Lot's of Wonderful Experiences! Lots of Pictures!

8/29/16

So the mom of Rebeca came back to Poza Rica this week. I was talking to her and she said she wants me to baptize her. When she came for the baptism for Rebeca, I shared with her the message of the Restoration, and then invited them to church. They came to church for the baptism and liked it. Behind the scenes, their whole family searched for the church back at their house in Puebla, Mexico. Now all 8 of them go to church. Rebeca´s mom came back to Poza Rica this last weekend and told me about how now that they are going to church, she can see the unity and how they have so much more love in their family. She thanked me for how I have helped her to change her life, and she wants me to be the one to baptize her. We´re preparing her to be baptized on the 11 of Sep. And when I was sick, she was super worried, and gave me a bunch of fluids and little house remedies so that I would get better. She was constantly asking me how I was doing. She´s 68 and a spry little woman at that. I have a picture with her but I forgot my camera..... Next week :)

9/5/16

This picture is of Guillermina, she will be baptized on the 18 of September! She is the mom of Rebeca and is an example to all converts everywhere. She loves the Gospel and she has seen the changes in her family. I taught her once and then she went back to her house in Puebla. She came back a couple weeks ago and told me that she wanted me to baptize her. When she went back to her home, she searched for the chapel closest to her and started to go with her family. There are now 8 people that go with her and preparing for baptism. She came back and told me she wants me to baptize her becasue she said it was through me that she found this new life.

9/12/16

As of this morning, there is a man that we are going to be teaching. A few nights ago, my companion and I were contacting people in the street and in their houses. As we were passing a house, there was a woman who was trying to get some bags into her door. We offered our help, and then gave her a contact card while explaining a little bit of who we are and Who we represent. Later, the father of this young woman came out to hear what was going on. He bluntly stated that he is a Pentacostal, already goes to church, and reads his Bible every day. He had many questions where he would try to tie us up in our words. Yet I had many questions as well. But when I asked him my questions, he would either interrupt me, or ignore my questions and try and change the subject. You can only imagine how frustrating that was. My patience slowly started to whither into a dead leaf. I kept my visual clean, patient, and reverent... But on the inside I wanted to explode. At the end where I was at the point of just leaving. I reached into my shoulder bag, pulled out a Book of Mormon, and gave it to him. I told him to read it, he has our number, and if he is interested and would like to know more, call us.

As my companion and I walked away, my companion asked me, "Are we going to go back?" I told him, "No, he is the type of person who just wants to contend or fight. If he reads the Book of Mormon and wants to know more, he can call us, and then we will. But, until he calls us, I´m not going back because he was just testing my nerves." Then my companion agreed, and we started contacting more people once again.

Today, the member we live with invited us to have some brunch. We ate, and then the hermana invited us in her living room to talk for a second. The lady who cleans her house is a member of the church. She is married and has children. I don´t understand the situation, because she loves her husband and they are happy together, but she lives in another house alone. She started talking to us, and explained how her husband recently obtained a Book of Mormon! He is now reading it, and is very interested. Her husband is the man we contacted the other night, and he wants to know more. She told us about how he was, "Intrigued by the persistance of the white boy, and when he told him to read the book, he felt as though it was something he needed to do."

The Lord works in mysterious ways. And He knew that Elder Koontz was not going to go back to the house of the man, unless he was therefore called to do so. So the Lord sent the call through the wife of the man. :)

9/19/16

So changes got here this week! After my 4 1/2 months here in Barrio Totolapa, Estaca Poza Rica I`m getting changed to Cazones. It’s the area with the beach of Poza Rica. I`m still in the same city of Poza Rica but there are 2 zones here. I`m going into the other zone along the beach. I`ve been told that all I`m gonna be eating is fish, shrimp, crab, oysters, etc. Seafood. I`m happy that I`ve been to Tamiahua where they showed me how to really eat crab and shrimp.

Baptism!!! We Baptized Guillerma Javier Perez this last Saturday and then she was confirmed yesterday. She is the mother of Rebeca (who we baptized last change). She is a great little bundle of joy and she is always so caring of my health and well-being. The first time I met her was the week of Rebeca and Ana`s baptism. Her along with the rest of their extended family had come to visit, and it just so happens that the missionaries had been invited to meet everyone... We extended the invitation for them to go to the baptism of Rebeca and they said they weren`t too sure. We shared the message of the Restoration with them and they had a lot of good questions. When we gifted a Book of Mormon to Guillerma, she held it tight to her chest and shared her testimony of how This Book is a treasure to her. We have helped her by teaching, answering questions, reading, and continuing forward with her baptismal date. She was baptized and confirmed this last weekend. I also had the opportunity to talk by phone with the rest of their extended family that lives in Puebla, Mexico. The first day upon their return from their visit, they searched for the closest chapel to their house. They went everyday until there had been some type of activity or meeting so they could find out when the services started on Sunday. They found the missionaries and have been receiving the discussions from them. As I was talking to them last night over the phone, they told me that they are happily and readily preparing themselves to be baptized on the 25th of September. This next Sunday!!! They thanked me for helping them with this great gift of the Gospel in their lives because they can see the unity in their family 100x more. It made me very happy to hear this :)

9/26/16

Alright, new area: Cazones, new companion: Elder Sulub, Ward/Branch: Branch, pictures: yes, love the area: yes, love my companion: yes. WOOOO! CAZONES!!

