Mosiah's Sons Return After 14 Years

While Alma was traveling south from the land of Gideon to the land of Manti, to his surprise, he met Mosiah’s sons, who were on their way to Zarahemla. These were the same who were with Alma when the angel first appeared to him. Alma was very happy to see his brethren and even happier to see that they were still his brethren in the Lord. They had become strong in the truth, for they were men of sound understanding and had searched the scriptures diligently to know the word of God.

But this is not all. They had prayed and fasted often. Because of this, they had the spirit of prophecy and revelation and were able to teach with power and authority from God.

They had been teaching God’s word for fourteen years among the Lamanites and had been successful in bringing many of them to the knowledge of the truth. By the power of their words, many souls had been brought before the altar of God to call upon His name and confess their sins before Him. Like Alma, Mosiah’s sons had suffered many afflictions such as hunger, thirst, and fatigue. They had also labored greatly in the spirit.

Fourteen years earlier, in 92 BC, they had refused the kingdom that their father, Mosiah, and the people had wanted to confer upon them. They had left Zarahemla, taking their swords, spears, bows, arrows, and slings in order to hunt for food while in the wilderness.

They had gone into the wilderness with others whom they had chosen, on their way to the land of Nephi, to preach God’s word to the Lamanites. They had traveled for many days in the wilderness, fasting and praying for the Lord to give them a portion of His Spirit to stay with them. They wanted to be instruments in God’s hands to bring, if possible, their brethren, the Lamanites, to the knowledge of the truth—to the knowledge of the baseness of their forefathers’ incorrect traditions.

And they had been comforted, for the Lord had visited them with His Spirit and had said to them, “Be comforted. Go among your brethren, the Lamanites, and establish my word. Be patient in your afflictions, showing a good example to them in me, and I will make you instruments in my hands to save many souls.” These words gave Mosiah’s sons and their companions courage to go to the Lamanites and declare God’s word to them. After arriving in the borders of the Lamanite land, they had separated, trusting in the Lord that they would meet again at the close of their harvest, for they believed that the work they had started was a great one. And it was great, for they had chosen to preach God’s word to a wild, hardened and ferocious people—a people who loved to rob and kill the Nephites, whose hearts were set upon gold, silver and precious things. The Lamanites robbed and killed to get these things rather than work for them with their own hands, for they were a very lazy people. Many of them worshiped idols, and the curse of God had fallen upon them because of the false traditions of their forefathers. But the promises of the Lord were still extended to them if they repented. This is why Mosiah’s sons had started the work, to perhaps bring them to repentance and to know the plan of redemption. In order to teach more of the Lamanites, they had separated and gone among them, every man alone, according to the word and power of God given to him.

Ammon had been their chief (one who administers), and had administered to each of them, blessing them according to their callings and needs. Then he left and they took their separate journeys throughout the land. Ammon went to the land of Ishmael, the land named after the sons of Ishmael, who had become Lamanites. As Ammon entered the land of Ishmael, the Lamanites captured and bound him. It was their custom to bind all Nephites who fell into their hands and take them before the king, who would then decide whether to have the Nephite killed, made to be a slave, thrown into prison, or thrown out of the land. So Ammon was brought before the king. The king’s name was Lamoni. He was a descendant of Ishmael and he ruled over the land of Ishmael. The king asked Ammon if he wanted to live in the land among the Lamanites, or return to his own people.

Ammon said that he wanted to live among the Lamanites for a time, and perhaps until the day he died. King Lamoni was very pleased with Ammon and had him untied. Then he offered Ammon one of his daughters to marry. Ammon responded, “No, but I will be your servant.” So Ammon became King Lamoni’s servant and worked among his other servants, watching his flocks.

After serving the king for three days, he and the Lamanite servants were driving their flocks to the waters of Sebus where all the Lamanites drove their flocks for watering.

Along the way, a certain number of Lamanites, who had already watered their flocks, began to scatter the king’s flocks.

Then the king’s servants became frightened, saying, “Now the king will kill us, just as he killed others whose flocks were scattered by these wicked men.” They began to cry fearfully while saying, “Look, our flocks are already scattered!” They wept because they did not want to be put to death.

When Ammon saw this, he was filled with joy, thinking to himself, “Now I will show the power of God in me to my fellow-servants by restoring these flocks to the king. Then I will win the hearts of my fellow-servants and lead them to believe in my words.” Ammon encouraged the servants by saying, “My brethren, cheer up. Let us go find the flocks and bring them back here for watering. We will save the flocks and the king will not kill us!”

The servants followed Ammon, running quickly to head off the king’s flocks and bring them back to the watering place. Then their enemies came to scatter their flocks again, but Ammon said to his brethren, “Surround the flocks so they do not get away again, and I will go and contend with these men.”

The servants did as they were told, and Ammon went to contend with the many men who stood by the waters of Sebus. The men were not afraid of Ammon, thinking that one of them could easily kill him. They did not know the Lord had promised Mosiah that He would deliver his sons out of the Lamanites’ hands. They did not know anything about the Lord, and they delighted in seeing their brethren die. This is why they had scattered the king’s flocks.

Then Ammon began to hurl stones at them with his sling, and with mighty power, he killed six of them. They were astonished at his strength, but they were angry because he had killed some of their men. They were determined to kill Ammon, so after failing to hit him with their stones, they rushed at him with clubs to kill him. But as each man raised his club, Ammon cut off his arm with his sword. The men were astonished and they all ran from Ammon. Ammon had killed six with his sling, and had killed their leader with his sword. He had also cut off every arm that had been lifted against him, and there were many.

After driving his enemies far away, he returned to the king’s servants and told them to water the flocks. Then they returned the flocks to the king’s pasture. The servants went to the king, carrying the arms which had been cut off by Ammon as a testimony of the things he had done.