Alma Ch56

Guess who reappears :D the stripling warriors! After Helman sends an update on the war in his part of the land to Moroni, he leads the stripling warriors to a miraculous victory with the help of Antipus.
So Helman writes to Moroni about what's going down (v1):
    "Hey Moroni, so you remember those Lamanites that Ammon converted and now live under our protection? Don't freak out because they wanted to help so I ended up recruiting 2,000 of the sons to help defend us against the Nephites. It's no big deal because they volunteered! Their fathers were about to break their covenant, but I was like, 'no,' and they were like, 'but we have to do something,' so the sons were like, 'we'll go,' and I was like, 'really,' and they were like, 'only if you lead us." So now I'm sort of a captain like you! Neat-o right?? So that happened (v2-8).
     "Then you'll never guess what happened next! We went to Judea to help out Antipus, who was so happy to see us, and these sons (I call them that because we love each other like family after our experiences) ended up being a great support to the army because the Lamanites were already in Manti, Zeezrom, Cumeni, and Antiparah. Yeah talk about letting things get out of hand, anywayz we helped fortify Judea, lift the spirits of those around, and prevented the Lamanites from attacking because we looking intimidating apparently (v9-19).
      "So when the 27th year started, we were so ready to fight if the Lamanites attacked and we watched them carefully for tricks but they didn't do anything! Thats when we got provisions from the families of my warriors and even 2,000 more men from Zarahemla. We now had 10,000 men and I could tell the Lamanites are shaking in their boots because they started trying to intercept our provisions. So here's the plan we hatched, I take my army nonchalantly down the road past Antiparah acting like I don't know they are there to draw them out while Antipus comes up behind them after they leave the city. Genius right? (v20-35)."
<*commentary as Moroni is reading the letter* Wow I did the same thing! Great minds think alike :) Helman must have been listening to the spirit like I did>
      "So this army that we just tricked was one of the most powerful in this part of the land, so having them on the tail of my 2,000 young sons was not fun, but I trusted that Antipus was coming to our rescue, and he was. I mean he didn't catch up for like 3 days but eventually he had caught up and the Lamanites stopped coming after us to contend with Antipus. Boy was I exhausted! Now I want to tell you how amazing these 2,000 young men are, because when I came to them with the question, 'Will ye go against them to battle?' Because they could have stopped for any reason! You know what they answered? They said, 'God is with us and He will protect us, but we have to go help Antipus even if we do not want to kill the Lamanites. (v36-43).
    "I am so blessed to know them. They went into battle with no previous experience, but with no fear of death. They fought to give liberty to their fathers and had been taught by their mothers to trust in God. Turns out they were right and the Lamanites were in battle with Antipus when we came upon them. Our allies were weary and were about to fall to the Lamanites because some of our fellow Nephite leaders had fallen from weariness. It's a good thing we came back at this critical time because we were able to turn the tide of the battle away from Antipus and confuse the Lamanites enough to slay many until they surrendered (v44-54).
     "As exciting as all that was, I'm still not finished because when we accounted for the dead, none of my 2,000 sons had died, trust me, I would have been heartbroken if even one had been killed. They had fought with miraculous strength which is what I attribute our victory to and why we have so many prisoners now. We sent those prisoners and part of Antipus's army to guard them to Zarahemla, hope you don't mind. And now we are on our way back to Judea to plan some more awesome heroics!"
Man, 'interpreting' these epistles is way fun. You all should try it sometime!