By Kim Ae-ran
From the last Sunday of January to the last Sunday of February in 2023, we took the first mission trip to five Korean Catholic churches in Texas. The distance we drove on this mission was 2,698.2 miles (4341 kilometers). It is like two round trips between South Korea and North Korea.
The theme of our mission to Texas was "Rise and go on a journey. Console, console my people!" The theme was most appropriate to the difficult situations that all of us are facing throughout the world. Happily, many Korean migrant parishioners expressed that they were consoled, encouraged and strengthened through our presence. The conversations we shared with one another, and the books that we presented to them during the mission were well received.
We could meet more people because we went to the southern part of the United States in the cold winter. Parish priests also welcomed us with joy and cooperated favorably, because they were already familiar with our "Pauline" presence in Korea.
Parishioners were happy to meet us because they were thirsty for spirituality. As a result, many books were distributed, and we received another invitation to come again.
Being an area where many people are moving to, Texas is a promising destination for missionaries, with an increasing number of children, young people, young couples and highly educated professionals.
Texas, the so-called Lone Star State is very wide and vast. In fact, it was the Republic of Texas from 1836 to 1845. At that time, the landscape encompassed desert wilderness, coastlines, mountains and prairies, with diverse towns and villages, as well as a rich artistic and cultural heritage.
It is said that the future of the United States is not California, which is afflicted with high house prices, the highest level of income and corporate taxes, and excessive bureaucracy, but Texas, which is called "the heart of American conservatives," is quite different and attracting many newcomers.
Texas was originally a traditional conservative, white and agricultural region, but it is becoming increasingly vibrant and diversified. Texas is rapidly growing with zero corporate and income taxes, low taxes, low labor costs, low regulation, abundant jobs, low housing costs, free rental of company or factory land, vitality and diversification.
Tesla (the global electric vehicle company), Oracle (an enterprise software company), Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE, a company providing cloud services for businesses), and IT information communication companies relocated their headquarters to Texas. Samsung Electronics semiconductor plant also moved from Silicon Valley. So, it is now called "Silicon Hill."
At the same time, being a major producer of natural gas and crude oil, Texas is rich in natural resources. Aeronautics, energy science, electronic communication technology and biotechnology industries are all well-developed. Therefore, the current population is rapidly increasing, and the number of ethnic minorities is also increasing.
Thanks to these developments, we could also stay peacefully at several houses of our collaborators for a month without inconvenience. The collaborators who welcomed us at their houses expressed that they were also consoled and encouraged through our sharing. They said that our stay at their houses was a gift from God.
We dedicated ourselves to the mission and collaborated well with each other. By the grace of God, we could finish our first mission trip with much gratitude and in good health. We experienced the presence of God through various encounters with parishioners and collaborators. Everything was given abundantly with the help of God's providence.
The author is a member of the Daughters of St. Paul. When available, please feel free to visit her blog, "A piece of sunshine," at mtorchid88.blogspot.com.