The semester is finally coming to a close.  Its amazing how in such short time one can learn so much.  I loved finishing off the semester by learning of Jesus Christ's resurrection.  After all He suffered and went through for us, He finished this great atonement by raising from the dead, breaking the bonds of death and providing the way for us to be able to return to our Father in Heaven.  I've loved learning of Christ's life.  He truly is the perfect example for us.  "He went about doing good yet was despised for it. His gospel was a message of peace and goodwill. He entreated all to follow His example." -The Living Christ.  He came to earth to serve and that is what He did.  Then this perfect man, who had never sinned, willingly took upon Him the world's sins; suffering for every pain, affliction and sin.  He suffered through it, without a word of complaint, and didn't give up the ghost until He had paid the price for every man.  Truly "I stand all amazed at the love Jesus offers me, confused at the grace that so fully He proffers me.  I tremble to know that for me He was crucified; that for me, a sinner, He suffered, He bled and died".  My love for Jesus grows daily as continue to stumble and He ceasingly lifts me up again.  This semester showed me that by studying His life we can grow ever-closer to Him.  I love my Savior, I am forever indebted to Him.  I know that if I apply His infinite atonement in my life, then one day I will have the chance to kneel at His feet, to see Him face-to-face and live with Him and my Father in Heaven for eternity.

There is no doubt that Jesus Christ's atonement is the single most important event that ever occurred on the earth.  Thanks to Him we can be saved, we can be forgiven and we can return to live with God again.  To bring such a giant blessing to pass was not easy.  My small mortal mind cannot even comprehend the amount of pain and suffering that Christ went through.  He suffered in Gethsemane, then as he was scourged and beaten and then suffered even more on the cross as the same pain He felt in Gethsemane returned intensified.  He bled from every poor, He felt pain that no mortal can begin to imagine.  People say they love Christ because He died for them.  The better statement is that we love Christ because He lived for us.  Despite all the pain and anguish which should have killed Him, He chose not to give up the ghost until the atonement was complete.  With the power He possessed and the pain He was suffering He could have, at any given moment, given up and chose to die.  But He didn't.  He loves us so much that He suffered on.  I am so grateful for my Savior, I am so grateful that He lived and suffered willingly so that I might be made clean.  It was a necessary part of God's plan.  Had it not been for Christ we would all perish in sin.  There are no words to express my gratitude and love for the Savior.  We have no excuse to not do what he asks of us.  Like the scriptures say, "if ye love me, keep my commandments".  He has shown His endless love for us and all He asks for in return is that we follow Him, that we obey Him and that we strive to be the best we can be.

Why is it so easy to get down on ourselves?  We know that we are all sinners, we make mistakes, yet every time we start losing hope and feel as if we'll never make it.  Even peter, Christ's chief apostle had moments such as these.  As Peter told Jesus that he'd never leave His side, Jesus responds my saying "I tell thee Peter, The cock shall not crow this day, before that thou shalt thrice deny that thou knowest me."  Sure enough as Jesus was being spit upon and mocked right after suffering pain beyond measure, Peter denied knowing Him 3 times.  The verse that strikes me the most is the one that comes after, "And Peter went out, and wept bitterly."  How many times has this happened to us?  Where we make a mistake and after feel so bad that we just feel like weeping.  This moment truly shows that we are all human, and that we are never without hope.  We can always change, no matter the situation.  If the chief apostle of Christ can make such a mistake and come back from it so can we. I know that Christ's atonement is real.  Change is possible and we have our entire life to continue striving to be better.  I love my Savior and His selfless sacrifice.  I am forever indebted to Him for giving me the chance to change and become like Him.