So far everything is going good. We´ve had some great experiences and I´m already getting to know the majority of everyone here pretty fast. There are so many young single adults here. Everyone seems to range from around 20-24 years old. We all get along pretty well. But I´m still pretty new and the people are getting used to the fact that the Elder that used to be here is gone. He was here for 6 months and everyone misses him. So pretty much whenever I walk into a house the people first get very sad at the fact that the other Elder is gone and now I am here. But then after about 5 minutes of sorrow, they get happy at the fact they can get to know me.

There are 3 people who typically hang out with us a lot. Their names are Edgar, Irving, and Pancho (Francisco). You´ll see a picture of them in a second.

We had a really good week this week. We worked a lot and had an effective fast. We have been finding new people to teach and we had 10 people come to church yesterday! Everyone is awesome. Tonight we have a noche de hogar ( Family Home Evening) planned and we are going to play volleyball with the branch. It’s been raining quite a bit today so it’s been a little bit cooler. I´ve been told that my area is the coolest (temperature) in all of our zone. We live up a little bit in the "mountains" so it’s just a little bit cooler. But, it’s still part of the oven of Poza Rica. My house is awesome. I have upgraded from a tiny one-room-concrete-box to a nice apartment. We get a little bit of airflow in it sometimes so it’s a little cooler as well. I finally have my own desk again. For the past 4 months and a half, I´ve had to share a desk with my companion and I never had anywhere to put my books. Now I have more space and I´ll send some pictures in a bit.

Edgar works in his own shop. He sells clothes and there is a small area with a bunch of miscellaneous items. I took some pictures with the random stuff so you will see those as well.

I´ve been really warmly welcomed into the branch. We´re all excited about conference coming up and it’s just a happy little place here.

10/3/16

I got to see conference and I loved it. I really loved all of the talks. I loved Pres. Russel M Nelson with Joy, but I guess I can say the one I got the most out of personally was Dale G. Renlund about True Repentance. That experience he shared about the firecracker was hilarious, but at the same time, you think about how it really wasn´t so much of a bad thing. And he felt terrible just for causing a distraction in the sacrament meeting which caused him to feel unworthy of the Sacrament. Powerful experience that one, it put me to think

The biggest things I am learning on the mission are humility, charity, and repentance. I have come to learn more and more about these three attributes that are absolutely necessary in a successful life. Daily repentance has taught me how to have daily happiness. Working on having less pride is a much more peaceful way to serve the mission and take guidance. Pride is the enemy of Humility, so when humility is learned, pride is destroyed. Charity is something I am still trying to get to learn. I enjoy teaching and getting to know the people I teach. Developing love for everyone I teach is something that requires more work. Charity is a gift, it’s not something you can just have on your own. So I pray for that gift daily. Man, I miss conference already.

1 Family of 3 and another investigator came to watch conference. They said they loved it, their only difficulty is that they arent praying. I already feel like we have shoved the importance of prayer into their face a bunch. They just need to do it. I think it clicked in the last lesson we shared with them yesterday. They said they will. They are super cool and great. They just need to pray!!!!!!!!

Okidoki. I´m audi. Love you all! Talk to you in a week!! :)

Guillermina.....Isn't she sweet?? 

Guillermina and her daughter Rebeca. Guillermina got baptized!

This cat climbs up my body like Spiderman to get to the top of my shoulders

Saying goodbye to so many WONDERFUL families!!

We ate Pazolei with this family. They are awesome and I`m gonna miss them.

Us with Ana and Guillerma... and Vicki (baby) :) 

With Guillerma and Rebeca in their taco stand

This is how people in Mexico wish you a fond farewell. Wait for it..... 

Boom!

Delicious!

Everyone had to get in on the fun! 

My bags all packed and ready to go to Totolapa.

Hermana Blanca from Totolapa

My new zone in Totolapa 

My first Sunday in the Branch with only a few of the members :) 

This well is huuuuuuuge. There are a ton of people with small ones, but this one is huge! 

Finally, my own desk again. :) 

My very organized closet :) 

And another with my new hairdoo...........Just kidding.

 I have regulation haircut. 

I wish my hair was like this, I could be a model. ;-P 

Very, very, fresh seafood 

I was helping my companion with his English Study this week and we came across this practice question... Not even the book knows why... (bottom question) 

Lucha Libre! Nachoooooooooo!

