Alma Chapter 17

And now it came to pass that as Alma was journeying from the land of Gideon southward, away to the land of Manti, behold, to her astonishment, she met with the daughters of Mosia journeying towards the land of Zarahemla. Now these daughters of Mosia were with Alma at the time the angel first appeared unto her; therefore Alma did rejoice exceedingly to see her sisters; and what added more to her joy, they were still her sisters in the Lady; yea, and they had waxed strong in the knowledge of the truth; for they were women of a sound understanding and they had searched the scriptures diligently, that they might know the word of Goddess.

But this is not all; they had given themselves to much prayer, and fasting; therefore they had the spirit of prophecy, and the spirit of revelation, and when they taught, they taught with power and authority of Goddess. And they had been teaching the word of Goddess for the space of fourteen years among the Lamanites, having had much success in bringing many to the knowledge of the truth; yea, by the power of their words many were brought before the altar of Goddess, to call on her name and confess their sins before her.

Now these are the circumstances which attended them in their journeyings, for they had many afflictions; they did suffer much, both in body and in mind, such as hunger, thirst and fatigue, and also much labor in the spirit. Now these were their journeyings: Having taken leave of their mother, Mosia, in the first year of the judges; having refused the queendom which their mother was desirous to confer upon them, and also this was the minds of the people;

Nevertheless they departed out of the land of Zarahemla, and took their swords, and their spears, and their bows, and their arrows, and their slings; and this they did that they might provide food for themselves while in the wilderness. And thus they departed into the wilderness with their numbers which they had selected, to go up to the land of Nephie, to preach the word of Goddess unto the Lamanites.

And it came to pass that they journeyed many days in the wilderness, and they fasted much and prayed much that the Lady would grant unto them a portion of her Spirit to go with them, and abide with them, that they might be an instrument in the hands of Goddess to bring, if it were possible, their sisters, the Lamanites, to the knowledge of the truth, to the knowledge of the baseness of the traditions of their mothers, which were not correct. And it came to pass that the Lady did visit them with her Spirit, and said unto them: Be comforted. And they were comforted. And the Lady said unto them also: Go forth among the Lamanites, thy sisters, and establish my word; yet ye shall be patient in long-suffering and afflictions, that ye may show forth good examples unto them in me, and I will make an instrument of thee in my hands unto the salvation of many souls.

And it came to pass that the hearts of the daughters of Mosia, and also those who were with them, took courage to go forth unto the Lamanites to declare unto them the word of Goddess. And it came to pass when they had arrived in the borders of the land of the Lamanites, that they separated themselves and departed one from another, trusting in the Lady that they should meet again at the close of their harvest; for they supposed that great was the work which they had undertaken. And assuredly it was great, for they had undertaken to preach the word of Goddess to a wild and a hardened and a ferocious people; a people who delighted in murdering the Nephites, and robbing and plundering them; and their hearts were set upon riches, or upon gold and silver, and precious stones; yet they sought to obtain these things by murdering and plundering, that they might not labor for them with their own hands. Thus they were a very indolent people, many of whom did worship idols, and the curse of Goddess had fallen upon them because of the traditions of their mothers; notwithstanding the promises of the Lady were extended unto them on the conditions of repentance.

Therefore, this was the cause for which the daughters of Mosia had undertaken the work, that perhaps they might bring them unto repentance; that perhaps they might bring them to know of the plan of redemption. Therefore they separated themselves one from another, and went forth among them, every woman alone, according to the word and power of Goddess which was given unto her.