The people of America have been filled with confusion, controversy and confusion this week.  I believe it was perfect timing that in my New Testament class we talked about the last days.  In Joseph Smith-Matthew we read all that Jesus said will happen in the last days.  There will be wars and rumors of wars, the sun will be darkened, wickedness will abound, etc..  And now as we end a very controversial election with results that no one is very sure of, many people are scared that we will be led to downfall.  I loved the first presidency message the day after elections asking us to pray for our leaders.  I believe that we should support our leaders.  It shouldn't be a shock what is happening in America or in the world in general, Jesus as well as countless prophets have prophesied that there will be abounding wickedness and destruction.   We know that that will happen and we can't prevent these prophecies from being fulfilled.  Christ didn't give these prophecies to scare people, He taught them so that we might be prepared.  We need to take His words and live righteously so that we will be saved.  "The righteous need not fear".  I know that those words are true, as we live the commandments and are faithful we will live with the peace that we are worthy of God's kingdom.

I believe sometimes it's important to realize how hard of a thing Jesus has done for us.  He suffered the greatest pains, a suffering we can't even imagine, and I am convinced that there definitely was a part of Him that didn't want to have to do it.  As He said in the Garden of Gethsemane "take away this cup from me, nevertheless not what I will, but what thou wilt" (Mark 14:36).  He knew it was a necessary step to bring to pass the salvation of mankind.  He did not want to suffer yet did it anyway.
 In Matt 21: 28-30 Jesus shared a parable that reflected this.  The first said "I will not" which in greek actually translates to "I want not", but then he went.  The second says "I go, sir" but did not go.  This parable reflects how Jesus did not want to suffer but went anyways.  This fact is so powerful to me.  As humans when we don't want something it is so hard to give up what we don't want and go.  To me this just emphasizes all the more Jesus's love for us.  He knew He was going to have to suffer unbearable pain yet because He loves us and wants us to return to live with Him and our Father, He was willing to sacrifice His wants for us.

"And Jesus said unto him, Go thy way; thy faith hath made thee whole. And immediately he received his sight, and followed Jesus in the way." - Mark 10:52
I always wondered what became of the people that Jesus healed.  Surely they couldn't forget what amazing thing had been done for them.  I love the simpleness yet power of this scripture.  Jesus healed the blind man, and as He healed him he said "go thy way".  But as soon as he received his sight he "followed Jesus".  He had seen the power that Jesus held, he recognized Him as the Christ and therefore changed his way to Jesus's way.  He literally changed the course of his life and began following Christ from that time forth.  I wish I could be more like this blind man, who immediately recognized all that Christ had done for him and showed his gratitude by following Him.  He knew that Christ was the ultimate healer and I suspect he realized that Jesus could heal more than just physical ailments.  Jesus truly is the master healer.  He is there to make us whole, that is why He suffered so much for us, so that we might be made clean, so that one day we might be perfect like He is.  So let us be like the blind man and make our way Jesus's way.  In doing so I know that we will feel His healing power every day of our lives.

Let us learn lives full of joy.  Happiness is by choice not chance.

We are meant to have joy.  God´s plan for us is beautiful, He wants us to be happy and enjoy life.  Elder Nelson spoke to world about how we can find joy no matter what situation we are in.  I know that that is true.  God has given us the means by which we might find joy.  In Luke 15 Christ teaches us the be-atitudes, a word that comes from beatus which signifies, to be happy.  He literally laid out a set of steps for us to follow in order to find joy in this life.  And those steps are, as my New Testament teacher pointed out, the steps of repentance.

1.     Blessed are the poor in spirit.  This is that moment when you realize you've done something wrong and/or aren't as spiritually strong as you could be.

2.     Blessed are those that mourn.  After realizing you're not where you should be, it leads you to sorrow.

3.     Blessed are the meek.  As we receive the desire to change we become more humble and teachable.

4.     Blessed are those who hunger and Thirst after righteousness.  We should begin to act on our desire to change and actively look and seek for good things.

5.     Blessed are the merciful.  God will forgive us of our sins, but we must also forgive ourselves.

6.     Blessed are the pure in Heart.  After having followed the previous steps you can feel the change in your heart as you are living a pure life.

7.     Blessed are the peacemakers.   Its not enough just to find peace, once you have it God expects you to share it.

8.     Blessed are the persecuted.  You become the most vulnerable when opening up to spread the gospel and the news of peace and joy.   Now the question is, How do you respond?  Can you respond in a Christ-like manner.

