What does auto body work, reactivity, and repentance have in common?

Hi Everyone!
 
This has been a great week, we're seeing more of the blessings from our focus on service.

There's a less-active family in the branch that we've been working with since I got here but haven't made much headway, well the other week we started telling them about our emphasis on service and offered our time to help them in any way. They have a truck that their 14 year old son crashed while trying to impress his friends, he slammed straight into a tree and bent the front of the truck in almost perfectly, as if the front of a train had hit it.

Well, the engine was mostly untouched, but the front part of the frame was pretty messed up, so my companion offered his expertise in cars to help them get the frame straightened out. So, we went to the local ACE hardware store and bought 2 small propane tanks with a flame attachment, as well as a pull-cable thing (like what you'd use to get a truck out of the mud)  and we went with the 14 year old to start rearranging the shape of the steel.

It was pretty fun, we got permission from our Zone Leaders to use the torches, so we set about heating up the metal to several hundred degrees and using the pull-lever attached to a tree on one end and the bent metal on the other to make it straight.

It worked like a charm, I was actually amazed that we were able to get it so well. I forgot to take pictures, I was too focused, but I'll take some of the finished product still because you can see where the damage was.
 
The cool part is that when the father of the family came home that night (he'd previously been pretty discouraged about coming to church and getting active again) he went out with his wife to see what we'd done, and he broke down into tears.

We found out that the truck (their van is currently out with a broken transmission, we're helping fix the truck so they can get to church) was actually a gift from some members a few years ago, and it had been given to them then so they could get to church.

When the father realized who was fixing their truck now, and for what purpose, he was overwhelmed by the spirit because he realized it was a message from God telling them how much He wants them in His church.

This is so exciting for me, because this is one of my favorite families here and they're finally on track to get back into activity, and in the process we're helping out the almost 15 year old kid, who's taking the chance to re-evaluate his life and the power of repentance!
 
I'm so grateful for this gospel, I'm so glad I'm able to be a part of it and to share it with others! There's nothing in the world more satisfying than helping another person who you love receive the wonderful blessings our Heavenly Father has in store for us!

I love the church, the doctrines of the Restoration, the Plan of Salvation, and the Temple. This is God's work, this is His church!
 
Love,
Elder Damon Janis