en la ciudad de San Antonio. Colaboramos también en la oficina de otro grupo prolife, que hace algo muy parecido a lo que hacemos en EMC. El otro dia, estábamos en la oficina y llegó una chica, queria hacerse el test para ver si estaba embarazada. Tenia un hijo de menos de un año, que vino con ella a la oficina, y antes de este niño, ya habia dado uno en adopción a través de la oficina donde trabajamos ( "A choice for women"). Ella sostenía que si estaba embarazada no podria mantenerlo, ya tenia bastante con el niño que tiene. Ante esta situación, antes de ver el resultado del test de embarazo, la jefa de la oficina llamó por telefono al padre adoptivo del primer hijo de esta chica, y le puso al tanto de la situación. Tardó menos de 10 minutos en llegar a la oficina para hablar con la chica, y ofrecerse a adoptar al nuevo bebé si esque estaba embarazada. El resultado del test fue positivo, y ella se decidió a seguir adelante con el embarazo, sabiendo que su bebé iba a ser adoptado por el mismo padre y madre que adoptaron a su primer hijo. Cuento esta historia porque me soprende gratamente la disponibilidad con la que la gente se ofrece con tal de salvar una vida, es impresionante.
 En 10 minutos decides ser padre otra vez, antes de que la madre decida abortar. En 10  minutos cambia tu vida por completo simplemente porque tienes muy claro que si tu puedes hacer algo por evitar ese trauma a la madre, y esa injusta muerte al niño, debes hacerlo. En 10 minutos eres capaz de demostrar que la vida de ese niño está por encima de todos los problemas y complicaciones. En 10 minutos eres capaz de demostras que hay gente buena en el mundo y con ganas de ser feliz haciendo felices a los demás.

 

Prayer warriors

Today we have had the chance to participate in a training session for side-walk conselling.

One of the volunteers of the San Antonio Coalition for Life came down to the office and helped us prepare for the different situations we may encounter while at the doors of any abortion mill. 

As we know, abortions are not performed every day at every clinic, so we need to know in advance where to go and be ready for everything. 

First of all, she reminded us the basic rules of side-walk counselling, those being

• Always be peaceful and respect the rules, never stand on the clinic's property
• Remember that we are there to help mothers, fathers, workers and babies and support other pro-lifers
• Focus on side-walk counselling, it is not the time to socialize
• Be prepared and bring literature
• Do not be discouraged

After that, she gave us some examples of what we could say to make an impact on the girls and make them wanna come tall to us. 

Finally, she provided us with some extra materials and gave us some tips to make packages with different leaflets to hand out to the girls or their boyfriends depending on what they come to the clinic from. 

 

She also reminded us the importance of praying and encouraged us to do so at all times to find the right words to say and to seek help when we are standing there.

 
 

Anger and Anguish

 

    We’ve all ran into it: that worker or passerby who just won’t let up.  Curses and cusses run liberally and you’re left feeling like you need to take a shower to wash off the filthy language that’s just been flung at you. 

    What is often our first reaction is almost always wrong: “Oh yeah?  Well same to you!”  Not in those words, perhaps, but I’m sure we’ve all in situations like what I’ve described felt the urge to offer a little spleen back at them. 

    We can’t give into that temptation.  I quite believe that it is those people who are in need of the most love and tenderness—possibly even more than the women entering the clinic.  These are the people who I believe have already been involved with abortion.  Either a sin they themselves committed or one they led a loved one into or one another committed that took the life of their child without their consent—whatever the circumstances, somewhere along the way of their life they have been deeply wounded by the abortion industry and are suffering. 

    Our reaction to their hostility should be of gentle love—however unnatural that will feel at the time.  Resist the urge to argue, however right you are and however witty that response you just thought up.  I’ve fallen into this trap too many times.  It doesn’t help—that’s not the kind of help they need.  The deed has already been done and deep down they already know its wrong (that’s why they are suffering), so arguments will be of little value.  They are in need of compassion, so that’s what we must give them if we can.

    May the Lord in His agony have mercy on us and on those poor suffering souls.