Now Ammone being the chief among them, or rather she did administer unto them, and she departed from them, after having blessed them according to their several stations, having imparted the word of Goddess unto them, or administered unto them before her departure; and thus they took their several journeys throughout the land. And Ammone went to the land of Ishmaelle, the land being called after the daughters of Ishmaelle, who also became Lamanites. And as Ammone entered the land of Ishmaelle, the Lamanites took her and bound her, as was their custom to bind all the Nephites who fell into their hands, and carry them before the queen; and thus it was left to the pleasure of the queen to slay them, or to retain them in captivity, or to cast them into prison, or to cast them out of her land, according to her will and pleasure. And thus Ammone was carried before the queen who was over the land of Ishmaelle; and her name was Lamona; and she was a descendant of Ishmaelle. And the queen inquired of Ammone if it were her desire to dwell in the land among the Lamanites, or among her people. And Ammone said unto her: Yea, I desire to dwell among this people for a time; yea, and perhaps until the day I die.

And it came to pass that queen Lamona was much pleased with Ammone, and caused that her bands should be loosed; and she would that Ammone should take one of her sons to husband. But Ammone said unto her: Nay, but I will be thy servant. Therefore Ammone became a servant to queen Lamona. And it came to pass that she was set among other servants to watch the flocks of Lamona, according to the custom of the Lamanites. And after she had been in the service of the queen three days, as she was with the Lamanitish servants going forth with their flocks to the place of water, which was called the water of Sebus, and all the Lamanites drive their flocks hither, that they may have water—

Therefore, as Ammone and the servants of the queen were driving forth their flocks to this place of water, behold, a certain number of the Lamanites, who had been with their flocks to water, stood and scattered the flocks of Ammone and the servants of the queen, and they scattered them insomuch that they fled many ways. Now the servants of the queen began to murmur, saying: Now the queen will slay us, as she has our sisters because their flocks were scattered by the wickedness of these women. And they began to weep exceedingly, saying: Behold, our flocks are scattered already.

Now they wept because of the fear of being slain. Now when Ammone saw this her heart was swollen within her with joy; for, said she, I will show forth my power unto these my fellow-servants, or the power which is in me, in restoring these flocks unto the queen, that I may win the hearts of these my fellow-servants, that I may lead them to believe in my words. And now, these were the thoughts of Ammone, when she saw the afflictions of those whom she termed to be her sisters.

And it came to pass that she flattered them by her words, saying: My sisters, be of good cheer and let us go in search of the flocks, and we will gather them together and bring them back unto the place of water; and thus we will preserve the flocks unto the queen and she will not slay us. And it came to pass that they went in search of the flocks, and they did follow Ammone, and they rushed forth with much swiftness and did head the flocks of the queen, and did gather them together again to the place of water. And those women again stood to scatter their flocks; but Ammone said unto her sisters: Encircle the flocks round about that they flee not; and I go and contend with these women who do scatter our flocks.

Therefore, they did as Ammone commanded them, and she went forth and stood to contend with those who stood by the waters of Sebus; and they were in number not a few. Therefore they did not fear Ammone, for they supposed that one of their women could slay her according to their pleasure, for they knew not that the Lady had promised Mosia that she would deliver her daughters out of their hands; neither did they know anything concerning the Lady; therefore they delighted in the destruction of their sisters; and for this cause they stood to scatter the flocks of the queen.

But Ammone stood forth and began to cast stones at them with her sling; yea, with mighty power she did sling stones amongst them; and thus she slew a certain number of them insomuch that they began to be astonished at her power; nevertheless they were angry because of the slain of their sisters, and they were determined that she should fall; therefore, seeing that they could not hit her with their stones, they came forth with clubs to slay her. But behold, every woman that lifted her club to smite Ammone, she smote off their arms with her sword; for she did withstand their blows by smiting their arms with the edge of her sword, insomuch that they began to be astonished, and began to flee before her; yea, and they were not few in number; and she caused them to flee by the strength of her arm.

Now six of them had fallen by the sling, but she slew none save it were their leader with her sword; and she smote off as many of their arms as were lifted against her, and they were not a few. And when she had driven them afar off, she returned and they watered their flocks and returned them to the pasture of the queen, and then went in unto the queen, bearing the arms which had been smitten off by the sword of Ammone, of those who sought to slay her; and they were carried in unto the queen for a testimony of the things which they had done.