Alma the Elder, The Book of Mormon

As with Moroni, two individuals had the name "Alma", a male name in the Book of Mormon society. These two were father and son, with both making significant contributions to the teachings in the Book of Mormon.
The son's life record is more complete than the father's, but it is the father that illustrates a principle worth remembering: courage involves acting in a way which puts you or something you hold dear in jeopardy.
We don't know how, but Alma (referred to as "the elder" by Latter Day Saints to avoid confusion) works his way into the company of a rather corrupt group of men. These were the priests of  King Noah, the ruler of a Nephite splinter group about 150 years before the birth of Christ. Noah has been mentioned in this space before. He was evidently a corrupt ruler, much more concerned with his own good life than that of the people he ruled.
Into this scene comes a prophet named Abinadi, whose assignment is to call Noah and his people to repentance - something they are not prepared for, nor inclined to do. Abinadi is arrested on trumped up charges, and is brought before the King. Ordered to speak in his own defense, Abinadi does so, recounting for his audience some of the most memorable moments of Israelite history, and urging them to change their ways and earn the right to be preserved as their ancestors had been.
This message is rejected almost completely. The exception is Alma, who sees the entire scene unfold, then witnesses Abinadi's martyrdom, burned at the stake with the words of his message still on his lips. This horrific scene apparently made little impression on those who saw it, but Alma was impressed enough to go off on his own and spend some time recording Abinadi's message.
Then comes the part regarding the quality of courage. Alma began to secretly convene groups of people to repeat Abinadi's message. The group must have been tiny at first, but then others began to attend. Being found out would surely have proved fatal for this small group of believers. They had no plan of escape. In fact, none of the Nephites in the group, believers or not, were really free. Alma had to know that there was great danger in assembling, but he did it anyway, and began to baptize members of the group. They, of course, were equally at risk, forming a kind of internal refugee group with little to look forward to until the end of mortality.
This story, in fact, has a happy ending, with the group escaping to rejoin the main body of Nephites they had left behind two generations before. But that doesn't change the fact that these were courageous people, willing and ready to risk everything in order to gain salvation.           

Paul, New Testament

I was given a book a number of years ago with an unusual premise. The author's purpose was to rank the 100 most influential people in human history. This means, naturally, the use of many criteria, most of them purely subjective. How does one compare, for instance, Genghis Khan to J. S. Bach? It's an interesting book, but it settles very little from a factual basis.
For what it's worth, the Apostle Paul is ranked by the author as the 6th most important person of history, slightly ahead of Columbus, Einstein and Karl Marx.
Paul is ranked so highly because of the success which eventually came from his life's work - the taking of the message of Christianity, at first thought to be simply a branch of Judaism, into some far parts of what then constituted the "known world", where it was recognized as something growing out of, but then transcending the worship of Yahweh, claiming that the Messiah had, indeed, come to earth, and had established his Church upon the earth.
While always a person of great devotion, Paul was not always a devoted Christian. In fact, he played a role in the persecution of these people by the Jewish authorities of his day. The victims were themselves almost all ethnic Jews, but Paul, then known as Saul, saw nothing wrong in trying to keep out new ideas that he could not confirm by revelation, and did not oppose violence against these Jesus followers trying to claim authority for themselves.
This changed as Saul traveled to Damascus on a mission of persecution. An angel appeared to him and told him that his actions were flatly wrong, and that he must reverse them in order to be considered a true servant of God. All this simply overpowered Saul's senses, and he fell to earth, unconscious and speechless.
It took awhile for Paul, as he was now called, to make the change the angel had spoken about, but change he did. It soon became evident that his mission was to go to the great cities of the then known world to preach this new Gospel. He could no longer function as a pharisee, and so he took up the trade of tent making as a way to meet his expenses. Most Christian Bibles devote a page in the Gazeteer to the travels of Paul through several journeys.
The leaders of the infant church were not at first convinced that this message is intended for non-Jews, but then Peter had a dream which lead him to conclude that times had changed, and that ALL people could now be considered as possible new Christians.
Paul becomes a member of the Twelve Apostles and also devotes time to correspond with the congregations he had helped to establish, correcting their misconceptions and encouraging them to persevere in the face of adversity. His epistles take up more pages than any of the Gospels, and form the theology of many Christian denominations today.
We do not have a record of the end of Paul's life, but by tradition it took place in Rome and was probably violent, as the deaths of other apostles had been.
Paul deserves our admiration not just for his works over a long stretch of time, but for resisting any temptation to do or say anything in his own name, always portraying himself as just a man in the service of God and Jesus Christ.        

