I am one of Helaman's Sons

One thing that has been on my mind a lot recently is why I named this blog what I did.  To start, I would like to point you to a story in the Book of Mormon.  Now, at this time two great nations, the Lamanites and the Nephites were in a great and terrible war, which had already up to this point taken many years, and many lives.  A group of converted Lamanites who lived with the Nephites had long ago made a covenant with God to never again pick up their weapons of war, but they were about to break this covenant in order to help their brethren with the war.  However, the prophet at the time, Helaman, encouraged them to hold fast to their covenant.  So, instead of their fathers picking up the sword to defend their country, 2000 of the young sons who had not made this oath with God, volunteered to go to war.  In Alma 56:9-10, Helaman's described these young men to the Nephite military leader at the time by saying:
 "But behold, here is one thing in which we may have great joy.  For behold, in the twenty and sixth year,  I, Helaman, did march at the head of these two thousand yound men to the cith of Judea, to assist Antipus... And I did join my two thousand sons, for they are worth to be called sons, to the army of Antipus."
Helaman went on to describe an incident where his little band came to battle against one of the strongest armies of the Lamanites:
"Therefore what say ye, my sons, will ye go against them to battle. And now I say unto you, my beloved brother Moroni, that never had I seen so great courage, nay, not amongst all the Nephites. For as I had ever called them my sons (for they were all of them very young) even so they said unto me: Father, behold our God is with us, and he will not suffer that we should fall; then let us go forth; we would not slay our brethren if they would let us alone; therefore let us go, lest they should overpower the army of Antipus. Now they never had fought, yet they did not fear death; and they did think more upon the liberty of their fathers than they did upon their lives; yea, they had been taught by their mothers, that if they did not doubt, God would deliver them. And they rehearsed unto me the words of their mothers, saying: We do not doubt our mothers knew it."
"And now it came to pass that when they had surrendered themselves up unto us, behold, I numbered those young men who had fought with me, fearing lest there were many of them slain.  But behold, to my great joy, there had not one soul of them fallen to the earth; yea, and they had fought as if with the strength 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."

These young sons of Helaman thought more for their brethren of the Nephites than they did for their own lives.  They went out to battle even though they had no experience.  But because of their exceedingly great faith in God, they were delivered and were spared in battle.  I want to be a latter-day son of Helaman, with the courage to pick up my pen and open my mouth to invite all to come unto Christ, so that they can feel the joy I feel because of my faith in Him.
-Elder Wesley Cannon