MISSIONARY TRIP TO KOREA—Reported by Dr. Ligaya Acosta, April 22-26, 2010.

I embarked on my second mission to Korea in East Asia with the invaluable help of Mrs. Fe Kim, a Filipino and President of the Filipino-Korean Spouses Association, and her supportive Korean husband, Mr. Kim Seung Jin. I met the Kims on my first mission to Korea in February 2008, in one of the most popular Marian shrines there. I'm sure Mama Mary brought us together because we share the same devotion to Our Lady, and I have no doubt she wanted us to do the mission of saving babies in Korea together. At our first meeting, we got along well right away, as if we were friends since long ago – chiefly because we enjoyed sharing our experiences with and fondness for our Blessed Mother. When I told them the mission of Human Life International, Mr. and Mrs. Kim realized that HLI is exactly what they need to address the many problems regarding life and family faced by the growing number of multi-cultural marriages and families in Korea. Thus, we began planning for my second visit. The Kims discussed my visit with The Honorable Kwang Yul Shin, Ambassador of Public Relations in Inchon Metropolitan City and President of the International Conference on Foreign Welfare and the Pupyong Community Welfare Center. Thankfully, he readily approved the plan. We first scheduled the "HLI Seminar" in the last quarter of 2009, but unfortunately Mr. Kim experienced an accident necessitating a long hospitalization. So, we had to reschedule for April 2010.

HLI'S TRULY GLOBAL MISSION
I arrived in Korea on the very cold early morning of April 23, although the warm reception I received was enough to keep the cold away. Fe even brought me some winter clothes, concerned that the spring weather would still be too cold for me. In the afternoon, we made a courtesy call with the good Ambassador Shin, who, despite having another meeting, treated us to an early Korean dinner.

The next day, we travelled two hours by train to Seoul to attend a prayer meeting organized by Filipino residents. Despite the multiple problems many of them face as a result of their multi-cultural marriages, Filipinos have retained their faith and have become evangelizers wherever they are planted. Sadly, though, many of them have fallen prey to the culture of death without fully realizing it. They were thus grateful for my visit and for my opening their eyes to the evils of contraception, abortion, and divorce. After the meeting, we had a mini-pilgrimage to a Marian grotto and attended Mass at the Myeong-Dong Cathedral in Seoul, where I had the chance to pray not only for my mission to Korea but for HLI's missionaries around the world, as well. I must say that I was apprehensive for this mission because of the short duration and the fact that I had only two main speaking engagements. Although I was asked to extend my stay so we could go to the other cities, I could not accommodate the request because of urgent commitments in my home country, the Philippines, which held very crucial Presidential elections in May.

But indeed we can never underestimate how GOD can work through us, particularly when we commit all our plans to HIM, as HE asks. Though short, my visit had a truly great impact, partly due to the attendance of Ambassador Shin at my talk in Inchon, and the fact that the seminar I conducted was not only attended by Koreans, but also people of other nationalities – Filipinos, Panamanians, and Vietnamese - who were all touched by the message and who even asked that I go to their respective countries, as well.

KOREA'S DEVASTATING POPULATION DECLINE
In his message after my talk, Ambassador Shin admitted that he always avoided talks on abortion but was so glad he came this time. He said he learned a lot and was so touched by what he heard and saw during my presentation that he vowed to start a campaign to stop abortion in Korea, saying that he will discuss this with the government. (And he is an influential person in both the government and private sector!) He also said that he wants HLI to return to Korea in the summer to conduct sessions with the youth, whom he said very urgently need to hear the message. He also plans to put up streamers with the message "Stop Abortion," all over the city. He continued to discuss his plans over lunch, with the realization that Korea needs to try everything to increase its population. This statement of mine made a deep impact on him: "If Korea continues to abort its children, there will come a time when there will be no more Koreans in Korea." He shared that perhaps in the beginning abortion was needed because Korea was so poor after the war, but now that they have grown to be a wealthy nation, there is no reason for it. He listened intently as I discussed what happened to countries that implemented massive population control in the past, including Korea.

Korea now has one of the lowest birth rates in the world with an average of 1.08 children per woman – definitely below replacement level! As of July 2009, Korea's population growth rate had plunged to a mere 0.266/1,000 population. Without the foreigners in South Korea, it would be a lonely place. And with a preference for sons, a significant number of men have to pursue marriage with foreign women, which has caused many difficulties due to cultural differences. These difficulties have also led to more contraception, abortions and divorce.

SPREADING THE GOSPEL OF LIFE
From Inchon, we again travelled by train to Seoul for another talk, this time with a non-Catholic, but Christian, Fellowship Community, composed mostly of Filipinos. Since we came early, we attended their service. Although they sang happy songs of praise and worship and the Pastor delivered a great sermon, I couldn't help but feel some sadness in my heart. They had no altar, and I thought how much they were missing by not having the Holy Eucharist, especially because it was a Sunday! Thank GOD, though, everyone was touched by my talk. I even had a mini-teaching on Natural Family Planning afterwards, per their request.

As I left Korea in the evening of April 26, I thanked GOD and Our Lady profusely for blessing the mission – short but with high impact. And of course, as always, I thank GOD for the many benefactors of HLI, without whom we can do nothing.
Upon reaching home, I got a call from Fe telling me that she received a lot of touching feedback from the seminar – even from those who were not able to attend! To GOD be the glory forever!