Joseph, Old Testament

In the Old Testament, stories featuring war, violence and destruction seem more common than stories of redemption, hope and love. If seeking the latter, however, the wonderful account of Joseph and his brothers is found in the latter chapters of Genesis.
Joseph's father, the family patriarch Jacob (whose name is changed to "Israel" is the grandson of Abraham. He enjoys the gifts of the spirit, and is aware of the promises given to Abraham to be the "father of many nations", but that carries no guarantee of an easy life. He fathers ( through four different women) twelve sons and a daughter. Joseph is the 11th son, but it is revealed that he will preside over the entire family some day. This is noted, and resented, by his older brothers.
Young Joseph is, in fact, a thorn in the side of his brothers, for he is not shy about reminding them about his promised status. They conspire to kill Joseph, but, instead, sell him off into slavery, then return to their father with a tall tale of Joseph's death from an animal attack, using his blood-soaked coat "of many colors" as evidence.
Joseph lands in Egypt, where his early life is marked by ups and downs. It would have been easy to simply discard his background and remake himself in the mold of his new masters, but Joseph never forgets who he is, and is finally assigned to serve one of  Pharaoh's high officials, Potiphar. He resists an attempt at seduction by Potiphar's wife, but is consigned to prison.
Josph probably would have stayed locked up, but Pharaoh has a dream which his spititual advisers are unable to comprehend, and someone recalls that young Joseph has correctly interpreted the dreams of others before. Brought before Pharaoh, he not only gives the details of the dream, which the monarch had claimed to have forgotten, but interprets it as pertaining to a future marked with seven good growing years to be followed by seven years of famine.
Convinced, Pharaoh realizes that planning for this disaster will be needed to preserve his nation, and that the man for this huge assignment is Joseph himself. Without any false modesty or hesitation, Joseph assumes powers in Egypt second only to Pharaoh himself - something akin to the Secretary of Agriculture, but much more powerful.
The famine forecast by Joseph occurs as predicted, and Israel and his family are not spared. He sends his sons to Egypt to bargain for food, where they meet the great administrater who had once been their younger brother Joseph. He recognizes them, and after making them sweat through a kind of test, finally reveals himself to them in a spirit of love and forgiveness. The entire family is brought to Egypt to live out the famine under Joseph's care.
While it is true that the Israelites are enslaved in Egypt years later, and that their liberation requires much suffering as recorded in Exodus, Joseph's life lesson for us is clear: in whatever circumstances you may find yourself, hold on to the righteous counsel you've received as a young person. And when it comes time to forgive, do so in sincerity of soul and without reservation.     

Zoram, The Book of Mormon

We don't know the names of every individual who left with Lehi and company, the group which eventually made their way to the Western Hemisphere. There was Lehi, his wife and their sons and daughters, along with Ishmael and his sons and daughters. By the time their ship sailed, the two families had done some blending, and the first of the next generation had already been born..
And there was also Zoram. He is not a person about which much is known. The scripture records that he had been a servant in the house of Laban, and that he was obliged to make an instant choice about his future. The choice he made was to join a group of people he did not know, in a journey and future none of them knew much about. This choice was made as a large young man (Nephi) kept him from escaping, but promised that he would be numbered with Lehi's family and treated as a free man. Something about this promise rang true to Zoram, and he took an oath on the spot. Nephi records that any concerns over Zoram (whom he did not know) vanished when he made this oath to "sign on".
The remainder of Zoram's life is not recorded. It was doubtless filled with hard work, but probably also a feeling of helping start something that would last a long time. Years later, when Lehi nears the end of his life and blesses all the people who had been under his leadership, Zoram is still there. Lehi, perhaps showing his age, refers to Zoram as "the servant of Laban", a status Zoram had left behind many years before. In any case, Zoram and his descendents receive Lehi's blessing and are numbered with Nephi's (that is, the worshipers of the Lord) people.
Making good decisions about both large and small things is undeniably important to happiness in life. Decisions we must make on the spot are usually about small things, and probably are a bit less successful than those that we make after long consideration. Even so, we should be prepared to make decisions quickly when circumstances demand. The scriptures give us examples of both kinds of decision-making, and both can be helped by inspireation.