[Teachldsseminary] Off topic: Book of Mormon experience this past weekend...

[Cherilyn Williams]

Last Thursday evening our family and 6 other LDS families left from the 
United Arab Emirates and drove approx 14 hours to Salalah, Oman.  Salalah is 
located on the coast in the Dohar region where the monsoon touches the 
Arabian Peninsula.  The purpose of the trip was to go the place that 
possibly was "Bountiful" where Nephi was comanded to build a boat and then 
sail to the promised land.  Grab an atlas and follow along...

We drove from Dubai to the UAE/Oman border outside Al Ain and headed to 
Nizwa and then through desert east of the Rub Al Khali (the aptly named 
Empty Quarter) and eventually the Qara Mountains, arriving in Salalah in the 
late afternoon on Friday. Not far south of Nizwa, the land truly is barren. 
We drove along well-paved roads in our air-conditioned cars and marveled at 
the emptiness of it and how miserable it must have been for Lehi's family 
and friends to wander in that wilderness after leaving the "more fertile 
parts" of the borders of the Red Sea.  Between the several families we had a 
GPS and maps of the region we were traveling.  During the drive when the 
kids weren't plugged into their various electronic devices we talked about 
why Lehi's family was so long in the wilderness and how we were benefiting 
from our map and GPS and how grateful we were that they worked regardless of 
our righteousness (particularly the righteousness displayed during a 14-hr 
car trip).

All of a sudden we were in the mountains looking at trees and grass and 
camels and cows and goats and some donkeys and more cows.  It was shocking 
to see the green, even the dried-out green of winter, months after the 
monsoon has left the area. (The region that gets the monsoon rain is only 
about 60 km long, this little oasis at the bottom of a barren land. Pilots 
who fly over the area say that it looks like someone put a little dab of 
green paint in the mass of brown.)  We headed down the mountains to the 
coast where we drove through cultivated plots and groves of palm, banana, 
mango and papaya trees.  This may not sound incredible, but it is: on either 
side of this area is coastline that is empty of plantlife.

That evening we had sacrament/testimony meeting on the beach around a 
bonfire.  Fifty percent of the seminary kids bore their testimonies; almost 
all the primary-aged ones bore theirs....

Saturday morning we drove east along to coast to Khor Rhori to see the 
archeological ruins dating from 400 BC on a hill in above a protected cove. 
Inland is a ridge where water rushes down from the Qara Mountains and forms 
several water falls before it travels across the plain and into the cove. 
Possible site because of the fresh water,  the cove, and trees and ore 
available in nearby mountains.  The following day we drove west toward 
Yemen; after 2 police checkpoints (through the rearview mirrors we watched 
them perfomed the universal sign for "crazy" as we drove off), direction 
queries, a short detour to Rakhyut (where the hospital staff opened up a 
bathroom for our use because, amazingly enough, not everyone in our group 
was willing to urinate off the side of the mountain at an overlook), and 
getting almost to the border between Oman and Yemen we arrived in the small 
town of Kharfat, passing through small groves of significantly large trees. 
In the parking lot of the small medical clinic we met a local man who 
offered to take us via 1/2 hr boatride to the mouth of Wadi Sadiq.  After 
much discussion and declining the offer for lunch from the same man to go to 
his home where his wife and mother would prepare a meal for us, he then in 
his Toyota Landcruiser (followed by young men in a small van) led us onto a 
ridge above the mouth of the wadi.  We then parked the cars, split into 3 
groups due to speed and shoeware and hiked about 1/2 hr to the promitory 
overlooking the wadi.  Camels strolled along the beach, fresh water from the 
wadi pooled near the beach; the area was green with grass and palms. About 
50 feet off shore was a fishing boat.  This place is "possible" due to the 
proximity of large trees, and ore in the mountians.  And the bonus, someone 
said that the the wadi/mountain valley can be followed to the east to Nahom 
where Ishmael was burried.
We hiked back to the cars carrying the littlest kids on our backs through 
forests of trees, brambles, and dried grass and sang Chrismas carols; I 
don't know why, seeing that it didn't feel particularly Christmasy.  We got 
lost by following the wrong trail and had to scramble up the ridge to where 
we had parked. At the end of the trek we lamented not having taken the guy 
up on his offer of the boatride. We would not have survived 8 years in the 
wilderness.

After spending  the weekend in the area and listening to my 16-year-old talk 
about how Lehi's family entered a wilderness again when they got on the boat 
brought home the question of how much faith it took to push off from that 
shore and leave that paradise.

In our 4 years in Mexico and now in the Arabian Peninsula we have followed a 
friend's particularly good advice: Don't look for evidence of the Book of 
Mormon in the local culture and landscape (i.e. locals telling stories of 
guys named Nephi or cave paintings/graffiti: "Nephi is a jerk -- Lamen"); 
look for evidence of the local culture or landscape in the Book of Mormon. 
The Dohar region is just that.  Thankfully, my testimony is not dependant on 
knowing where these events took place; rather, it is based on knowing that 
they did take place.  But man, it sure is fun to go exploring!
If you want to see a couple pictures, just let me know...

Cherilyn