Back to School

 Friends,

I've been thinking of you again as we start the new school year. I wanted to take a moment again and make sure you know that miracles are happening! My eyes and ears were opened on Sunday when I heard the reports from you of the miracles you have seen in your lives. Your eyes opened mine. I am still remorseful that I missed sacrament meeting last Sunday but I'm so thankful to feel the strength of your testimonies. As we head into the new school year, I'd like to extend two simple invitations. If you are not entering school or don't have children in school, please accept the invitation in support of this rising generation. It takes a village :) 

Invitation 1: Remember the Lord, recognize His miracles. As I've read through 'Come, Follow Me' this week, I've been learning a lot about signs of how the Lord reminds us of His presence. He also uses signs to remind me of His love. The Lord did that for me this week by prompting some of you to send me a text/e-mail - your messages caused me to remember Him. I'm expressing some faith by extending my promise that the Lord will reach out to each of you this week. I invite you to look for His hand. I promise that if we are willing to believe, He will make himself known. Let's be sure that our youth start this school year with Christ going before them.

Invitation 2: Look for the one.  I just simply want to reiterate President Nelson's invitation to find the one in your circle that is in need of a helping hand. I know that we all feel a little lonely sometimes. We all have off days. We all struggle. We all need a friend. Let's choose this week to be that friend and neighbor to another. I'll emphasize my promise that if you lift another, you'll more easily feel how the Lord is lifting you. He is there and He loves us.

I look forward to hearing about your experiences. Also, I want to let you know that I feel your lifting hands in my life. I've heard from others that being the Bishop can get lonely - I'm confident that I won't ever have that experience.

Always available for you,

Bishop Kienzle 

PS: If you need help offering any young man or young woman a Priesthood blessing for the new school year, please reach out to me, President MacDonald, or any other member of the Bishopric. We would love to be there :) 

A Message of Thanks and Some Testimony

 Good morning family!

I love and appreciate you all so much! I wanted to send a note of my thankfulness to each of you. I spent the entirety of yesterday pondering on the messages I personally received during our Sacrament meeting. Thank you for the Spirit that each of you invited into yesterday's meeting.  I learned with more surety that the Lord loves us and uses us as his instruments. I learned that preparation yields miracles and I learned that our youth and members are prepared for miracles. Next week we will have Fast and Testimony Meeting and I am looking forward to your testimonies with so much anticipation. Your testimony and faithfulness already astonishes me beyond measure (Helaman 3:25). I bear you my testimony that miracles are coming to our ward, through our diligence and faith. I've experienced that faith and witnessed the miracles already.

As we approach this week, I've been considering Helman 1:1 that mentions the difficulties that were suffered by the Nephites. I consider the difficulties that you have each had to endure over the past weeks, months, or years. I want you to know that you are in my prayers and I KNOW that you are in the prayers of the leaders in this ward as I've met with them frequently over the past couple of weeks. As you read through Come Follow Me this week, know that you are each a Nephi and a Lehi. Your faithfulness will make the Earth shake and the walls tremble.

I'll be out of town on Sunday but I look forward to feeling the Earth shake nonetheless. :)  I am so excited to see how the Lord is going to be blessing our ward as we minister to each other, focus on the temple, build the Kingdom and "cry unto the voice of Him who [has] shaken the Earth". I know that we too will be "encircled about by a pillar of fire" and the walls of doubt/sin/anxiety/fear will shake before us. I can't thank you enough for helping me to shake those walls.
 

With so much love and adoration,

Always available for you,

Bishop Kienzle

Oh, The Places You’ll Go…

You’ll get mixed up with many strange birds as you go.

So be sure when you step,

Step with care and great tact,

And remember that life’s a great balancing act.

Just never forget to be dexterous and deft

And never mix up your right foot with your left.

And will you succeed?

Yes! You will indeed!

98 and ¾ percent guaranteed.

KID, YOU’LL MOVE MOUNTAINS!

So….

Be your name Buxbaum or Bixby or Brey

Or Mordecai Ali van Allen O’shea,

You’re off to great places

Today is your day

Your mountain is waiting

So… get on your way!

Over the course of this election I think it has become obviously clear how many birds there are in this great nation. And the truth is that on the morning after the election, many of those birds are scared and concerned. We’ve been stepping all over each other. The concerns are real. Be they democrats, immigrants, rural America, evangelists, poverty stricken communities, Muslim, Mormon, Atheist, Black, L, G, B, T, Q, or any of the “none of the above”, they have pleaded their concerns loudly and clearly. Their concerns are real, they are manifestations of their hearts.

If you voted for Trump, please stand with me and remember our neighbors, fellow citizens, fathers, mothers, and children who are worried for their safety and their futures under a Trump presidency – they are obviously not few in number. Do not ignore them – love them, lift them, reach out to them. Now is the time for us to be Stronger Together. Now is the time to Make America Great Again.  Stand up for the times when you said “I may not like “(fill-in-the-blank)”, but I’m doing this because “Fill-in-the-blank”. Now is the time to stand up to bigotry, hate, and discrimination. Regardless of the blinders that have been erected, there are now xenophobes, racists, sexists, and bigots that feel liberated by this election decision – it is our duty to defy their foolishness and stand for a greater good. Now is the time to re-balance our love for our brothers and sisters with the economic agenda we voted for. Now is the time to be dexterous, deft, empathetic, and kind. Now is the time, more than ever, to make sure we’re not trampling over the hearts (or the rights) of our fellow Americans, our brothers and sisters.

The mountains need moving and we will succeed, because with love it is 98 and ¾% guaranteed.  So no matter your name, culture, or vote, today is your day. Mountains need moving, let’s get on our way.