Matthew 26:36-46, Mark 14:32-42, Luke 22:39-46, John 18:1-2; The Savior’s Suffering in the Garden of Gethsemane

Throughout the scriptures there are many ways in which the Savior's suffering was described. These descriptions can help us to get a glimpse into what our Savior was going through but there is no way that we can really understand what He suffered for us. The words used to describe the Savior's suffering in Matthew 26:36-46 include how He began to feel sorrowful and heavy it also says that He fell on his face and prayed to the Father. In Mark 14:32-42 it also describes the Savior's suffering talking about how He became sore amazed and very heavy and like the earlier account fell on His face. In Luke 22:39-46 it continues to describe the Savior's time saying that He withdrew. Mosiah 3:7 also adds great information to the Savior's suffering, it says, "he shall suffer temptations, and pain of body, hunger, thirst, and fatigue, even more than man can suffer, except it be unto death; for behold, blood cometh from every poor, so great shall be his anguish for the wickedness and the abominations of his people" Christ overcame so much in the garden, and suffered so much in the garden for me and my sins. Alma 7:11-13 continues to tell us more about the atonement and Christ's time in the garden, it tells us that He suffered pains and afflictions and temptations of all kinds, and that He will be filled with mercy for His people. Doctrine and Covenants 19:18 teaches us a lot about Christ's suffering in the Garden. One of the most powerful things this verse says is, "suffering caused myself, even God, the greatest of all, to tremble because of pain, and to bleed at every pore, and to suffer both body and spirit" Christ suffered so much for us that He was willing to suffer incredible pain for us.
The literal translation for Gethsemane is oil press, which adds something really powerful to Christ's suffering there. Christ was pressed like the olives are pressed into oil and they "bleed" as they release oil, but in the Garden of Gethsemane Christ literally bleed from every pore under the crushing weight of the atonement and all that He had to do for us.
There are many correlations that can be drawn between Matthew 26:41 and Doctrine and Covenants 10:5. The scripture in Matthew is Jesus asking His disciples not to enter into temptation. The Doctrine and Covenants scripture teaches that if we pray always then we will be able to resist temptation. So if we are praying always then we will be able to overcome temptation and do the things that our Savior would have us do.
Mosiah 15:7, 3 Nephi 11:11 and Doctrine and Covenants 19:19 help to teach us why the Savior drank from the bitter cup. In all of these verses Christ says that He did it so He could glorify the Father and do what the Father asked Him to do.
The Savior's use of nevertheless amazes me. Christ basically begs His Father to take away the cup but then says nevertheless I will do what you want me to. Christ humbly submits to His Father and agrees to do what He asked Him to. I have tried to apply the nevertheless pattern to my life, and I have had many experiences where I did what the Lord asked me to even though I didn't want to and I have been greatly blessed. This was the case with attending BYU-Idaho, I originally didn't want to go but I listened to my Father in Heaven and went anyways and within a few days I knew that I was where I was supposed to be and I was blessed greatly.
As the Savior's agony increased He only prayed more earnestly. I wish that I could be more like my Savior in that way. When I am suffering I generally turn inward and ignore others, but I want to be more like my Savior and turn to my Heavenly Father when I am suffering because I know that He can and will help me to get through my suffering. If I turned to my Savior and my Father in Heaven when I was suffering I believe that I would feel more peace and comfort as I worked through my trials.
I learned a lot about my Savior from His time in Gethsemane, and I gained a eternal gratitude and a further love and respect for what He did for me. I learned a lot about how humbly He suffered and how He was willing to give all the glory to the Father. I hope that I could someday have the humility that my Savior had, and be able to submit to the will of the Father whatever it may be. I am so grateful for my Savior and all that He was willing to do for me so that I can be forgiven for my sins and have eternal life.

Matthew 26:69–75; Peter’s Denial of Jesus Christ

Peter was an amazing example of what we should strive to become. While Peter made mistakes, as we all will his reactions to his mistakes were incredible.  Peter is also seen as the apostle who denied Christ as seen in the picture included, but Peter was so much more than whom he is portrayed as. Peter is someone that I strive to be like and possessed many attributes that I can only hope and strive to develop in my life.

