The Time Just Before the Reunion of the Missionaries

Now as I, Mormon, said before, when the Lamanites who had gone to war against the Nephites realized that they could not destroy them, they returned to the land of Nephi.

The Amalekites were very angry for having lost so many of their people, and when they could not take revenge on the Nephites, they stirred up the wicked Lamanites to be angry enough to begin killing their brethren, the Anti-Nephi-Lehies, once again. And having made a covenant with the Lord not to fight, many of the Anti-Nephi-Lehies were killed by their enemies. They treated Ammon and his brethren like angels sent from God to save them from everlasting destruction. So when Ammon and his brethren saw them being killed, they were moved with compassion and said to their king, “Let us gather this people of the Lord and take them to our brethren, the Nephites, in the land of Zarahemla. Let us escape from our enemies and not be killed.” The king replied, “The Nephites will kill us because of the many murders and sins we have committed against them.” Then Ammon said, “I will go and ask the Lord, and if He tells us to leave, will you leave?” The king answered, “Yes, if the Lord tells us to leave, then we will go to our brethren and be their slaves until we have made restitution for the many murders and sins we have committed against them.” Ammon replied, “Slavery is against our law established by my father, Mosiah. So let us go and rely on their mercy.”

The king said, “Ask the Lord, and if He tells us to go, we will. Otherwise, we will die in this land.” Ammon went and asked the Lord, who said to him, “Get this people out of this land so they will not be killed, for Satan has a great hold upon the hearts of the Amalekites. They have stirred up the Lamanites to be angry enough to kill their brethren, so take them out of this land. This generation of people are blessed, for I will preserve them.”

Ammon told King Anti-Nephi-Lehi everything the Lord had told him. Then they gathered all the people of the Lord with their flocks and herds and left the land. They made their exodus into the wilderness that divided the land of Nephi from the land of Zarahemla, and they came near Zarahemla’s border. Then Ammon said to King Anti-Nephi-Lehi, “My brethren and I will go into Zarahemla to see if our brethren there will allow you and your people to come into their land. You wait here with your people until we return.”

It was when Ammon was going toward Zarahemla with his brethren that he and his brethren met Alma. Ammon’s joy was so full that he was consumed by the joy of his God, and he lost his strength and fainted. Now wasn’t this great joy? This is the joy that only the truly repentant and humble seekers of happiness receive. Alma, Aaron, Omner, and Himni also had great joy, but not so much that they lost their strength like Ammon. Ammon was revived, and Alma led him and his brethren back to his own house in Zarahemla. They went to tell the chief judge everything that had happened to them in the land of Nephi among the Lamanites.

Then the chief judge sent a proclamation throughout all the land, asking the people how they felt about allowing their brethren, the Anti-NephiLehies, to come into their land. The answer came, “We will give them the land of Jershon as an inheritance (the land near the east shore, adjacent to the southern border of Bountiful). We will protect them with our armies because they have refused to fight, fearing to commit sin again.

“We will post our armies between the land of Jershon and the land of Nephi to guard them from their enemies. We will do this for our brethren on condition that they give us some of their supplies to help maintain our armies.”

When Ammon heard this, he and Alma went to the Anti-Nephi-Lehies, who were camping in the wilderness, and told them the good news. (Alma also told them how he had been converted with Ammon and his brothers.) This caused great joy among them, and they went and took possession of the land of Jershon. From then on, the Nephites called those converted Lamanites “Ammon’s people.”

They were numbered among the Nephites and the church of God. They were known for their zeal toward God and men, for they were perfectly honest and upright in all things. They were firm in the faith of Christ throughout their lives. They looked upon shedding the blood of their brethren with the greatest abhorrence. They never did fight their brethren, nor did they fear death because of their hope in Christ and His resurrection, for they knew that Christ would have victory over death. Rather than take up the sword, many of them died in the most aggravating and distressing manner that could be inflicted by their brethren, the Lamanites. Ammon’s people were zealous, beloved, and highly favored by the Lord.