My story… Ok here we go. I am from Bristol, Indiana. There is nothing here besides cows and corn so if you like that kind of thing Indiana would be heaven for you. 20 years ago I was born into a big but great family. I am the oldest out of 6 kids. I have 2 sisters and 3 brothers. All 3 girls were born first and we are really close in age. My sisters are my best friends. All throughout childhood and our teanage years we were inserperateble. If you were friends with one of the Koontz girls, you were friends with all of them. I love my family. The older I get the more I love them and my respect for my parents grows more and more. I am just so extremely blessed to be able to call them my family. Sorry but I seriously doubt your family can top mine 🙂 Seriously though they are extremely supportive and God knew what he was doing when he put our family together.
I attended a private school kindegarten through 3rd grade but other then that I was homeschooled all they way untill I graduated in 2010. There were times that I wished I went to public school but for the majority of the time I loved it. I was definitely not the "typical homeschooler". I come from a mega church so my youth group was huge. That's where the majority of my social life came from.
My mom started my piano lessons when I was six. I love playing piano. It was always been like my own little get away. Whenever I was upset or something I would play. When I was really young I thought I wanted to be a piano teacher but when I was 16 that all changed.
I have always loved kids. I was always the "2nd mom" in our house. If you ever needed a good babysitter I was the one you called. In fact people didn't like to give my name away because they wanted me to themselves. My ulitmate dream has always been to be a mom. I am usually at my happiest when I have a child in my arms. When I was 16 I was spending some time with God. I was reading in James and verse 1:27 jumped out at me. "Religion that God our father accepts as pure and faultless is this; to look after orphans and widows in there distress and keep oneself from being polluted by the world." When I read that I just started crying because in that moment God told me that my purpose in this world is to look after his children and… I was ready. If he called me right then and there to go, I would have. That was the start of my love for missions.
All throughout high school I went on summer missions trips with my youth group. I went to New york City, Mexico, Dominican Republic and Kenya. I loved all of those places and each trip took me one step closer to why I am doing what I am doing and really why I am who I am. Though the one place I totally lost my heart too was Kenya. I actually had wanted to go to Kenya for years before I received my opportunity to go my senior year of highschool. My life was drastically changed during that trip and it had a lot to do with the Mathere slums in Nairobi, Kenya.
Our first day there we went into the slums and took around 200 orphans to a park to get them out of the "mud" and trash for awhile and to feed them lunch. Besides when I accepted Christ when I was 10, that was probably the most impactful day of my life. I still to this day can't help but cry when I talk about it and its been almost 2 years. Heck… I am crying as I right this… Dumb. I don't really think it had a lot to do with the actual slum. Yes… I love Mathere and its always the one place I usually want to be but its so much more then just that. April 3rd was the day that my eyes were opened to what these kids really go through. Little kids taking one bite out of the sandwhich and stuffing it back into their sack to save it for later. 10 year old girls taking on the burden of caring for 5 other orphan children because nobody else will. Kids sniffing glue to numb them from the hunger pains and from all the emotions that are raging inside of them. Kids huddling together to stay warm in the night while one of them has to stay awake so that they can run from abuse or from being lit on fire. I am not a person easily angered but this sends me over the edge. They are just babies! But they are also the monsters of tomorrow if nobody will rescue them.
So after my trip to Kenya I was a wreck. I cried for weeks and I didn't want to be anywhere but there. It's long story but in November of 2010 I found the Real Life trip to Kenya with Adventures in Missions and in January of 2011 I was finally back in Kenya. Those 4 months were incredible even though I never was able to go back to Mathere. God did a lot in me during that time and I walked away knowing more of who I am and that was also when God gave a dream for my future. Really the short version of the dream is simple… I want to be mom to the motherless. Shocker… I know.
Came home from Kenya in May and a month later I lead an ambassador team to Texas and then a month after I got home from Texas I lead a Real Life(what is now called Passport) team to Uganda for 4 months. When I was in Uganda God told me to go on the World Race. Honestly… I have wanted to do the World Race for years but never thought it was going to be a part of my story. I really struggled with it for awhile because I didn't understand why God was leading me down this path when I already knew where/what I was supposed to do and I didn't understand how all of it was leading me in the direction I wanted to go. I still don't fully understand but I am trusting that God knows what he is doing and if there is one thing that I have learned over the past year is that God doesn't always make sense to our small minds. We have to remember that he sees the big picture and he never takes the big highways that get you places quick and easy. He takes the backroads with all the swists and turns but you know what… it does take longer but the scenery is usually beautiful. I still don't understand why but I am ready for the adventure. If this what God wants well then its what I want. I am ready to go.
