Nephi's ministry was centered on Christ, and included prophesying of His birth, working miracles in His name, witnessing His visitation to the Americas after the Resurrection, and administering His church after He had ascended.
In the ninety-second year of the Reign of the Judges (1 BC), a "great uproar" broke out amongst the population over the yet-unfulfilled (and according to the "unbelievers", past-due) prophecy of Samuel the Lamanite, that Christ's birth would be signified by a new star and a night without darkness.
"[5] As promised, when the sun set that evening, the sky remained as bright as midday, fulfilling the anticipated prophecies and effectively preventing the impending genocide.
A majority of the population was converted by this event, and Nephi went about "baptizing unto repentance, in the which there was a great remission of sins", which temporarily restored peace to the land.
[6] Despite the mass change of heart, and the continued preaching of Nephi and "many others" however, by 96 ROJ (AD 3), the people had already returned to wickedness and discrediting the miracles they had seen.