The slaughter of the Anti-Nephi-Lehies by their vengeful brethren, the unbelieving Lamanites, could not go unheeded by Ammon and his fellow missionaries who were filled with compassion for the defenseless believers in Christ. Because of their love for all His children, Ammon and his brethren had offered their lives upon the altar of service in God's Kingdom. They had forsaken all they held dear to proclaim the Gospel to the benighted Lamanites whom they knew to be a "wild and a hardened and a ferocious people." On the other hand, too, the Lamanites whom they, with the help of the Lord, had converted to His cause, looked upon the missionaries "as though they were angels sent from God to save them from everlasting destruction." The love of each, that is the missionaries and the converts they had made, was mutual, and in their distress which was also mutual, Ammon and his brethren sought ways and means to deliver the oppressed Anti-Nephi-Lehies from a fate so appalling that it made the strongest among them quake with despair and anguish.
To the end that the Anti-Nephi-Lehies should be freed from the prospect of annihilation the missionaries consulted with the king, whose name also was Anti-Nephi-Lehi. In the hope that justice would prevail, and that mercy from Heaven be given, the Nephite servants of God judged that the Lord, having so thoroughly tried the faith of this devoted people would provide some way of escape. With this thought in mind, "they said unto the king":