Generation life

Despues de haber estado tres semanas en Philadelphia puedo decir que ha sido una experiencia increible. Basicamente ibamos a clinicas abortistas a rezar y a intentar hablar con las chicas tal y como hacemos en NY. Conocimos a gente muy intersante sobretodo los sabados por la mañana en los que se reunian grandes grupos para rezar. En alguna ocasion el evento seguia con una misa con el obispo en la catedral de philadelphia , en esta misma misa tambien encontre un grupo de jovenes prolife que hacian caminatas por todo EEUU para difundir el mensaje del valor de la vida. Encontrarse a tantos grupos prolife la verdad es que es muy animante. Uno de los grupos con los que mas contacto tuvimos fue uno llamado Generarion life. Eran un grupo de misioneros que por tal de erradicar el aborto viajaban por todo EEUU dando charlas de castidad,es decir, difundir el mensaje de la belleza se la sexualidad y el valor de la vida para evitar el aborto des de la raiz. A demas de su hospitalidad con todos nosotros me impresiono a pesar de lo jovenes que eran su forma de priorizar lo que de verdad importa y invirtiendo uno o mas años de su vida en una causa tan noble y siempre con gran optimismo. Eran geniales!! Os dejo aqui su pagina web: www.generarionlife.org

Investigacion a una clinica en chicago

 Otra investigacion sobre clinicas abortistas donde hacen la mayor atrocidad que es matar a un bebe inocente

A hearing was held on Tuesday, June 18 in the case of People of the State of Illinois v. Women’s Aid Clinic of Lincolnwood in Cook County Court in downtown Chicago, and  Women’s Aid Clinic owner Larisa Rozansky is continuing her stall tactics: As has happened in four of the past five hearings in the case, Rozansky didn’t bother to show up in Judge Alexander White’s courtroom.

The state Attorney General’s office filed suit [PDF] against Women’s Aid in August 2012 after the notorious abortion facility refused to pay the $36,000 fine assessed against it by the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) following an September 2011 inspection that uncovered deplorable conditions and several serious violations.

Rozansky has appeared in court for only one of the hearings in the case this year. On April 16, she showed up with a stack of paperwork—but without an attorney. Judge White reminded her that because Women’s Aid Clinic was a corporate debtor, it must be represented by an attorney.

Rozansky then told Judge White that she didn’t have the money to hire an attorney, to which he responded that the issue was not whether she personally had the money to hire an attorney, but whether Women’s Aid Clinic had the money to hire an attorney.

She replied that Women’s Aid Clinic doesn’t have the money, either, and that it had filed for bankruptcy [PDF] in October 2011 because it had no assets (although that case was dismissed a month later).

parents love

Today, I was at Queens when a woman came in to do an ultrasound. We showed her some pictures about babies. I could see in her face the happiness of a mother.

Despite all their circumstances a mother always loves her children. If you ask many women if they would change their life after having a baby I'm really sure that the answer is "no". A baby is God's gift that we should take care of. Everybody wants a parent's love.

I always see in all of the EMC centers how a baby improves a woman's life. They come saying that they don't want the baby or that they are not prepared and things like that. They say that because they are afraid and also because this is a responsibility that is very large. The pressure could confuse their minds but abortion is not the choice that they want.

Here we help women feel like that and empower them. We fight for everyone's happiness. With our help they start a path that changes their lives.

Abortion is not an option!!

Everyday we have the same routine, young women come to our pregnancy center and ask for an abortion. They don’t care about the risk, effects or even if the baby is going to suffer pain., they just want to know how much an abortion can cost. Today I want to explain to all these women the possible effects that they can find after the murder of those unborn babies.

On one side, in short term, they can have serious emotional effects such as anxiety, depression… and even some women can have suicidal thoughts. Other complications that can appear are: rupture of the uterus, hemorrhage, infections …

Moreover there are some complications that appear in a long term such as:

-         Higher risk of breast cancer

-         Future babies can born died

-         Future natural abortions

-         Complication in future pregnancies

I hope this post can help those women to choose LIVE!!!

Conference with OSA - God uses all kinds

The Truth Truck

 

    We spent a couple of days at a conference with another pro-life organization called Operation Save America.  We met lots of great people who share our passion for protecting and defending the unborn. 

