Student Choice Assignment # 1

1. Matthew 1-2 is about the relationship of Mary and Joseph, the birth of Christ, and the journey they have together.

- Before Joseph had come unto his new wife Mary, she was already pregnant. He wasn't really okay with this so he wanted to quietly divorce her so nobody would know.
- After an angel appeared to Joseph and told him of the baby he put his feelings aside and obeyed what the angel had said. This shows that he is very obedient to what God would have him do. He did not even question what the angel had said, and that would take a lot of faith in God to just do that. He demonstrated a good example of a true disciple. He let his faith guide him because he trusts God and knows that He knows what he's doing.
- Joseph must have have been a humble man because an angel appeared to him 3 times throughout these chapters. Not only did the angels come to him, but he was looking after our Savior. Not just anyone would be given that tremendous responsibility. He was definitely a trustworthy person.
- Obviously, Joseph was not Christ's biological father, but he did fill the father role here on earth. I found a couple things that I can take out of this to help me as a parent someday. One, when God says it time to be a parent, I need to be one. I am not planning on having children for a couple years, but in case that I got pregnant tomorrow, I would look to Joseph's example and fill the role. Two, Joseph protected Jesus by being obedient to God. God knows all things and if I put my trust in Him, my children will be protected from the world just like Jesus was in these chapters. I want more than anything for my children to be able to be protected and also live a happy life. I know that if I obey God by teaching my children to live with the gospel as the center of their lives, it will bring them the most happiness a person can have on this earth. I am thankful for Joseph's example.

2. Mary in Luke 1:18 is described as 'highly favored' and blessed among women, and in most of Luke 1 it talks about her and the qualities that she possessed. She was very obedient woman. She obeyed the law of chastity because she had not married and was still a virgin. She was humble when the angel came and told her that she was going to have the Son of god because she gladly accepted the task. She didn't even think twice about it. Then, instead of boasting to the whole city, she went to her close friend, Elizabeth, and told her of how she is so excited and feels so blessed to have this opportunity. Mary is a really good example of how we need to accept God's callings for us. She didn't know exactly what the future held, but because God commanded her, she trusted him and knew it would work out.

- One of Mary's qualities that I would like to develop is to trust the Lord with everything. I am a worry wart sometimes and overanalyze pretty much everything so this is definitely something I need to work on. This would make my life so much easier. I would be able to just listen and do, not listen, think, think, think, then do. An example in my life where I eventually trusted the Lord and everything worked out was when I decided to marry my husband. I loved this guy. I felt like he helped make me the type of person that God would like me to be, and that I could spend the rest of my life like this. I wasn't worried about him, but I was worrying if it was the right time, if I was ready for that, and if that was what I was supposed to do. I was a mess, but one day I went to the temple with some of my roommates and prayed about the decision and got an, "Everything's going to be okay, Lex." I didn't know what the future held, but I knew it was with him. And here we are 6 months later just as happy as can be. So it worked out, but it would have been a lot smoother if I would have just listened to the spirit telling me he was the right one. I admire Mary and her immediate obedience.

3. In Matthew and Luke, it give two different parts of Christ's geneology. One is the seed He came from and the other is the impact He had. I think this is significant because it's important to know where He came from and how others were affected by Him. It helps strengthen our testimonies of Him to know those because the more you know about Him, the more you can grow to trust Him.

4. It was important that Jesus had an immortal father and mortal mother so that he could experience pains and afflictions, but with the power that God has. This way he could take on all of our pains and afflictions. Also, I think this helped him be able to choose. He still had free agency just like everyone else. He knew the power he had and what he could do with it, but still chose to accomplish the task.

5. Questions that are important details of the Savior's birth

1. From Nazareth, what 3 cites did Joseph go through to get his wife in a safe place that they could have their baby? (Galilee, Judaea, and David or Bethlehem)
2. Why was the baby born in a little manger? (the inns were full)
3. What did Mary wrap baby Jesus in right after he was born? (swaddling clothes; not fancy ones)
4. What did the angel of the Lord say to them in the manger? ("Fear not: for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people"; basically, it didn't matter where he was born, they were just happy he was born)
5. After, what did he say to God? ("Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men"; they delighted in the success of the baby)
6. Who were the first to see the baby, besides Mary, Joseph, and the angel? (The Shepherds)

- Good titles for a talk around Christmas time could be:
"And the glory of the Lord shown round about them"
"Glory to God in the highest"
"Good will towards men"
"Let us now go even unto Bethlehem"
"The babe lying in a manger"