10 months!! Training a New Companion, Spiritual Growth and Self Discovery

Hola Familia,

Thinking about how I was before the mission mentally and thinking about how much I have grown is something I have seen as a miracle. I am a lot more patient now. Little things don’t bother me as much (when they don’t matter). I am more diligent with my work, and I seek further for solutions to problems. I have been reading Jesus the Christ by James E. Talmage. I started it a little earlier in the mission but then stopped. This past week I got into reading it more and I LOVE IT. I´m on Chapter 11 and it gets into good detail about some questions I have had about the Savior. I feel like I am getting closer to know Him more and it’s an amazing feeling. My Patriarchal Blessing specifically tells me to study the scriptures and learn about the Savior. So I´m applying it more to me right now. 

Something I´ve really been struggling with is loving people. People have mentioned to me that I am an example to them for the love that I have for people. But in the truth, it’s just how I was raised. I respect people and give them more respect than what I deserve. I serve them without expecting anything. Yet, to develop a love for someone is something that is just hard for me. I love the people that I have taught and helped to convert through the Spirit, but to develop that same love for everyone I teach is difficult, and the Savior did that. He loved everyone uniquely. It’s one of my newest adventures I´m trying to apply. Because before, the people that I taught and progressed have that genuine love for me. I´ve heard some different ways that other missionaries have tried to apply it to them, but I think this is more of a personal discovery.

I frequently am reminded of what I still have to wait for, for the (at least) next 14 months.. Eternal Marriage. Ughhhh man!!!! Our last Priesthood class in the Elder´s quorum was about being part of an eternal partnership. Jeez, talk about rip your heart out. I have the firm goal that I am going to marry a returned missionary. She will (I hope) have the same goals as I in the return to the presence of God. I was studying a little bit of the life of Gordon B. Hinkley recently and there was a quote that I loved from his wife which states, "I love my husband and I know he loves me, yet I know I will always be second to him in his priorities following the Lord... But, I´m ok with that". I hope that my future wife will accept this truth about me as well. I have dreams about going to the temple, and sometimes there is someone with me. I miss the temple. I love to rethink about my feelings of being in the temple. It is such a blessing to sit in that Celestial Room and relish the Spirit that resides there. Then when I think about those same feelings, but with someone sitting next to me, linked arm to arm with me and holding my hand. It’s a feeling I can´t describe. The joy, peace, and tranquility I feel is unfathomable. It is for this particular reason that the first place that I will be going upon my return will be the temple. 

I feel myself growing spiritually. Maturing myself to be a man at the same time. Priorities are changing and I am realizing the more important things in my life. Responsibility is becoming more of a goal. When I say that, I mean I look for opportunities where I will need to be responsible for things so that I can prepare for larger tasks when they come. I recognize that being a trainer right now is the Lord helping me out with this journey and preparation. Always being an example in everything I do, not just an example, but a good one. 

I love the words of the prophets, both ancient and modern day. The words of Alma in chapter 5 of Alma, how in versus 45 and 46 he testifies of how he is sure and certain of the truth of all the things he knows. Also the most recent words of our Living Prophet Thomas S. Monson, and how we must always make the harder right choice, instead of the easier wrong choice. We can live blessed and rich lives if we follow the teachings of the prophets. It is my testimony and my knowledge of these things. Y como suponéis que yo sé de su certeza?

I love you all. Be examples, and stay firm in your foundations.
Elder Koontz

Elder Koontz and his new trainee Elder Carrillo

Elder Carrillo and I with Ana and Rebeca and the sister Missionaries.  We were celebrating Rebeca's 45th birthday.

Chatting with some new missionaries

New Missionaries and their trainers

So much success in a month! Lots of pictures...

I've been horrible the past month and haven't updated Ty's blog! Here are his letters for the past month. So many baptisms!!

7/4/16

We have baptisms lined up for these next few weeks. We´re really excited! You can´t forget about faith, hope, and charity.

We found an investigator named Rebeca and her daughter Ana. Rebeca is 45 and her daughter is in her mid 20s. Ana has a daughter that is 6 months old. They are both super awesome. We were walking 2 weeks ago, contacting people in the street as we went. And then I saw the 3 of them sitting in front of a tiendita (little store). Normally, I wouldn't think much of it because there are always people sitting in front. But I saw the baby, and it was just so darn cute ;) I had a feeling that we needed to go back. So I told my companion that we needed to talk to them and we headed back. We talked to them a little bit about temples and eternal families. We told Ana about how she could be with her daughter forever and they could be together and happy in the presence of God. They told us that they lived in an apartment above a carniceria right next door. We set up an appointment to talk to them and came back the next day. We shared our message and they are so interested in learning. The restauracion, Plan de Salvacion and all. One day when we went to teach them, Rebeca told us about how she believed that we were sent from God to teach them. And that everything had fallen into place. How that one day, they didn´t bring the baby into the tiendita, and they felt as though maybe a breeze would be good for the baby so they kept her outside (with them). And how when we passed, I saw the baby, and felt compelled to return to them. Because they had always seen us walking up and down the street every day. They are now preparing to be baptized on the 31st and came to church yesterday! They also saw the baptism of Victor.

