As Nephi said, “For my soul delighteth in plainness; for after this manner doth the Lord God work among the children of men. For the Lord God giveth light unto the understanding; for he speaketh unto men according to their language, unto their understanding” (2 Nephi 31:3).
And Nephi plainly told us where they traveled and where they ended up at the place they called Bountiful, which is clearly along the southern Arabian coast bordering the Arabian Sea.
He also told us about the ship he built, that the Lord said, it was to be constructed “after the manner which I shall show thee, that I may carry thy people across these waters” (1 Nephi 17:9), and Nephi said that they “did work timbers of curious workmanship. And the Lord did show me from time to time after what manner I should work the timers of the ship” (1 Nephi 18:1), telling us that even the minutest detail was directed by the Lord. When the ship was finished, it was “not after the manner which was learned by men” but it was “after the manner which the Lord had shown unto me, wherefore, it was not after the manner of men” (1 Nephi 18:2).
He told us the ship was a sailing ship (1 Nephi 18:8), that it could be steered (18:13, 22), that the ship went where the winds blew (1 Nephi 18:15), and that they were blown continually toward the promised land (1Nephi 18:8, 22), until they finally reached the Land of Promise (1 Nephi 18:23).Following this voyage, which can be mapped on any world map showing wind and sea currents (see earlier posts, “The All Important Winds and Currents-Part I and Part II,” July 1 and 2, 2011). Now once at the promised land, Nephi describes two very important events that help tell us where he landed. He tells us that his seeds, brought from Jerusalem, were planted and grew exceedingly and provided an abundant crop (1 Nephi 18:24) as described thoroughly in the post “The All Important Winds and Currents-Part V,” July 5, 2011, and that “we did find all manner of ore, both of gold, and of silver, and of copper” (1 Nephi 18:25). This is described thoroughly in the post “The All Important Winds and Currents-Part IV,” July 4, 2011.
This information alone verifies the area of Chile as the landing site and the area of Peru as part of the Land of Promise. But we are not finished yet, for Moroni added one all-important clue to this location when he wrote about the Jaredites earlier having two animals that were unknown in the Eastern United States in 1830, and to which Joseph Smith could not envision their appearance and, therefore, not be able to place a name to them other than using the original Jaredite or Nephite words.
He said, “they also had horses, and asses, and there were elephants and cureloms and cumoms” (Ether 9:19), then Moroni went on to describe them more so we could understand what types of animals these were when he said, “all of which were useful to man, and more especially the elephants and cureloms and cumoms” (Ether 9:19).
And finally, Mormon added his own clue, when he told us of two grains that were unique to this area and, again, unknown to Joseph Smith in 1830, when he said, “And we began to till the ground, yea, even with all manner of seeds, with seeds of corn, and of wheat, and of barley, and with neas and with sheum” (Mosiah 9:9). Since these seeds were mentioned along with three grains, corn, barley and wheat, we can conclude that neas and sheum were also grains.
Consequently, all we need to know in order to locate the Land of Promise is:
1. Where winds and currents would take a sailing ship in 600 B.C.
2. A land where the climate matched that of Jerusalem.
3. A land where “both” gold, silver and copper exist in a single ore, and was abundant in the area.
4. A land where two unknown animals existed that were “use to man” as an elephant.
5. A land where two unknown grains grew.
The first three of these were answered in the previous five posts. In the next two posts we will see where the fourth and fifth clues existed.
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