# Alma 17

*Paraphrase*

### Alma Meets the Sons of Mosiah

Alma was traveling south from Gideon toward Manti when he ran into the sons of Mosiah on the road to Zarahemla. He couldn’t believe it.

These were the same men who’d been with him the day the angel appeared. Alma was thrilled to see his old friends. What made it even better—they were still walking with the Lord. They’d grown strong in truth, becoming men of real understanding who had studied the Scriptures deeply to know God’s word. But that wasn’t all. They’d devoted themselves to prayer and fasting, so they had the Spirit of prophecy and revelation. When they taught, they taught with power and authority—the kind that comes from God himself. They’d spent fourteen years teaching God’s word among the Lamanites, and they’d had real success. Many people had come to know the truth. Through the power of their words, many had come before God’s altar to call on his name and confess their sins. But their journey had been brutal. They’d suffered terribly—physically and emotionally. Hunger, thirst, exhaustion, and deep spiritual labor.

### Fourteen Years on the Mission

Their mission began when they left their father Mosiah in the first year of the judges. They’d turned down the throne their father wanted to give them, and the people had agreed to let them go. They left Zarahemla armed with swords, spears, bows, arrows, and slings—not to fight, but to hunt for food in the wilderness. They headed into the wild with their small group, traveling up to the land of Nephi to preach God’s word to the Lamanites.

For many days they traveled through the wilderness, fasting and praying constantly. They begged the Lord to pour out his Spirit on them and stay with them, so they could be instruments in God’s hands. They wanted desperately—if it was even possible—to bring their Lamanite brothers and sisters to know the truth, to see how wrong the traditions they’d inherited really were.

The Lord came to them through his Spirit and said, “Take heart.” And they did. The Lord also said, “Go to your Lamanite brothers and sisters and share my word. You’ll face long seasons of suffering and hardship, but through it all, show them what it means to follow me. I’ll use you to save many lives.”

The sons of Mosiah and their companions took courage and set out to bring God’s word to the Lamanites.

### Splitting Up in Dangerous Territory

When they reached the borders of Lamanite territory, they split up, trusting in the Lord that they’d meet again when the harvest season ended. They knew the work ahead of them was massive.

And it was. They were trying to preach God’s word to a fierce, hardened, violent people—a people who loved killing Nephites, stealing from them, and plundering them. Their hearts were set on treasure: gold, silver, precious stones. But instead of working for these things, they’d rather murder and rob to get them. They were lazy. Many worshiped idols. God’s curse had fallen on them because of the lies passed down from their ancestors. Still, the Lord’s promises were open to them—if they would repent. That’s why the sons of Mosiah took on this work: to bring them to repentance, to help them understand God’s plan of redemption.

So they went their separate ways, each one alone, relying on the word and power of God that had been given to them.

Ammon was their leader. Before they separated, he blessed each one according to their calling and shared God’s word with them. Then they went their different ways across the land.

### Ammon Becomes a Servant

Ammon went to the land of Ishmael—named after the sons of Ishmael, who had become Lamanites.

As soon as Ammon entered the land of Ishmael, the Lamanites grabbed him and tied him up. That’s what they always did with Nephites who fell into their hands—they brought them before the king. The king could do whatever he wanted: kill them, throw them in prison, keep them as captives, or drive them out of the land. So Ammon was brought before the king of Ishmael. His name was Lamoni, a descendant of Ishmael.

The king asked Ammon if he wanted to live among the Lamanites.

Ammon said, “Yes, I’d like to stay here with your people—maybe for the rest of my life.”

King Lamoni was impressed with Ammon. He had him untied and offered him one of his daughters as a wife.

But Ammon said, “No, I’d rather be your servant.” So Ammon became a servant to King Lamoni. He was assigned to watch the king’s flocks along with the other servants—that was the custom among the Lamanites.

### Trouble at the Watering Hole

After three days of service, Ammon went out with the other Lamanite servants to take the flocks to water at a place called Sebus. All the Lamanites brought their flocks there to drink.

As Ammon and the king’s servants were driving their flocks to the water, a group of Lamanites who’d already watered their animals attacked them and scattered the flocks in every direction.

The king’s servants panicked. “The king’s going to kill us!” they cried. “He already killed our brothers when their flocks were scattered. These thugs just destroyed ours too!” They started sobbing. “Our flocks are gone!”

They wept out of fear for their lives. When Ammon saw this, his heart swelled with joy. He thought, “This is my chance. I’ll show these men my power—God’s power in me—by bringing back the king’s flocks. When they see what God can do, I’ll win their trust. They’ll listen to what I have to say.” That’s what Ammon was thinking as he watched his fellow servants suffer.

He encouraged them. “Brothers, take heart! Let’s go find those flocks. We’ll round them up and bring them back to the water. We’ll save the king’s animals, and he won’t kill us.”

They went searching for the flocks and followed Ammon’s lead. Moving fast, they got ahead of the animals and herded them back to the watering place.

### Ammon Takes a Stand

But those troublemakers came back to scatter the flocks again. Ammon said to his companions, “Circle the flocks—don’t let them run off. I’m going to deal with these guys.”

They did what Ammon said. He walked toward the men standing by the waters of Sebus. There were quite a few of them.

They weren’t afraid of Ammon. They figured any one of them could kill him whenever they wanted. They didn’t know the Lord had promised Mosiah he’d protect his sons. They didn’t know anything about the Lord. They just loved causing destruction—that’s why they were there messing with the king’s flocks.

But Ammon started slinging stones at them with tremendous force. He killed several of them. The survivors were stunned by his power, but they were furious about their dead friends and determined to bring him down. When they realized they couldn’t hit him with their stones, they rushed at him with clubs.

But every time someone raised a club to strike Ammon, he swung his sword and cut off their arm. He blocked their blows by chopping off their arms with the edge of his blade. They were shocked—and then they ran. There were a lot of them, but he drove them back by sheer strength.

Six men fell to his sling—he only killed their leader. The rest he disarmed—literally. He cut off every arm that was raised against him. There were many.

After he’d driven them far away, Ammon came back. They watered the flocks and returned them to the king’s pasture. Then they went to the king, carrying the severed arms—evidence of what had happened when those men tried to kill Ammon.

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*Source: [The Book of Mormon](https://bookofmormon.com/paraphrase/alma/17)*
