Mosiah 24

He even let him choose teachers and local leaders for Shemlon, Shilom, and, of course, the newly repopulated region of Amulon.

I’ve downplayed the name of the king of the Lamanites till now because it’s kind of embarrassing. His name was, yes, Laman. And since he let Amulon appoint teachers and leaders throughout his kingdom and all its colonies, the Lamanites started to learn the Nephite dialect, i.e., Amulon’s mother tongue. But with the raw literacy came no cultural literacy, certainly not about God, let alone the now-legendary Abinadi.

Writing was the biggest change. Nephites loved the written word and the habit spread to Lamanites through their new quasi-Nephite educational system. Literacy generally augments prosperity. So the Lamanites got rich, engaged in intra-kingdom trade, and got very good at business, especially when they kept the capital from invading other regions and stealing everything.

Amulon’s degenerate style began to pollute even the Alma-ites. Closed societies never work. But Amulon had it in for Alma because of Alma’s fundamentalist zealotry, particularly with respect to Abinadi, his mentor. So he became Amulon’s whipping boy, mostly figuratively, but also a bit literally.

Alma and his people started wailing their prayers, very audibly and annoyingly, thought Amulon, who threatened death to anyone who didn’t shut up. Thus commenced the era of silent prayer.

Some of them started to hear God’s voice in their mind, mingling with their own. It seemed to say, Be well, stay strong, don’t fret. I’ll keep my word to you. I always free the slaves. Before I do, though, I’ll make your backloads feel lighter. Some of you won’t feel them at all. That will be my sign.

It started to happen. One after another, people started to claim they felt the weight on their backs lessen. They could carry more and for longer and felt stronger, happier, and less fatigued.

Soon they heard, almost as one, the voice in their heads saying, Tomorrow I will loose you.

It was Moses time all over again. Alma heard the voice say that he should stand before his people and lead them out. So he called everyone together at night, told them to pack and get ready to march out of town. This time wine was unnecessary: God narcotized all the slavedrivers and everyone else around who could have halted the Alma-ites.

They travelled all day then pitched tents in a valley they called—get ready for it—Alma.

They thanked God, sang, danced, and even sacrificed some of the livestock they’d brought with them. (Remember that they got to eat the cooked meat after the burnt offering.)

It was a loud celebration, though apparently not loud enough to be heard by their former slaveowners.

Still, God did not want them to stick around. He told Alma after the party to round everyone up and hit the road. The Lamanites were awake and in hot pursuit. Then he said this valley would be the Lamanites’ resting place. Alma wasn’t sure what that meant, shrugged at the Lord, and led the massive group out of the valley back into the woods and fields of the vast landscape.

Twelve days on the road, no Lamanite confrontations, and they arrived in Zarahemla. Mosiah, not a very pro-active king, celebrated the return.