·      These steps create a spiral staircase up to heaven, it’s a process that we have repeat over and over again.  Yet the more we repeat it, the further up we are on the staircase.

This new perspective on the be-atitudes has completely changed my way of thinking.  Christ gave us a step-by-step ladder of what we should be doing constantly in our lives (for this is a process that we must repeat over and over again).  I know that as we humble ourselves and start up this spiral staircase, that one day we will reach heaven!

I´m sure there are times when all of us have prayed and felt that we didn't receive an answer.  We constantly testify that God hears our prayers and will answer them, yet why are there still those moments when you don't get a "yes" or "no" answer like you want?  It struck me deeply in class when we studied Christ's reaction to the Caananite women who came to Him, begging for His help.  In Matthew 15 it tells us, "But he answered her not a word. And his disciples came and besought him, saying, Send her away; for she crieth after us."  Jesus answered her with Silence.  Why?  This woman then shows great faith and she submissively and meekly continues to beg for His help.  Her faith led to this miracle.  Richard G. Scott told us in his 2007 April General conference talk that we can receive answers in 3 ways, we will receive a confirmation telling us the right path, or we will feel that it is wrong, or we will not feel anything.  When silence is the answer it is because God trusts us. He is putting faith in us that we know how to make the decision, and if we don't He won't let us go far before telling us "no".  If God trusts us enough to let us make our own decisions, then we need to start believing in ourselves.  We have the light of Christ, that gives us direction of what is right and what is wrong.  I believe that light also guides us in our life-decisions.  We still need to pray about all our doings and decisions, God will guide us; maybe not with a strong, loud "yes" but He will guide us through our thoughts and feelings.  And He will be there watching us all along as we go about making decisions for ourselves.

In all of the miracles that Jesus performed the one that strikes me the most is when He walked on water.  In the midst of a stormy sea Jesus approaches His disciples who had been struggling all day to navigate and row their boat in the middle of a terrible storm.  When His disciples see Him and He tells them its Him, Peter responds "Lord...bid me come unto thee on the water".  So Peter gets out of the ship and begins walking toward Jesus.  He does fine as long as He is looking at Jesus, but the moment he looks away, worrying about the storm he begins to sink.  This truly is like all of us.  As long as we're walking toward Christ with our gave unfailingly toward Him, we are safe. Yet the moment we begin to worry about what's going on around us, what people say or think, worrying to much about our problems, etc., that is the moment that we will begin to sink.  The words Jesus says to Peter cut to the core, "O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?" -Matt 14:31.  Peter may have just walked on water but Jesus was not about to patronize Him and congratulate him.  Jesus always stretches people further.  He knows our potential and that we are capable of so much more.  Peter had a lot of faith in Christ yet he still had work on expanding that faith.  So like Peter, we all have faith, all at different levels, but we all need to keep working to increase that faith.  And as we do so, we just need to remember to always look to Jesus and He will pull us up out of the stormy sea.

Its that time of year again and I can't wait!  General Conference is by far my favorite time of year.  This upcoming even has been on my mind as I've studied Christ's life the past week.  I love how clear Matthew 10:1 is "...He called unto Him 12 disciples and gave unto them power..."  Christ called 12 men to be his disciples and gave them power, the holy priesthood, which is the same power and authority that our Prophet Thomas S. Monson and his 12 apostles have in this day and age.  Thomas S. Monson has been called of God, and we have the opportunity this week to listen to him and his apostles.  I know that they have the authority of God to lead and guide this church, and as we hearken unto their words, we are following what our loving Heavenly Father would have us do.   To those of you who have never heard of General Conference I hope that you will listen to or watch it.  It truly is a marvelous experience and a way to find a bright path of hope in your lives.
To watch it just go to lds.org

¨If ye have not charity, ye are nothing¨ - Moroni 7:46   This verse always strikes me to the core, and more so now that I am studying the life of Christ.  Repeatedly we find in the scriptures the importance of charity.  As I studied the many miracles that Christ performed it hit me how He truly is the perfect example of charity.  Jesus walked the streets performing miracles daily.  He dedicated His life to helping those around Him.  He too taught the importance of charity, but not only did He preach about it, He showed us how to live a charitable life.  He loved us enough to die for us and told us to love our fellow men.  We owe Him everything and we can give back a small portion of that by serving those around us.  There are so many opportunities available if we just look.  There are so many people in need.  So let´s follow Christ´s example and find ways to serve as we go about day to day.

