MEANINGFUL PRAYER

Years ago, I took a New Testament course in college. The instructor challenged the class at the beginning of the course to set a goal to achieve during the course. In addition to regular scripture study, I chose to offer more meaningful prayers. I did not limit myself to bedtime prayers and found I could pray any time and in any place.

My goal of regularly studying from the New Testament was difficult, and I had setbacks sometimes. But I still believe if you pray and make it a habit to study about the Savior every day, you will learn more about Him and grow closer to Him. You will appreciate the Atonement more than ever before. — Diana Eckersell Janson, Rexburg, Idaho

BY THE HOLY GHOST

A few days prior to and during Easter last year, I desired to know by the Holy Ghost that Jesus Christ was crucified for the sins of the world. (D&C 46:13.) So I began studying the Atonement as found in each of the four Gospels following the references recorded in the Bible Dictionary — pages 693-696.

On Easter Sunday, while fasting and praying and pondering for this knowledge, I participated in sacrament meeting. During the actual administration of the sacrament ordinance, I received the witness that indeed Jesus Christ was crucified for the sins of the world.

It was a wonderful experience that filled my soul and has become an added witness to my testimony of the gospel. — Newman Soloai, Temple View, New Zealand

HIS SOJOURN ON EARTH

When my institute class in Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario, studied the New Testament last year, we tried to examine what life was like during Christ's sojourn on earth. This helped us better understand the significance of many of His teachings and just how unusual some of His actions were at that time.

Moreover, our study of Jewish life in the time of Christ helped us to understand how many of the Jewish festivals — the Passover, in particular — symbolize the coming of Christ and the great miracle of His atonement.

As an end-of-semester activity, we prepared a Passover service for the Kitchener 1st Ward. By celebrating this festival, we all grew to have a deeper appreciation of the eternal nature of the Atonement and the gift Christ gave us. — Lara J. Wolfson, Waterloo, Ontario

STUDIED AND TAUGHT

I've gained a greater appreciation of the Atonement, not only through personal study of the New Testament, but also I taught the New Testament to my seminary students a few years ago while living in San Diego, Calif. This gave me an extra bonus of gaining a greater appreciation and testimony of the Savior's sacrifice. Teaching helped the Atonement come to life for me.

As I studied and taught from the New Testament, I came to know the Savior's life. I was able to read and study about His teachings and His personal life experiences with the apostles and the people.

As I understood His life, I realized that it became clear to me that everything He did in His life led up to the Atonement, which was for us. It was the whole reason He came to earth. I don't think I would have gained this understanding without understanding His life. — Judy Korth, Idaho Falls, Idaho

WALKED IN THE GARDEN

I love to study the life of the Savior as found in the New Testament.

When I was in Jerusalem in 1982 with BYU Semester Abroad, I walked across the Kidron Valley to the Mount of Olives where the Garden of Gethsemane is located. As I walked over there, I realized that this was the place where the Savior walked. I went in a garden and pondered and realized the Atonement partially took place there. I remember thinking as we studied the last week of the Savior's life in the New Testament, and I saw those gnarled olive trees in the Garden of Gethsemane, that He was actually there.

Whether a person goes to Gethsemane or not, he or she can read of this in the New Testament. And if you think about what happened in that very place, you find it's almost too incredible to believe.

Now when I study the New Testament, I think of all those places I visited. But more important, I think of how I felt in those places and the appreciation and testimony I gained of the Atonement. — Julianne Petersen, Midvale, Utah