    This organization comes at the issue of abortion from a different angle (as do pretty much all pro-life groups—no two are alike, it seems).  Far from the subtleties which EMC uses to attract women they utilize a head on and unambiguous method. With large graphic signs and speakers blasting the Good News of the Lord and religious music, they cry out to women of the love of the Lord for them and appeal to them to spare their babies from death. 

    Can I fault them for their use of “shock factor”?  Not really—not when you hear of their turnarounds.  The fact is that after working with and beside many different pro-life groups in the U.S. this summer I have realized that it is not about which organization you represent—God uses them all.  I don’t believe there is a right or wrong way (excepting certain extremes, perhaps) but rather right and wrong people. 

    If you prepare yourself spiritually—for again, this is a spiritual battle before it is anything else—God can and will make use of you to help women and save babies no matter how well or poorly or quickly or slowly or loudly or silently you head into the battle.  I believe the most honey-tongued sidewalk counselor, if inadequately prepared spiritually, will fare more poorly in the work to save live and hearts than the most awkward counselor who attends daily mass, prays hard and often, and goes to frequent confession to keep himself right with God.  It is a SPIRITUAL battle, so the accidents come second to substance (students of philosophy, please don’t kill me for stretching the meaning of that last bit...).

    So is OSA’s approach one I would take?  Probably not.  But it works nonetheless, because the warriors understand the battle and know how to prepare: stay close to God.  I was happy to hear several speakers making it abundantly clear that the battle we are fighting is a spiritual one and that our fitness as vessels is the primary concern if we wish to be any use in saving lives.

Hi!!This days I had been in Emily´s,an Abortion Clinic in the Bronx.At 7.30am the women come into the Clinic.We try to stop them and talk with them,give alternatives.A few of them arrive alone,with the money in the hand and looking the floor.They know that something is not right in that decision.
The pro-choise people,who are in the door open it,are unpolite.They defende that the women are the owner or their body.The father of the baby can´t give their opinion about the situation.Maybe he wants to sopport her.So,the pro-choise don´t lend them a ¨choise"
I talked with a girl,but her situation is terrible.She thinks sehe doesn´t have another way to solve the problem.
I spent 30min talking with a woman.She ísn´t be inform about the ramifications and the procedure of getting an abortion.
The ramifications of get an abortion are for the rest of their lifes.

The story of Rebecca

This is the great story of Rebecca. His mother was raped and now Rebecca is a prolife woman who tries to 

fight against abortion. 

Preferimos hablar de amor

Un cardenal estadounidense y asesor del papa Francisco respondió a los temores de algunos católicos de que el pontífice no se ha pronunciado con la suficiente energía contra el aborto.

En un discurso a la organización católica de hombres Knights of Columbus, el cardenal de Boston, Sean O'Malley, dijo que Francis prefiere destacar el amor y la compasión como sustentos del magisterio de la Iglesia. Con ello, Francisco espera "abrir los corazones" en un mundo cada vez más secular, dijo el prelado.

"Nos oponemos al aborto, no porque somos malos o anticuados sino porque amamos a la gente. Eso es lo que debemos mostrarle al mundo", dijo O'Malley. "Debemos amar a todos, incluso a los que abogan por el aborto. Solo si los amamos podremos ayudarles a descubrir cuán sagrada es la vida de un niño que no ha nacido".

Francisco ha realizado escasas declaraciones directas sobre el aborto, el matrimonio u otros asuntos sociales contenciosos desde su elección hace cinco meses. Muchos católicos han aplaudido el cambio de enfoque por considerar que rejuvenece a la Iglesia, pero otros temen que no combate el aborto con suficiente energía. Los predecesores inmediatos de Francisco en el Vaticano, Benedicto XVI y Juan Pablo II, dieron importancia prioritaria al aborto durante sus pontificados.

O'Malley, quien habló en San Antonio durante la reunión anual de la organización, es uno de los ocho cardenales designados por el Papa para asesorarlo sobre el gobierno de la Iglesia y la reforma de la burocracia vaticana, plagada de escándalos.