In “Peter, My Brother” by President Kimball he talked about Peter’s denial and pointed out some important things that can help us to understand the denial further. One of the most important things that President Kimball pointed out was that Peter never denied the divinity of Christ, but he just denied his association. While denying the association is wrong, it is nowhere near denying that Christ is not sent to the world to redeem all men. During the time of Christ’s crucifixion Peter still knew and understood the divinity of Christ and did not deny Christ in that way. 

To me one of Peter’s greatest strengths was the way that he repented and learned when he was rebuked. In “Peter, My Brother” written by President Kimball he said, “Has anyone repented more sincerely?” One of Peter’s greatest strengths was his ability to completely repent and change, and be able to overcome his weaknesses. President Kimball also talks about how Peter was a diamond in the rough and how he needed much work but he was truly a real diamond. One of my goals is to be able to change like Peter did and to see a real and complete transformation when I repent.

It amazes me that Peter was able to stay strong and true throughout his life. Peter was a “special target of the adversary” and was fought against by the entire host of hell. Satan knew that if he could take down Peter then by doing that he could essentially take down the entire church, but Peter stayed strong and was brave and fearless in the face of temptation. Because he was able to resist the temptations of the adversary he essentially saved the church. I hope to be able to resist the temptations of the adversary like Peter did.

To develop these characteristics I want to continue to study Peter’s life and teachings to see what helped him to become the man that he was. I also believe that if I pray for help and guidance then my Heavenly Father can help me to develop these attributes and ultimately become more like Him.

John 14:15–17, 26–27, 15:26–27, 16:7–8, 13–14; The Savior’s Instructions about the Holy Ghost

John 14-16 teaches a lot about the Holy Ghost and how what we must do to receive the Holy Ghost. In John 14:15-17 teaches that the Holy Ghost will give us comfort in our times of need and will tell us of truth it also tells us that the world cannot receive this truth. John 14:26-27 continues to teach us more like that the Holy Ghost will teach us all things and will bring things to our remembrance and will give us peace. John 15:26-27 teaches us that that the Holy Ghost with testify of Christ and that we must bear witness of Christ. John 16:7-8 continues to teach us more such as that Christ can send us the Holy Ghost as a comforter and that the Holy Ghost will reprove the world of sin. In verses 13-14 we continue to learn that the Holy Ghost will guide us to truth, he will show us things to come and that he will glorify Christ and the Father. We also learn from the Bible Dictionary that the Holy Ghost  can cleanse us form sin, and is necessary to gain a testimony.
The Holy Ghost helped the apostles to teach and preach the gospel in many ways after the death and resurrection of Christ. The Holy Ghost helped them to preach the truth and testified the truth to those who heard the words. I would also assume that the Holy Ghost gave the apostles comfort as they were going through hard times after the death of Christ.
The Holy Ghost has helped me many times throughout my life, one of the biggest things that they Holy Ghost has helped me to know and understand is my major. When I first started college last fall I had no idea what I wanted to do for my major, so I started praying about it. Then when people started asking what my major was I started saying special education. I had absolutely no idea where that came from, but I decided to trust it and change my major to it. Shortly after this experience I was in a special education class and I felt the spirit so overwhelmingly and I knew for sure that I was doing exactly what I should. I know that the Holy Ghost told me what I should do and that the Holy Ghost really does and will help us in our lives.

John 13:1-17, Luke 22:24-30, Mark 10:43-45; The Savior Taught the Apostles about Leadership

Leadership in the Church is very different from leadership in the world. In John 13 it talks about how Jesus washed His apostles feet, this teaches us that to be a good leader we need to not raise ourself above others and serve those that we lead. In the world we are taught that as leaders we are superior to others and that the people we lead are to serve us, this is completely wrong. In Luke 22:24-30 Christ teaches us that as leaders we are to we are to serve those that we lead and that we are to follow the Lord. In the world we are taught that as a leader we should be served and that we should do what we think is best and not turn to the Lord in our decisions. In Mark 10:43-45 it teaches us that as leaders we are to mister unto all and follow the example of the Greatest of All, Christ. Like mentioned before we are taught that as a leader we should be served but in the Lord's way it is completely the opposite.
I have had the opportunity to serve in many presidencies and I have learned many things about leadership and how to be the type of leader that we should be. During many presidency trainings we have reviewed the story of Jesus washing His disciples feet and talked about how we should follow the example of service that He set for us of how to be a good leader. My young women's president my senior year of high school was an amazing example, she would put hours and hours of her own time into planning activities for us and doing all that she could to be sure that we knew that she loved us and wanted us to be successful. She is an incredible example of Christ-like leadership in my life.

