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

Tue Dec 4 13:01:23 MST 2007

I would LOVE to see photos.  We're going to Egypt for the Christms holidays 
and I look forward to a similar discovery of OT times.

Valerie
Netherlands
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Cherilyn Williams" <williamsdjcb at hotmail.com>
To: <teachldsseminary at latter-dayvillage.com>
Sent: Tuesday, December 04, 2007 6:47 PM
Subject: [Teachldsseminary] Off topic: Book of Mormon experience this 
pastweekend...

> 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
>
>
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