Later Life
After their missionary labors among the Zoramites, Alma, his sons, and the rest of their company returned to Zarahemla. At this time Alma gathered his sons together to give each of them a charge. In his charge to Helaman, Alma recounts his own conversion, exhorts Helaman to righteousness, and confers stewardship of the sacred records and other artifacts (including the "interpreters", or Urim and Thummim). to Helaman. These sacred records were passed down from generation to generation throughout the history of the Nephites, with each generation adding the story of their own time. It was these records which Mormon and Moroni drew from and abridged when compiling the Book of Mormon. Helaman accepted the records and continued the record-keeping tradition. The section of the Book of Alma beginning at chapter 45 states that it is, "The account of the people of Nephi, and their wars and dissensions, in the days of Helaman, according to the record of Helaman, which he kept in his days." This section may possibly continue as far as chapter 62, wherein Helaman dies.
Following Alma's words to his sons, he and his sons (including, presumably, Helaman) went among the people for a time, preaching the word of God. Shortly afterward, in the 19th year of the reign of the judges (circa 73 BC), Alma approached Helaman for an important conversation. In what some consider a good model for child-parent interviews, Alma questioned Helaman, praised him for his beliefs, and blessed him. Alma also dictated to him a prophecy of the destruction of the Nephites, which Alma commanded him to record but not to make known until it was fulfilled. Not long after his charge to Helaman, Alma departed and was never heard of again.
After this, Helaman and his brethren went among the people declaring the word of God and appointing "priests and teachers throughout all the land, over all the churches." Dissension arose, allegedly due to the people's pride and riches, and the people thus would not heed the words of Helaman and his brethren.
For the next several years, Helaman worked as a high priest in the Church, though not necessarily as the high priest over the Church. Helaman's work suffered major set-backs during Amalickiah's rise, but then prospered in the years following Amalickiah's departure from the Nephites to the Lamanites.
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