I attached a picture of Victor. He has been listening to us for a while now. His wife (next to him) at first didn’t want anything to do with us because she is a Jehovah’s Witness. But I had a little help from the Spirit ;) Now she is coming to church and she is going to be baptized not this Sunday, but the next! :)

Another guy who is really cool is Jilberto Gomez. We were talking to a lady who was selling chicken in the street (and the only thing that covered the raw chicken was a cloth to attempt to keep the flies away). Jilberto came and we started talking to him and we set up an appt. to go back and teach him at his house. My companion and I have joked around about how his name could be next to some of the reformers in our pamphlet the restauracion (Martin Lutero, Juan Calvino) because he sees all the flaws with all the churches he goes to. ESPECIALLY Tithing. We shared with him our message and he believes it’s true. He came to church yesterday and is also preparing to be baptized on the 31st.

Oh!! I found Elder Porter!!!!! He is companions with a good friend of mine named Elder De Mata. I talked to him on his first day in the field to make sure he was doing ok. Then today while my companion and I were shopping for food, we ran into them! We were both really happy to see each other. We talked for a little while in the store and then continued onward to buy our stuff. It’s so cool to see a familiar face from home around here.

I really love this area. I wouldn´t mind staying here for the rest of my mission ;) The members are awesome, the investigators are awesome.. The only thing that could make it better would be clima (A/C) in the casa ;)

water water water. It’s my life. I have to make sure I put water in my 2 water bottles in the fridge in the night time so I have cold water to drink in the morning, and again I need to put water in them before we leave the house to work so I have cold water to drink in the night time once we get home. Then we try to drink water throughout the day as we go to houses to teach. Some people have cold water, and other people don’t :P Cold water is like a delicacy out here.

7/18/16

Well, we didn’t have any luck with Lorena this week... She was supposed to be baptized last week and didn’t show up so we passed by her house multiple times this past week. We did what we could and tried to take the patient route. But nope, everything blew up and went in a completely different direction. She got weird fast, and now I think she has some type of sickness or illness in her head, like a problem with her brain. We passed by her house yesterday after we ate and her mother from Mexico City came over here, her husband from Tampico came down from where he was working and her 2 kids that practically abandoned her and then just came back once they had to do some type of investigation. Lorena’s mom was furious with her whole family and she blamed it all on them for just completely abandoning her with her youngest daughter Nayeli without money or anything. All her neighbors were there too along with us, and they were talking to us about how they felt about this whole situation. And they all thanked us for always being there for Lorena when no one else was. I was also talking to my zone leaders again about it. It was more of just part of a conversation we were having, but he said, "Well, you did your part, and now if she doesn´t progress more in this world, she will receive and accept the Gospel better in the spirit world." And I agreed.

Did you get the pictures? and by the way, the guy who is wearing the red shirt, his name is Mario. We were trying to find people to teach and offer service. We saw him with his wheel barrow and I offered to help. We asked him where he was going and he told me that it was "todo derecho" I didn´t understand how long "todo derecho" was but I figured, "It can´t be that far." I ended up pushing that wheel barrow for 45 minutes through the middle of nowhere. It was very beautiful though, and a great experience. Apparently, everyone knows Mario, and we put a super good example as representatives of the church and servants of The Lord as we offered this service to him. We talked to quite a few people as we passed them in walking. In one of the pictures, you see me sitting on a rock, with Mario and a guy named Juan. Juan was our "Disciple" as we joked about it. We were walking and we passed him in the road, we talked to him for a little bit, then he decided to accompany us on our journey. It was pretty awesome.

Oh and in our interviews from this last week, Hermana Greer gave me a copy of my passport and my visa. My companion and I looked at the fotos... WOW... We were fat!!!!! I know that when I came out here I was about 240 to 245. But about a month ago I weighed myself on a different scale and it said I weigh about 200 or a little less. I don´t know if its accurate, but there are scales around here that I can check that are electronic, I have a ticket that said what I weighed in Tuxpan, but I need to check again.