"El Santo Padre nos muestra muy claramente que nuestra lucha no es solamente una batalla política o un problema legal, sino que debemos evangelizar y humanizar la cultura, y entonces el mundo será seguro para los no nacidos, los ancianos y los improductivos", dijo O'Malley. "Si habremos de ser escuchados en el mundo de hoy, será porque la gente reconocerá la autenticidad de nuestras vidas y nuestra dedicación a construir una civilización del amor".

National Sidewalk Counseling Symposium '13 (Minneapolis)

 

Last July 25,26 and 27, some interns from Cleveland and Detroit assisted to the National Sidewalk Counseling Symposium in Minneapolis,Minnesota. There was an interesting experience where we could learn a lot about the sidewalk counseling from experienced people.

I would like to emphasize some ideas that Mr.Miller said in his speech: counseling sidewalk is bringing God to all women (and her boyfriends) in crisis pregnancy. Women who we want to help have a human baby on their, life is happen, and they have to know the truth.

Past and Present

In the 16th century a group of people from diverse backgrounds, crossed the Atlantic in order to create a better and free country. To reach this goal, the Founding Fathers made ​​the Constitution providing for freedom of citizens, democracy, the right to life...

Today America is known as the land of freedom, as one of the world's strongest democracies, but the unborn right to live is not respected.With our expansion we are trying to change people´s mind so we can protect unborn babies. Last weekend we went to a symposium of sidewalk counselling, there we learnt how to transmit this knowledge to people who haven´t been educated like us. I hope our effort can save more babies al around the States.

Here we are in that meeting with John, one of the experts talking in the symposium:

Sidewalk Counseling Seminar

Today, I would like write here what Mr.Miller and Alicia, from Detroit, said in the Sidewalk Counseling Nacional Simposium in Minneapolis, Minnesota, 2 weeks ago:

 

Mr. Miller giving a speech

Occasionally my sidewalk counseling partner and I give seminars and workshops on sidewalk counseling.  Usually people like what we say, yet very rarely does anyone step out on the sidewalk to join us.  Even more rare are those who stick with it a year or more.  Perhaps my approach is all wrong.  Perhaps I should describe mild days in the fresh outdoors, cheering words from passing motorists, and the many honors received as a life-saving hero.  Unfortunately, as we all know, that is far from the truth.  Most sidewalk counseling is done in rough conditions with little or no thanks.  You might go days, even weeks, without a success story to tell.  You’re a muffled, frozen odd-ball.  Sometimes even your own wife (not mine, thank God) or husband begins to resent the time you spend away from home in what often seems a hopeless endeavor.  He or she will make comments like, “What about your own children? Your own family?  Your own home?”  But all these sources of discouragement are, to some extent, the very reason I’ve been sidewalk counseling since 1987.  Let me explain why.

One reason I suspect I have trouble in recruiting for sidewalk counseling is because even ardent, Christian pro- life people have to some exent been affected by the ethos of the age. Our age glorifies movement. The philosophy of movement is neaty summarized by a character named Weston in a C.S. Lewis novel, Out of the Silent Planet. Weston explains that the goal of the human race is to speed from one planet to the next, not letting other species hinder our process, because power is the fuel of movement, and its use is therefore justified for moving us on. Movement, he says, is Life. And is this not the thinking of our own time? Do we not tear down the past in a race to an undefined future? Do we not move from job to job, from house to house, from country to country, at a rate which would have confounded our ancestors? Do we not curse our computers when they fail to respond instantaneously to our bidding? In our human communication, have we not sacrificed meaning for speed? Do we not put those who cannot keep up the pace in out-of-the-way homes? Some of them do we not even kill? Success, for us, must be a measurable thing- measured in how many appointments we have recorded in our notebook and how many times each day the cell phone rings.

In the midst of all this, sidewalk counseling is an anomaly. In the midst of the rush, sidewalk counseling is a stillness. Focus and quiet, in sidewalk counseling, are essential. Sidewalk counselors do not chat, they do not preach, they do not chant slogans. They do not bear large signs. They want to be as unobtrusive as possilble, because when they approach a woman or a couple they want the moment to be one of fresh, genuine human contact.

