"They had been taught by their mothers."

  It was the year 64 B.C., the Nephites had been waging war against the Lamanites for 9 years, and it was not going in their favor.  Two thousand young men saw that their people needed help and volunteered to help out in the fight.  Their leader Helaman marched them to join with the army of Antipus, who's own army had received great casualties from a recent battle with the Lamanites.  Upon arriving they saw that Antipus was being overtaken by the Lamanites.*  Helaman turned to his two thousand men and asked, "Therefore what say ye, my sons, will ye go against them to battle?"  The two thousand warriors responded by saying,  "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."  Helaman was amazed by this statement and later commented on it in a letter to another great military leader, "And now I say unto you... that never before had I seen such great courage... 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."  Because of the things taught to these two thousand warriors by their mothers they had enough faith in God to know they would be delivered from the hands of their enemies, so much so that not a single one of them died.  This faith that their mothers had instilled in them allowed them to save, not only the army of Antipus from annihilation, but to go into and win many more battles against great odds and help ensure the survival of their nation.


  President Joseph F. Smith believed very firmly in the great influence for good that mothers can be, he once said, "A mother that is successful in raising a good boy, or girl, to imitate her example and to follow her precepts through life, sows the seeds of virtue, honor and integrity and of righteousness in their hearts that will be felt through all their career in life; and wherever that boy or girl goes, as man or woman, in whatever society they mingle, the good effects of the example of that mother upon them will be felt; and it will never die, because it will extend from them to their children from generation to generation." 


  There may be no other person in my life who has had a greater impact then my mother.  I consider myself very blessed to have the mother that I do.  I probably would not be where I am today if it were not for the things that my mother had taught me.  I believe strongly that there is no person on this earth who can have a stronger impact on any individual then the mother of that individual.  This mother's day I am grateful for all of the mothers who have influenced their children for good and in doing so have made the world a better place.

*Story abridged.  For full account of what happened see Alma 56.