7/25/16

We baptized the wife of Victor! The guy we baptized 2 weeks ago :) her name is Monica! and also, Victor received the priesthood the other day! :) And their daughter came to church with us yesterday too :)

We have an AWESOME FAMILY that just moved here from Veracruz. They were baptized in December and just moved down here. They came to the capilla and introduced themselves one day when we were there. These are some of the greatest converts I have ever seen. We visited them (the parents) on Friday and got to know them more. Then on Saturday, we got what seemed like a desperate call from the dad asking if we could go visit them at 8:30. So once we got there, they had picked up their kids from Veracruz and brought them up. Their kids are 18 (preparing to serve a mission), 17, and 15. Their 17 year old daughter wasn’t saying too much when we tried to talk to them. Then continuing onward, we asked why they invited us over and why they wanted to talk (Mainly trying to find out what they were expecting of the visit). They just wanted a good spiritual message of Repentance and Baptism. As I was scanning the room, I noticed the mom looking at the daughter. OH YEAH. I knew that look. I instantly knew exactly why we were there and what the situation was. We shared a message of repentance and whenever we asked a question to the daughter she had a hard time answering. I could see the look in her eyes of what she was going through. I finally got her to talk about some of her feelings about God, how he loves us, and things like that. She started to get choked up and cry. So I gave her a little space and we continued onward. But thinking back on it now, it takes me into the book of Alma. Where Ammon saw the king’s servants crying and in sorrow because they had fear of their outcome. But it gave me joy to see her cry because I knew what her tears meant. She knew that what she had done was wrong, and she had already begun the process of repentance.

Something that I´ve come to learn about my purpose as a missionary is how repentance brings happiness. I´ve seen it for myself in my personal life, and I want people to feel that same happiness.

8/1/16

We had 2 more baptisms yesterday! :) Rebeca and Ana :) They are the people that I contacted because I saw their baby :) And there is a guy we are teaching along with his 2 kids that came to church yesterday. This guy´s name is José Luis. He has had problems with drinking all his life but now has the desires to quit. We gave him a pamphlet of the Word of Wisdom one day, and when we returned the next day. He shaved, combed his hair, had a clean shirt on, and was sober. He told us he read the pamphlet and liked it. Also, when his friends came over to invite him to go out drinking, he said no, and worked instead. He told us about the blessings received he recognized from not drinking. Its pretty cool to see people change :)

We work, contact, try to teach and find new people but it’s just at one of those hard parts of the mission. I´ve felt like I´ve been carrying the load for a while. My companion did admit it to me this week "If I don´t do it, it won´t get done." So I have to do it or I have to make sure he does it. Yes it’s been a little difficult. He can be a good friend and it’s fun to talk with him. We had a companionship inventory this week and he broke down and told me his feelings and started to cry a little. He told me he knew that he hadn´t been giving his near full effort, hardly any. He said that when he was with Elder Jackson before me, they worked A TON. Like 20+ lessons a week sometimes. Yet they never had baptisms to show for it. He said that once I got here, he just lost the will to work as much. I wanted to, but he didn´t. So I got out, worked, taught, and I knew we could have had a lot more success if we would have worked together, but I still felt like I was carrying everything. It wasn´t as much as they had taught before, but what he noticed, was even though we weren´t teaching lesson after lesson after lesson, we were having success. We were getting people in church, having good times with the people we were teaching and enjoying the work. This made him more discouraged because with ALL the work they did before I got here, there was nothing (that he could see). Then once I got here and we had few lessons but more fruit. His ganas (desire) fell even more. Then they raised me to Senior companion and pushed him to Junior. You can only imagine how that would feel. Even when he already feels down. He told me that he felt and feels insufficient or inadequate. He asked for my forgiveness and said he would help more. I told him I forgive him, but I wasn´t the person he needed to ask forgiveness. Then I also said that the past is the past and I don´t care, let’s just move forward. So we have been working more and harder and its better :)

8/6/16

Hi Momma! My PDay is today this week instead of Monday :) We have changes! And on Monday I'm gonna be on a bus to Xalapa to pick up mi hijo!! ( I´m training!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :D

I´m staying in the same area…YAY!

So when I bought my shirts before the mission, they were all a little big. Now they are HUGE, and I´ve already had to buy a couple new belts that are smaller. Now I´m gonna have to put some more holes in the ones I have. Also my pants are huge too. And when I put my belts through them, they double over and look really funny. I need to get new ones because I look funny. I´ve been looking around at shirts, I´ve already had my suit altered once and coming up here soon I think I´m gonna have to have it done again. I found some pretty nice shirts for about 20-25 dollars. I´ve been looking to try to keep it cheap. When I go to Xalapa I guess I´ll have some time to go look around. I´ve heard that there are some places there that are pretty cheap and really nice so I´ll go check it out. But I imagine that if I were to go to get about 5 new shirts it would be about $100. Then I guess I could slowly start getting more clothes that fit after that. I think I´m gonna go buy a couple shirts so I can look nice tomorrow for church and for when I go to Xalapa. Any donations would be appreciated. :)

Love Elder Koontz

Victor's baptism.  This is his wife Monica who was listening to the lessons at the time. 