Yet there is another element to the stillness of a sidewalk counselor. He or she must be willing to suffer–an act which does not allow for anger, defensive techniques, protestations or arm-flailing of any sort. Of course there will be successes; there will be miraculous moments, moments of profound mystery and joy, moments of obvious, near-palpable grace. More often, though, will be those times in which the wind whips around you, the day is bleak and bitterly cold, the clients rush in without even bothering to become angry with you, no one listens– then the world starts to whisper in your ear,” Is this the best use of your time? Are you really being effective?” This is the moment at which the sidewalk counselor must embrace his suffering; for in that embrace, in that acceptance, he holds the key to life.

Weston’s definition of Life, of course, was mostly wrong, or terribly lop-sided, perhaps. The definition of life begins not with movement, but with stillness. Life is, in the begining, a presence–an  unmoving, unchanged presence, the presence of God. The only complete definition of life that one can offer is, simply, God.  That’s it. Obviously, then, the closer to God one lives, the more one has of life. But how does one draw closer? What is the essence of God’s personality? In His constant self-gift, we recognize the obvious truth that His essence is Love.

To be willing to sidewalk counsel one must be willing to suffer. But to be willing to suffer is to be willing to Love, an act which takes us to the very source of Life, to the springs of its growth. Time after time, in the midst of the most bleak circumstances, Alicia and I have seen life flame out; we have seen mothers and fathers smile, thank us, and leave. We have seen an abortion clinic at which we sidewalk counseled for two years close, the business having been so affected by our presence that the abortionist was evicted for unpaid rent. Even without these obvious signs of life, though, we would go, trying to be the still presence we are called to be.  As long as love is there, death can have no victory.

By Edmund B. Miller and Alicia Wong

Hello from Massanutten!

After a long trip from New York City and picking up some other interns in Philadelphia, Baltimore and DC, we have just arrived to this beautiful resort located in Virginia.

We are going to spend here a week and we are in total 7 interns, all of us so excited for this amazing trip that has just started.

We will visit some villages and important places, go hiking and practice some sports here at the resort.

I'm also so happy because after this beautiful trip, Pilar and I are going to Washington DC to work for two weeks! 

The photo is our terrace view, an amazing place!

el aborto no es nunca una solucion.

el aborto no es nunca una solucion. el aborto es un asesinato. si, un asesinato. cuando una mujer se queda embarazada ya no es una mujer, es una muijer con un ninyo en su seno. ya no puede actuar pensando solo en ella sola, ha de penmsar en los dos.

lo malo es que hoy en dia la sociedad tiende a ser algo egosita y pemsamos solo en nosotros mismos. si conseguimos cambiar esta =fiorma de pensar cambiaremos el mundo.

y desde mi punto de vista esto solo se puede cambiar con el ejemplo y la palabara, es decir, ensenyando a los demas y sobretodo, lo que es mas importante, dando mucho ejem[plo a los demas con nuestros actos, como hacia jesus cuando estab en la tierra.

una experiencia genial

hace no mas de dos semanas algunos internos tuvimos la oportunidad de ir a unas conferencias prolife con chris slattery. fuimos: almudena, beatriz, alfonso (conocido como poncho), jose y yo. nos lo pasamos en grande, y no solo eso, tambien tuvimos la oportunidad de conocer a mucha gente prolife. de entre estos habiagente de texas, de florida, de orlabndo... es decir de todos los estados unidos de america! en resumen, una experiencia genial!

San Antonio here we go

Today Belén, Elena, Maca and I have arrived in San Antonio. After a month in Austin, we are all very exited to be here and have the opportunity to reach out to many other girls in this city. 

While we are here not only are we going to open a new office for EMC, but we are also gonna collaborate with other prolife organizations. The family in whose house we are staying is very involved in the pro-life movement, and they have another pregnancy crisis center, so they have offered to share some of their resources with us. Thanks to that we can offer baby supplies and free sonograms to our girls. 

Everyone in San Antonio seems very nice and willing to help us in whatever way they can, and I would like to thank them all. 

We are enthusiastic about this new journey and hope to get good results.