Their journey to the Land of Nephi where the head ruler of the Lamanites had his headquarters was a tedious one. They wandered for many days in the trackless wilderness; they evidently lost their way, and almost lost heart. Time and time again their burdens bore heavily upon their spirits. But they continued steadfastly in prayer, and with fastings they sought the help of the Lord. In all their sufferings the assurance never abandoned them that "they were only in the service of their God." Their prayers were not that they be delivered from harm, or from trial and tribulation, but for strength equal to their allotted tasks. To this end they sought His Spirit to sustain them when their cares and loads seemed more than they could carry. But the thing that was greatest in their minds, in spite of affliction, and the thing which they made most the burden of their supplications, was that they might be "instruments in the hands of God to bring, if it were possible, their brethren, the Lamanites, to the knowledge of the truth, to the knowledge of the baseness of the traditions of their fathers, which were not correct."
The Lord answered their prayers, and abode with them by His Spirit. He comforted them with the assurance of ultimate success in their heartfelt desire to extend His Kingdom among the Lamanites, who then were "a wild and a hardened and a ferocious people." (V. 14)
But the Lord, who made the desire of the missionaries His command, cautioned them against high-mindedness. That the Lord was their ever-present companion should do nought but humble them. That by their lives they should prove to the Lamanites the strength of their belief in the truths they would proclaim. That they should be patient and long-suffering under trial, showing thereby that the Lord whom they served was in very deed the Father of all men. That to serve His children offers life's greatest compensation and its purest happiness, for in serving them the laborer renders a sacrifice of love which in the end is a service rendered unto their very Father. In enumerating the blessings He pronounced upon their heads, the Lord gave the missionaries grace that with wisdom they would fulfill their duties, and promised Mosiah's sons and their companions that "I will make an instrument of thee in My hands unto the Salvation of many souls." (V. 11)
Urged on by the assurance of the Lord, and earnestly relying upon His goodness, the missionaries continued their wanderings, and before long reached the end of their protracted journey, the Land of Nephi, where the main body of the Lamanites dwelt.
Upon reaching the land where they prayed their hopes would be fulfilled, we may well believe that the words of a Jewish prayer expresses the thoughts that filled the missionaries' hearts:
Look with compassion upon Thy children and grant us strength of love and purity of purpose that we may live together in unity and work together in peace and concord, so that the well-being of all may be promoted, and Thy name, O God, be glorified in all the earth. Amen. (Union Prayer Book.)