I offered service to a man that was pushing this wheel barrow and
ended up pushing it for him for 45 minutes!

Mario is in the red shirt who I helped with the wheel barrow.  The other guy is Juan.

Our view on our journey with Mario

Our view on our journey with Mario

Victor's wife Monica was baptized!   And...Victor received the Priesthood!  :)

Rebeca and her daughter Ana at their taco cart.

Rebeca and Ana got baptized!

Lots of wonderful experiences!

Hola Familia!

We had changes yesterday, now I´m Senior companion! It’s funny though, I still have the same companion. So really the ONLY thing that will change is I carry the phone. So now when I need/want to make a call, I don’t need to ask. :)

We were walking the other day and contacting people, there was a couple that I hadn´t even seen but my companion stopped to talk to them! It was an awesome contact, we gave them a Book of Mormon and set up an appointment to talk to them yesterday. But we saw them again Saturday walking in the street! We talked to them again and they told us that they had read it and had some questions! They are also a family of 5, with 4 eligible for baptism. 2 boys and the youngest is a girl. They like super heroes, and the favorite of the oldest is Green Lantern! I thought that was pretty cool. We passed yesterday but they weren’t home. We called them and set up an appointment for tonight at 7. I really hope they progress, they are super awesome.

Oh and we´re looking forward to success! We have baptisms lined up for these next 4 weeks! So we´re praying they all come through! :)

Did I tell you I bought a hammock?

So this was a really cool experience we had this week, and a testimony of the Power of the Restauración:

We´re looking forward to another good week! We talked to our investigator who had his interview the other week and everything is good now. We also started talking to his wife and teaching her as well! She is a Testigo de Jehovah and didn´t want anything to do with us for a while. Until persistence got to her. We were looking for her husband on Tuesday but he was still out working. So when she told us he wasn´t home we said that we would also like to talk to her upon his return. She flat out said, "I´m not going to study with you, I already study the bible." After she said that, I just felt like I needed to keep talking to her. I didn´t know why, I just felt like I needed to keep our little conversation going on for just a bit more. So then I asked her kind of a funny question, "Alright Hermana! So what do you study in the Bible?" I think this question kind of caught her off-guard because she asked me, "What do you mean, what do I study?" I responded to her question with, "Well there are lots of things in the Bible! What is it that you study? What does the Bible say?" I think she thought she could get out of it by saying, "I already study with the Testigos de Jehovah, y estudiamos la Biblia." But she still hadn´t answered my question of what she studies. So I once again asked her, "Yes, hermana. But what is it that you study with them?" She was on top of her house when she was talking to us so she said, "Ya, voy." She came down and started talking to us at her gate. She said, "Look, I can´t be changing my religion every 2 seconds." So this started up a conversation a little better than what we were having before. We talked about how WE don´t change people, they change themselves. Then her husband got home and gave us a free invitation to pass. So the four of us sat down, Elder Brooks (we were in divisions), Me, Victor, and Monica (his wife). We opened with a prayer and then started by teaching the Restauration. We taught the first 2 principles of God and Families but Monica still had the face of doubt and as if she wasn´t interested. So I asked her what was wrong, and she said again, "I´m not going to change my religion." So I again replied with, "Hermana, you are never going to hear us asking you to change your religion, all we ask is that you listen to our message and talk with us." The coolest thing that I noticed was when we explained the Apostasy. I asked her if she had heard of it before and she hadn´t. We taught it, and she was completely focused in the lesson for the rest of the time and it was a lesson of conversation. It was awesome. She understood Apostacia very well, and it made everything else come together for her. We taught her from both the Book of Mormon and the Bible as to answer a lot of her questions. We gifted her a Book of Mormon, and she was very excited to read it. It was so awesome to see how the power of the message of the Restauración works on people. She went from, "I´m not going to study with you." to "Thank you for coming, when will you come again?" with a smile on her face. We hadn´t yet taught baptism, so we passed by again through the week and taught lesson 3. Monica understands the authority restored concept very well, and accepted a baptimal date to progress. ALSO Victor also recovered a lot of interest and animo because there were a lot of unanswered questions he had from when he had been taught the Restauracion the first time. But reviewing everything really helped him, and made him a lot more interested again.