“His mother saith unto the servants, Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it.”   St John 2:5

 As we discussed this verse in my New Testament class I became amazing at all that we could see from one verse of scripture.  At this point Jesus had still not yet begun his ministry.  At a wedding feast, Jesus’s mother, Mary, comes to Him telling Him that there is no wine.  It is amazing to analyze this fact.  Mary indeed knew that Jesus could help solve her problem and she had enough faith in Him to tell her servants “whatsoever he saith unto you, do it.”  I love this line.  Mary had seen miracles before; she had been raising the Son of God, I’m sure we have no idea what kind of things Mary had seen.  She had seen and she knew that all things are possible if we just listen to Jesus’s words and act on His instructions.  That is a testimony to me.  Mary was a witness and she is talking to us. “Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it.”  We must be willing to act on Jesus’s words with precision.  His words will lead to the truth, will lead to miracles and to happiness.

Luke1:10 And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.

 11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.

These I believe are the most powerful lines in the scriptures.  It marks the beginning of the mortal life of the greatest person who every lived.  The angel clearly states that this “shall be to all people”.  Christ lived and died for every one of us.

I just want to bear my testimony to all who read this of my Savior, our Lord and Redeemer, Jesus Christ.  He was chosen before the world was so that He might atone for our sins.  We are not left alone in this world.  We are not left to live with a constant guilt for all our sins.  He takes that burden away if we are but willing to come to Him with a broken heart and a contrite spirit.  I can´t even begin to imagine how much He loves us.  He loves us so much He was willing to come to earth to suffer, bleed and die for us.  But the most important part of the Atonement that I fear many people don´t comprehend is the fact that He rose from the dead; and therefore, He lives.  Jesus Christ our Savior lives and He is with us, He has already suffered everything that we have, or will suffer on this earth and because He lives He can and will be there by our side; our comforter, our strength, our constant help.  We can and will be forgiven if we just turn to Him.  I love my Savior Jesus Christ, He is my Savior, my friend and my brother.

Just look at the world around us.  We are surrounded by ever increasing evil and temptations.  So many things in the media, politics and everyday norms that have been twisted into corruption that try and drag us down with them.  We know that Satan is loose, free to tempt anyone and everyone in the world.  Yet we know that there is opposition in all things.  It is only after experiencing the darkest night that we can feel the true joy of sunny day.  After being tempted and perhaps even falling into temptation is when we can experience the full joy that comes in choosing the right and repenting of our mistakes.  But perhaps the greatest opposition in this world is the difference between the devil and the Almighty God who will never leave our side.  Truly we have a Father in Heaven who cares for us, who watches over us and will lift us up when we fall.  Yes the devil is present but he is one who will abandon us, who wants to see us fall and will only lead to misery.   Moses is but one example of the billions of people who have been tempted by Satan, yet his example is powerful:
 ¨And again Moses said: I will not cease to call upon God, I have other things to inquire of him: for his glory has been upon me, wherefore I can judge between him and thee. Depart hence, Satan.¨ -Moses 1:18

Are we willing to stand up to the devil as did Moses?  Surely we have that same power, the same power to say ¨Depart hence, Satan¨!  We can tell when he has hold of us, when he tells us we´re not good enough, when he tells us to worship the things of the world.  But we must be strong.  We must have the faith to know that God and his gospel is happiness, despite what the world may say.  I know that God is our loving heavenly father who is concerned for His children, He wants our happiness as much as we do and He will help us find it.  So have courage, have the courage to call upon God and follow Moses, who didn´t cease to pray despite the temptations of Satan.  Stand up and say ¨Depart hence, Satan, I will not cease to call upon God¨.