Mormon 2

When I was sixteen years old, the Nephites asked me to lead their armies. The Lamanites came on us with great power. My armies were too scared to fight. They began to run away. The Lamanites chased us to the west seashore.

Even though my people were about to be killed, they would not repent of their sins. Aaron, the Lamanite King, came against us with an army of forty-four thousand. I fought against him with my forty-two thousand. We beat them back.

Because they lost their riches, the Nephites began to cry and howl like the prophet Samuel said they would. Their sadness was not the sadness of repentance. It was the sadness of hopelessness. The Lord would not allow them to always be happy in sin.

They cursed God and wanted to die. Still they fought for their lives. Thousands were killed. Their bodies were piled up like garbage on the land.

My heart was filled with sadness all my days because of their sins. The Nephites were hunted and pushed until we came to the north land called Shem. The power of the Lord was not with us. We were left to our own power. We went against the Lamanites and the robbers until we had won back our lands.

We made a treaty. The Lamanites gave us the land north. We gave the Lamanites the south land. We did not fight again for ten years.