Korihor leaves the first, unnamed, city in which he was preaching and travels to Jershon to preach to the people of Ammon. Of all of the possible locations where he might preach, why does he select the people of Ammon? The fact that Korihor travels specifically to Jershon suggests that he not only knows where it is, but knows the nature of the people who inhabit it. The most important aspect of those people is that they are recently converted Lamanites. It is probable that Korihor expects that he might be well-received among those who had only recently adopted what Korihor has proclaimed “foolish traditions.” With the background the more “secular” Lamanites, Korihor must have expected a more enthusiastic welcome. What he did not anticipate was the sincere depth of conversion of the people of Ammon. They had adopted the Nephite religion not because of any tradition of anyone’s fathers, but rather because of their own very personal conversion. Theirs was a conversion that was the hardest thing that they had done (Alma 24:11), and a personal conversion that has such transformational power is not easily dismissed.
This difference in the experience of the people of Ammon and the Nephites of the unnamed city may be seen as a difference in the nature of the testimonies they had. For the Nephites who listened to Korihor, it may well have been that they believed solely based upon the traditions of their fathers, and lacking a specific testimony for themselves, they were suspectible to Korihor’s words. The people of Ammon, on the other hand, had had dramatic personal experiences that led them to testimony. This difference in the nature of testimony was highlighted by Brigham Young. Wilford Woodruff described a sermon Brigham Young gave:
“It is sometimes taught among us that we should follow Brother Joseph or Brother Brigham, or some other leader, and do as they say, and that is all that is required. Now this is in one sense a false doctrine. No man should trust solely the testimony of another. He should have a direct testimony from God for himself. Then obedience is intelligent and not blind. I might have listened to Joseph Smith testify to the truth of the Book of Mormon until I was as old as Methuselah, and in the end I would have gone away in darkness had I not received a testimony from God that he was a prophet and that he knew by revelation whereof he spoke. Men should get the spirit of God and then live by it.” (Wilford Woodruff, Wilford Woodruff, His Life and Labors, comp. Matthias F. Cowley [Salt Lake City: Deseret News, 1916], 377 - 378.)