Mormon 1:1-12

Now I, Mormon, start my record of the things that I myself have seen and heard. I call it the Book of Mormon. I am a descendant of Nephi, and my father's name was also Mormon.

About the time Ammaron hid the records for the Lord's purposes, he came to visit me. I was about ten years old at the time, and I had made good progress in my education. When he visited, Ammaron said to me, "I can tell that you are a serious child and that you are good at understanding the things that go on around you. Therefore, when you are about 24 years old, I want you to remember what you have observed in this society. At that age, go to the land Antum to a hill you'll find called Shim. That is where I have hidden for the Lord all the sacred histories about this people.

"Remember to take the plates of Nephi with you and leave the rest where they are. Then you must engrave on Nephi's plates everything you have observed about this people." I remembered what he told me to do.

When I was 11 years old, my father took me to the land southward, to Zarahemla. All the land had been covered with buildings, and the people were almost as numerous as the sand of the sea.

In that year, a war started between the Nephites and Lamanites. The Nephites consisted of the Nephites, Jacobites, Josephites, and Zoramites. The Lamanites consisted of Lamanites, Lemuelites, and Ishmaelites. The war started in the borders of Zarahemla, by the waters of Sidon. The Nephites gathered a large army of more than 30,000 men. They had some battles in which the Nephites won and also killed many Lamanites. Therefore the Lamanites gave up, and there was no more war for about four years.