Alma 53-63

Preserved by His Marvelous Power

August 10-16

Scripture: Alma 53: 20-21

And they were all young men, and they were exceedingly valiant for courage, and also for strength and activity; but behold, this was not all—they were men who were true at all times in whatsoever thing they were entrusted.

Yea, they were men of truth and soberness, for they had been taught to keep the commandments of God and to walk uprightly before him.

Activity Idea: Marbles and Clothes Pins Army

Who doesn’t love the 2,000 sons of Helaman?!?! Moroni “never had [he] seen so great courage, nay, not amongst all the Nephites.” (Alma 56:45)

In Alma 56:56 we learn that after fighting in battle they discovered: “But behold, to my great joy, there had ^anot one soul of them fallen to the earth; yea, and they had fought as if with the ^bstrength of God; yea, never were men known to have fought with such miraculous strength; and with such mighty power did they fall upon the Lamanites, that they did frighten them; and for this cause did the Lamanites deliver themselves up as prisoners of war.”

Not one of them had fallen!

In Alma 57:25 we learn again that the 2,000 young men had been spared again: “And it came to pass that there were two hundred, out of my two thousand and sixty, who had fainted because of the loss of blood; nevertheless, according to the goodness of God, and to our great astonishment, and also the joy of our whole army, there was ^anot one soul of them who did perish; yea, and neither was there one soul among them who had not received many wounds.”

None had died, but all were wounded.

Alma 57:26 “their preservation was astonishing…and we do justly ascribe it to the miraculous power of God, because of their exceeding faith”

Because of their faith they were spared. You can set up some army men, some clothes pins, or some action figures.

Get some marbles or marshmallows and try and knock some men down. Talk about how the Lord preserved the army because of their faith, even if they were hit.

Activity Idea: Other Point of View

I really love the correspondence between Moroni and Pahoran in Alma 60-61. Moroni went all out angry because of the lack of aid that he was receiving and Pahoran could have reacted so differently than he did. He could have become defensive and argumentative, but he didn’t he understood Moroni’s perspective and then added his own. Which totally changed how Moroni viewed his situation.

How often in life does that happen to us? Where we think we know what is going on in another’s life? Why they are purposely making our life so miserable, when in reality something else is really in play.

Take some time to role play your reactions to these situations:

• Someone is late to a dinner appointment that they have known about all week
• Your friend didn’t respond back after calling/texting.
• Your sister didn’t clean up her side of the room.
• Your brother keeps on bothering you again and again, after you asked him to leave you alone.
• come up with your own…

Activity Idea: Tag

In Alma 62:31 it says: “And it came to pass that when the Lamanites saw that Moroni was coming against them, they were again frightened and fled before the army of Moroni.”

For these war chapters I find it interesting that they were so impressed by the Nephite army led my Moroni that they ran and “fled” from before them.

Choose a family member to represent Moroni and the other family members will represent members of the Lamanite army. Everyone needs to try and run away from “Moroni” before they get tagged and sent into prison (a designated area). Last one sent to prison is Moroni next round.

Activity Idea from the Church: Stripling Warrior Challenge

• Sing “We’ll Bring the World His Truth” (Children’s Songbook, 172–73).
• Learn about the army of Helaman! You can read the story in Alma 56–57, or on page FJ4.
• Now use page 8 (in the Friend) to do a stripling-warrior challenge! What other challenges can you come up with?