I also did drive a car last night... Haha it’s a funny story. We were with some members and it started raining, hard. Like really hard. We were just about to leave and then they told us that they weren´t going to let us leave until the rain calmed down a little bit. It never did and it was getting late. We told them we would be fine walking but our house was kind of far. They tried to call a taxi for us but they never answered the phone and they wouldn´t reply to messages. We think something happened with their electrical systems. But we waited and finally the mom said, "I will drive you." We asked her if she knew how and she said yes, but she doesn’t drive in the night time because she can’t see.... and it was night time. We were a little hesitant but they weren´t going to let us leave without some way of getting home "safely”. So she was trying to pull her car out of her.. well... area where she parked her car? I don’t know how to describe it. But it was dark, she couldn´t see, she didn´t know how to maneuver it going backwards, she almost hit a bunch of stuff, and she was taking forever. So finally I was talking to my companion and he said, "You know how to drive, you can do it really fast." I figured there wasn’t any harm in just backing it out. So I backed it out pretty fast and then parked it. She was like, "Wow, that was really fast!" I don’t know where you live and I can’t see so you just drive to your house and then I can drive back. At this point I was like... Ummm... what?. So I had 2 options. Let her drive, fear for the lives of the 4 of us in the car (me, my companion, the mom, and her kid) and probably die, or I could drive, be a lot safer, and have the experience saying,"I´ve driven in the crazy traffic of Mexico". Also I confirmed it with my companion and he wanted me to drive too, he didn’t want the hermana to drive us. So I thought about it and made my decision...... Now I have bragging rights to say I´ve driven in the crazy traffic of Mexico. ;)

Me and other missionaries in my District.  I've been getting
 good use out of my rain boots lately  :)

My companion and I sporting our new "church approved" hats.

Birthday Packages, Saying Goodbye to My Area and a New Companion

Hola Familia,

We had a good week. We had a fast to find some new investigators and we did! It´s been raining pretty profusely in the night time so we hope they are ok. Some of them live in areas where there is a lot of mud and hills, and given how hard it rained Saturday night, we think that is the reason why those investigators didn’t come to church.

There is a lady (reference from member) that we found this week, super humble, super awesome. She is deaf and can´t hear anything. She told us that within these past weeks she has been able to hear a little bit, but now when we teach her she can´t hear. I use the book you sent me with the gospel art and it helps soooo much. But something else that makes her great, is how humble she is. She has such a hard time with her life right now. Her husband lives in Tampico and is cheating on her, her son beats her and his little sister, she can´t hear anything, her son and his friends read the book of the dead and his eyes are always super red (she believes he has a demon in him), and she is afraid to live in her house. Rather than curse God like much of the other people we have found, she wants to look for God, and she says she feels happy when we come to visit her and share our message. She seemed really excited to come to church and told us that she had made the plans to go, but she is one of the people that lives on the muddy, dangerous hill. So she and the members who live near her weren´t at church... We hope they are ok and we are going to go visit them tomorrow.

Another of our investigators, Victor, is preparing to be baptized on the 19th. We´re excited and so is he. He will have his interview this upcoming week. Not gonna lie, I think fasting in Poza Rica is the hardest thing ever. We fasted twice this last week (during the week and again for fast Sunday) and I think it’s harder on the mind than it is physically. The dreaded sun drains all the water from your body and then leaves you dry for the rest of the fast. It’s definitely a sacrifice, so I guess Poza Rica is where you receive the most blessings for fasting.

Elder Martinez and I get a long great and we just bought food today. We will be even happier when we are in the house because we won´t be cranky when we´re hungry. The only thing that would make it better is if we had clima (A/C) in the house. The nights are killer because all day long the sun hits our house, so when we get home we walk into an oven. So the fans that we have only blow hot air on us. We’re going to talk to someone about getting a clima (A/C).

I feel pretty good about our ward leaders, they seem like they care how things are going. They show how much they want success by how much they work, so I assume they want a lot.

Something that was pretty significant about this week was a dream that I had. So to explain why this is even more significant is because normally every night, I ask for good dreams, to remember my dreams, to wake up not tired and to sleep well... But this night in particular, I remembered to ask to remember my dream, but I forgot to ask for a good dream.

In my dream, everything up until the middle part was normal and happy. I was with a family and I apparently knew them (thinking about it now I have no idea who they were). But there was one part when I was talking to them, when one of the family members (older, young man) looked at me. His eyes turned pitch black. After this moment, a demon was tormenting me throughout the rest of my dream. I was constantly searching for ways to avoid it, run away, find a solution to get rid of it, or something to give me peace. The hard thing was, I couldn´t see it. But it kept taking all my new friends away, and eliminating them from the dream in some way. Towards the end of the dream, I walked into an area with 4-5 mirrors. I could see the demon standing and facing towards a wall. The only way I could see this demon though, was through a mirror. It started talking to me, but it was yelling, and saying terrible things. It turned around and faced me, and I could see what it looked like. It just looked like a dirtier, deformed, sad, miserable me. Then it jumped at me to attack. It moved out of the way of the mirror so I couldn´t see it anymore. I don’t know why, but I sprang my hands forward. I couldn´t see the demon, or feel it, but I just felt it´s presence. But, I wasn’t going to bring my hands back down. I got the feeling to look over to my right, and I saw another mirror. I had in fact stopped the demon when my hands shot forward, but it was trying to attack me still. Very violently and angrily waving its arms, yelling, and trying to attack and kill me. I pushed it away and ran. When I started to run away, I woke up.

