Elder Whetzel's Birthday Week

Dear Family and Friends,

Last Friday March 4th was Elder Whetzel's birthday! We went out to a restaurant called "Bahama Breeze" it was super nice, in a city called Novi (a pretty ritzy area). We had some Coconut Shrimp, Jamaican Jerk Chicken, Fresh Strawberry Lemonade. It was a great meal and a good time to celebrate his 20 years on the Earth.

This week was Zone Conference Week! We held 4 of them, one on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. I felt the Spirit strongly as we instructed and learned from President Gerber. He instructed on The Fall of Man and The Atonement of Jesus Christ. He helped us gain a greater understanding of the need for a Savior and what He really did for us!! I'll attach a picture of the object he used to help us visualize the principles he was teaching. He taught that and then we went to 5 different stations for about 20 minutes, each of them focusing on one specific aspect of the Atonement such as the enabling power, repentance, the resurrection, and there was also a station where there was a to scale setup of the city of Jerusalem, with scriptures labeling the events leading up to and going through The Savior's Atonement. At the end we watched a movie produced by the Church only about 30 minutes long called "The Lamb of God." Which President Gerber was on the writing board for by the way. The experience of going through those stations and concluding with watching The Savior go through each event of His Sacrifice brought a powerful Spirit into the conference and I gained a deeper love for Jesus Christ. I know He is The Savior of The World. Without Him, we would have no hope for life after death. Every mistake we make and all the effects therefrom would be unchangeable, and unforgivable. I love the songs "Our Savior's Love" and "Where Can I Turn for Peace". We sang both of those in the conferences. Overall just a powerful week, experiencing The Atonement in my life and understanding how to help others I work with experience it more fully. The talk "Strengthened By The Atonement of Jesus Christ" by Elder Dallin H. Oaks from this last conference is really great too, He teaches us there about the special enabling power He will give us to help us bear and overcome our afflictions, temptations, pains, sicknesses, grief, and sorrows. I felt after reading it that I haven't been using The Atonement for all I could have been in my life! I'm sure we all do that sometimes. But His help is available, all we must do to receive it is ask.

I know that this is true and it is the reason why I am out here in Detroit. To bring others to CHRIST. To help them see that there is a better way to live, and there is a way to experience joy, peace, and consolation in our lives, no matter the pains and sufferings we are currently bearing. I'm grateful for His Sacrifice. He is The Light of The World and as we come to Him we will find new life. Much better life :) I love you all! May we come unto Christ this Easter month.

Elder Goff