Mosiah 23:3

And they fled eight days’ journey into the wilderness.

Alma and his people, like all repentant people, spent time in the wilderness, living in tents, subsisting on the bare necessities, stripping themselves of the world, and becoming sanctified. Because they were humble and teachable, they did not suffer in the wilderness for long. They turned the wilderness from an affliction into a home and a refuge. The wilderness is what we make it. If we fight it, it can be a miserable existence. If, however, we accept it and work with it, the wilderness can become an Eden.