What Repentance Does

"3 Now they were desirous that salvation should be declared to every creature, for they could not bear that any human soul should perish; yea, even the very thoughts that any soul should endure endless torment did cause them to quake and tremble.

4 And thus did the Spirit of the Lord work upon them, for they were the very vilest of sinners. And the Lord saw fit in his infinite mercy to spare them; nevertheless they suffered much anguish of soul because of their iniquities, suffering much and fearing that they should be cast off forever." (Mosiah 28:3-4)

The sons of Mosiah, after experiencing what they did with Alma the younger, being visited by the angel, and realizing the error of their ways, repented. One of the natural responses to conversion and repentance is a desire to share the gospel with others. The sons of Mosiah were no different. They went to King Mosiah and basically begged him to let them go to the Lamanites and teach the gospel. The reason for this as described in verse 3 was because they didn't want anyone to endure endless torment. In other words, they didn't want them to suffer the consequences of leading a sinful life.

As described in verse 4, the sons of Mosiah were the "very vilest of sinners". Keep in mind that we've had the wicked people of Noah's time who were destroyed. They also had the wickedness of King Noah to compare to, along with the wicked Lamanites. Yet these men were the very vilest of sinners. I think the point to make here is that they were able to turn their lives around to the point where they became great missionaries.

I think there are 2 lessons to be had here. First, no matter who you are or how sinful you are, there is always a road back. You can repent, just like the sons of Mosiah. The other lesson is that when you find your way back, you don't want anyone else to go without the gospel. It was dangerous to go the Lamanites, given even the last couple of generations of experience with them. More than one group of Nephites had fallen into bondage to the Lamanites, who either wanted to take advantage of the Nephites, or destroy them. They knew the riskiness of going to the Lamanites, but they were willing to do that anyway, just so they could share the message of the gospel.