# Mormon 1

*Paraphrase*

### Mormon Introduces Himself

I’m Mormon. I’m writing down everything I’ve seen and heard, and I’m calling it the Book of Mormon.

### Ammaron’s Instructions

When I was about ten years old, just starting to learn the ways of my people, Ammaron came to me. He’d just hidden away the sacred records to keep them safe. He said to me, “I can see you’re a serious kid. You notice things. So when you turn twenty-four, I want you to remember everything you’ve seen happen to this people. Then go to the land of Antum, to a hill called Shim. That’s where I’ve hidden all the sacred writings about this people. Take the plates of Nephi for yourself. Leave the rest where they are. Then write down on Nephi’s plates everything you’ve witnessed about this people.”

I’m a descendant of Nephi. My father’s name was also Mormon. I remembered what Ammaron told me.

### A Land at War

When I was eleven, my father took me south to the land of Zarahemla. Buildings covered the whole land. The people were as countless as sand on a beach.

That year, war broke out. On one side were the Nephites—which included the Nephites, Jacobites, Josephites, and Zoramites. On the other side were the Lamanites, Lemuelites, and Ishmaelites. The Lamanites, Lemuelites, and Ishmaelites were all called Lamanites. So really it was just two sides: Nephites and Lamanites.

The fighting started near Zarahemla, by the river Sidon. The Nephites gathered an army of more than thirty thousand men. That year they fought several battles, and the Nephites beat the Lamanites, killing many of them. Then the Lamanites backed off. Peace came to the land and lasted about four years without bloodshed.

### Darkness Spreads

But evil spread across the whole land. The Lord took away his beloved disciples. Miracles and healings stopped because the people had become so wicked. There were no spiritual gifts from the Lord. The Holy Spirit didn’t come to anyone because of their evil and unbelief.

When I was fifteen, I was fairly serious for my age. The Lord came to me. I experienced his goodness and knew Jesus for myself. I tried to preach to these people, but I was silenced. I was forbidden to preach to them because they had deliberately turned their backs on God. His beloved disciples had been taken from the land because of the people’s wickedness. I stayed among them, but I couldn’t preach to them. Their hearts were too hard. And because their hearts were hard, the land itself was cursed because of them.

The Gadianton robbers had spread among the Lamanites and terrorized the land. People tried to hide their treasures in the ground, but the treasures would slip away. The Lord had cursed the land so they couldn’t hold onto anything or get it back. Sorcery, witchcraft, and dark magic appeared everywhere. Evil had power over the whole land. Everything Abinadi and Samuel the Lamanite had warned about was coming true.

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*Source: [The Book of Mormon](https://bookofmormon.com/paraphrase/mormon/1)*