Mark 13, Luke 21:5-38, Joseph Smith Matthew; Preparing for the Savior's Second Coming

There are many things that we should watch for in order to prepare for the Second Coming of Christ, some of the things we should watch for include, falling of stars, the gospel being heard through all the nations, and false Christ's and prophets arising. There are also many other things taught about the second coming in Doctrine and Covenants 87:8 it teaches us that the Lord cometh quickly, it says, "stand ye in holy places and be not moved, until the day of the Lord come," this also gives us council on how to get through the last days by standing in holy places. Joseph Smith-Matthew 1:32 also teaches that the abomination and desolation than Daniel prophesied will be fulfilled in the last days. But then we are given advice of how to make it through the last days, in Joseph Smith-Matthew 1:37 it says, "whoso treasureth up my word, shall not be deceived" if we keep close to the scriptures and our Savior then we will be able to survive. Then in the same chapter verses 46-50 teach about how we don't know when the Savior will come and that we should be prepared for whenever he comes. Doctrine and Covenants 33:17 also teaches about how we should be prepared, this verse refers to the parable of the ten virgins, how we do not know when the Bridegroom will come but we need to be sure that our lamps are full for when He comes. Doctrine and Covenants 45:56-57 talks about how the parable of the ten virgins will be fulfilled when Christ comes again. The main thing that we can learn from this is that we need to be prepared for whenever the Savior comes.

Mark 12:41-44; The Widow's Mites

The widow really and truly lived what the Savior taught in Mark 12:28-30. In these verses the Savior taught "thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart." By giving all she could she showed the she truly loves the Lord with all her heart and is willing to give everything she has to show her love and devotion to the Savior.
Compared to everyone else the window gave so much more because she gave everything that she had trusting in the Lord. This teaches me about what I should do, and that to make an acceptable offering to the Lord that I need to be willing to give all that I have and should be willing to do anything if my Savior asks. And we need to be willing to do it simply because we love our Father in Heaven and our Savior. I love 2 Nephi 25:23 and I think that it can add to our understanding, I like the end where it says, "it is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do."I like the after all we can do part, for the most part we know that we are saved by grace. But we also need to know that we need to do everything we can to be truly saved. Our Heavenly Father expects us to do everything we can to follow Him and show Him how much we truly love Him.
There are many other ways that we can follow the widows example. One of which included donating our time by doing service or helping others. We can also follow the example of obedience by keeping the commandments and doing what our Heavenly Father would have us do.

Luke 16-18; Parables and Accounts That Teach Eternal Truths

Luke 16:1-12, the parable of the unjust steward-
        I feel that our Heavenly Father wants us to understand or learn that we need to be honest in all of      our doings and that we need to be careful as we prepare for the future and we need to make sure that we are doing all that we can to prepare.
Luke 16:19-31, the parable of the rich man and Lazarus-
        I feel that our Heavenly Father wants us to understand or learn that we cannot serve God and mammon, which basically means that we cannot serve God and the world, and that we need to be sure that we are focusing on the things of God and not the world.
Luke 17:11-19, the ten lepers-
        I feel that our Heavenly Father wants us to understand or learn that we need to be grateful for the things that our Savior has given us, because He can and will heal all of us when we ask, but when we are grateful and appreciative for all that He has done for us then He is able to make us whole. (Image- The one leper thanks Christ, image titled "Where are the Nine?")
Luke 18:1-8, the parable of the unjust judge-
        I feel that our Heavenly Father wants us to understand or learn that through the hard and difficult times in our lives we need to stay strong and continue. During these hard times we need to keep strong in our faith and remember that we are children of God and that He really does love and care for us, and desires to help us, in His time.
Luke 18:9-14, the parable of the Pharisee and the publican- 
        I feel that our Heavenly Father wants us to understand or learn that we need to be sure that we are humble and contrite towards our Savior no matter who were are, we need to be sure that we come to our Father in Heaven in humility and ask for His help and guidance.