(Read and Follow the Directions)
The society Alma describes here sounds like a wonderful society to live in. It’s important for me to remember that it starts in my own heart and home. I have to be willing to give, even if my neighbors are not. I have to be willing to be modest in my behavior, even if my neighbors are not. I have to be willing to forgive, even when my neighbors are unrepentant.
Zion has to start somewhere, and the only way it will grow is if we can live Zion principles in spite of being in a gluttonous, self-absorbed world. Alma’s people weren’t living in a perfect, purified world. They had neighbors who hated them and actively fought against their religious beliefs, and yet within the church they were strengthened and supported by one another.
And they did impart of their substance, every man according to that which he had, to the poor, and the needy, and the sick, and the afflicted; and they did not wear costly apparel, yet they were neat and comely. 28 And thus they did establish the affairs of the church; and thus they began to have continual peace again, notwithstanding all their persecutions.
Weathering The Journey 