At first I thought this was just a bad dream. But then the other day I was talking with some other Elders and one of them told me about how he was reading in the bible, how dreams can be revelation. I didn´t take that much into thought or perspective until I got home. I walked into our bathroom and saw our mirror. I will admit, I was a little hesitant because the last time I remembered actively looking into a mirror, there was a demon hunting me. But as I looked in the mirror, I only saw me. At that moment was then everything started to come into perspective. Everything seemed to have some type of symbol.

1) I could only see the demon if I looked into a mirror.

2) The Demon just looked like a very terrible version of me.

3) I couldn´t see, or feel the demon, but I could feel its presence.

4) Without use of my own force, I shot my hands out to stop it.

5) I felt like I had been protected.

There were multiple things I learned from this dream... How does Satan work against us? Does he always talk directly to us or through the actions/words of other people? Or does he mess with our mentality, our way of thinking, to make us work against ourselves. When I couldn´t see the demon in the mirror, It’s because the demon was "in" me. The ugly part of me, was in fact that. Our ugly, negative thoughts come from a demon, but in our way of thinking through our own mentality. When we think badly or negatively, it’s not anything we can see, or touch. But we can feel the negative presence. But I had help to stop it. When the scriptures talk of the Holy Spirit as a Guide, Protector, and Comforter, I feel like it applies specifically like this in my dream. The guide was to spring my arms in front of me to block my attacker, I couldn´t see it, but He could. He was my protector in keeping the demon away and letting me know it was still there by making me look in the other mirror. When I threw the demon away and ran, I woke up. It was when I woke up, how the spirit comforted me. I felt nervous, agitated, and it was difficult for me to keep my mind off of my nightmare. But all of the sudden, a hymn started playing in my head. The exact hymn I can’t remember, but all I know is that as I thought of that song, I was calmed, and I was able to go back to sleep peacefully. This I know was the spirit, comforting me when I felt alone, and scared.

I have applied this dream to my way of thinking with many things throughout the week. Whenever I start thinking negatively about something, I remember this experience. And how they are my own thoughts, or bad spirits messing with my thoughts, to make me think in a negative manner. This dream has helped me think a lot more positively throughout the week. Not that I´ve had a problem with negativity, but when I do start to think bad of someone or something. I take a step back. I feel like I have the spirit more with me, and He helps me think in this more positive manner.

We just had a baptism yesterday! Her name is María and she´s really great :)

Remember how I told you about the fruit I wanted to try really bad? This is a lichi :)  They taste like those peachy o´s but they are healthy for you :) 

 Oh and there are a lot of people here who think the little ventilador (little fan that hangs around your neck) idea is great. People want you to send more out here so they can sell them hahaha. Oh, and there is one hermana who has her life long journey to try and get a hold of some Red Vines. They are her all time favorite candy. She has told me which Elder first introduced them to her and how long a go. She was like 13 and now she is in her late 30s. So maybe in this next package you send you could include a couple things of Red Vines? I know it would really mean a lot to her add she would love you forever. They don’t make them out here and she has looked everywhere. She even tried ordering them straight from the factory. But she never got them :(

I had the best tacos of my life the other night. Ohhhhhhh they were soooooo gooood. I went with Elder Jackson, Elder De Mata, and my companion to a street vender in Elder Jackson’s area who makes BOMB tacos. Best things I´ve ever had.

I asked him what their plans were for that evening: Well Elder Herrera (my trainer) is in my zone and he passed me a reference of a pretty awesome reference. He said he set up a noche de hogar (Family Home Evening) with this guy. The reference works in their area but lives in ours. So he said that we can go meet him today and then he is going to pass him off to us to teach. But, I´m not too sure about all the details. I need to talk to him more about it, I´m gonna call him here in a bit.

Well, hope you have a great week. Love you all!

Elder Koontz

My last day with Aldo and Griselda  :(

Hermana Nora and her mom Hermana Aurora! I´m gonna miss them a lot. They were super awesome and sweet.

Before having my face smashed into my birthday cake

And after

Another birthday cake :)

Finally!  Time to open my birthday packages from Mom  :)

Am I spoiled or what??

Homemade birthday card from mom  :)

You can't tell but these are super hero tie clasps.  Superman, Batman and Green Lantern...YES!!

I put 19 candles on my betty crocker microwaveable cake mom sent me. It was delicious :)

It was REALLY good!

Thanks mom for all the birthday goodies!

Met with Elder Falabella, a member of the Quorum of the Seventy

A surprise visit from a member of the Quorum of the Seventy.  I can't remember his name  :-/

The English school where we help teach had a little birthday celebration for me. 

Another birthday cake.

Taking the ferry to go find out about transfers.

My new companion, Elder Martinez