Land of Nephi Tour
8-Day Tour to the Lands of the Book of Mormon
With BOOK OF MORMON TOURS, LLC
(We are the Pioneers of the Book of Mormon tour)
June 29 – July 6, 2019
$1,995.00 per person double occupancy
Includes internal
airfare to Tikal
Does not include international
round trip airfare
(United States to
Guatemala City and Guatemala City to the United States)
Following the death of Lehi and Sariah,
Nephi was warned by the Lord to depart from his brothers, Laman and Lemuel.
Along with many who were living in the area of Izapa, Chiapas, Mexico at the
time, Nephi traveled to the highlands of Guatemala where he built a city which
was called the city of Nephi. For four
hundred years the highlands of Guatemala served as a backdrop for the events recorded in the books
of 2 Nephi, Jacob, Enos, Jarom, Omni, Mosiah and Alma. Come with us on this eight day all-inclusive
journey, as we visit places that are documented as Nephi, Ishmael, Middoni,
Helam, the waters of Mormon, and the east wilderness of Zarahemla.
On
this tour you will see the Book of Mormon history come to life as we travel
throughout the area proposed as the land of Nephi. You will visit the LDS
temples in Guatemala City and Quetzaltenango, four archaeological sites and
museums, eight locations associated with the Book of Mormon and other places of
interest.
TOUR INCLUDES: seven nights hotel accommodations, two or more meals
daily except on first and last days, first-class bus transportation, entrance
fees and guide service to places listed on the itinerary, taxes and tips on
group items, literature and maps pertaining to your tour, and escorted by
professional tour directors from Book of Mormon Tours.
The tour deposit is $500 per
person is due by March 31, 2018. The second payment of $500 per person is due
by June 30, 2018. Prices and itineraries are subject to change.
Call
today to book your space on this deluxe Book of Mormon experience.
1.801.226.5200 or email us at [email protected].
Itinerary
Day
1: Saturday, June 29, Guatemala City
Our
flights take us to Guatemala City, the
city of Eternal Spring. Upon arrival we will transfer and check into our
deluxe hotel, The Barceló. (No meals
provided)
Day
2: Sunday, June 30, Guatemala City
Following
church services with a local ward, we will see the LDS temple in Guatemala City.
Afterwards, we will visit the National
Museum of Archaeology of Guatemala where we will analyze Kaminaljuyu’s
stela 10, an altar that dates to 147 BC and may suggest a transfer of kingship
from King Noah to Limhi (see Mosiah 18 & 19). We will then visit the large relief map of Guatemala in order
to orient ourselves with the geographical overview of the country in relation
to the Book of Mormon. Steak dinner. (Breakfast, Dinner)
Day
3: Monday, July 1, Lake Atitlan
After
checking out of our hotel, we will visit the archaeological zone of Kaminaljuyu, a place considered by many
to be the place where Nephi settled in the 6th century BC (see 2
Nephi 5:5-10). We will continue on to Lake
Atitlan. En route, we will stop at the village of Patzicia, the area
proposed as the land of Ishmael where Ammon taught the Gospel to King Lamoni
and his people. Lake Atitlan, a distance of ninety miles from Guatemala City
(city of Nephi), is proposed in Exploring the Lands of the Book of Mormon as
the Waters of Mormon where Alma
started the Church of Christ at 120 BC. Aaron, one of the sons of Mosiah,
taught the Gospel at the villages around the Lake, and three cities were
covered over by water at the waters of Mormon during the great destruction at
the time of the death of Christ.
Underwater archaeology has revealed the existence of three cities under
water at Lake Atitlan. We will spend three nights at the hotel by beautiful
Lake Atitlan. (Breakfast, Dinner).
Day
4: Tuesday, July 2, Lake Atitlan
Flanked
by three dramatic volcanoes, Lake Atitlan has been a scenic retreat for over
2000 years. It has been proposed by many LDS scholars as a site for the Waters of Mormon where Alma organized
the church of Christ in the first century BC (see Mosiah chapters 18 and 19).
The day will consist of a cruise on the
lake to see the area where an ancient city was covered by water. This city
may have been Jerusalem mentioned in Alma 21:1 or it may have been one of the
other cities mentioned in 3 Nephi 9:7. After lunch, you will have free time in
which you may relax, shop, or make a visit to a small museum containing pottery
recovered from beneath the surface of Lake Atitlan. This pottery is known as
the “Miraflores” style which dates to the 1st century BC and comes
from Kaminaljuyu. A fireside on the
historical literature of the Book of Mormon will be presented by your tour
director in the evening. (Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner)
Day
5: Wednesday, July 3, Lake Atitlan
An
early departure will allow us to take a fifty mile bus ride to Almolonga, the
garden city of central America, a very pleasant land, a land of pure water,
terms used to describe the land of Helam
where Alma and his followers lived for twenty-five years. You will observe the
colorful dresses of the women, a variety of garden vegetables, the use of
weights and measures as outlined in the book of Alma, and how the men carry
huge burdens on their backs, also referred to in the book of Alma. We will
drive by the Quetzaltenango LDS Temple,
after which we will return to the Lake for the night. (Breakfast, Dinner)
Day
6: Thursday, July 4, Guatemala City
This
morning we will visit Chichicastenango
on market day, the place where the native document called the Popol Vuh was
discovered. Like the Book of Mormon, the
Popol Vuh was written in a chiastic format and outlines events relating to the
creation of the world, the fall of man, Satan and a Garden of Eden. On our way
back to Guatemala City, we will stop at the picturesque city of Antigua, the
first capital of Guatemala. We will then take an hour bus ride to Guatemala
City, where we will spend our final two nights. Meals include breakfast and a
late lunch, the latter at a convent that has been converted to a hotel.
Day
7: Friday, July 5, Guatemala City
Our
air flight will take us to the awe-inspiring, Maya archaeological zone of Tikal, occupied from 600 BC to AD 750.
This dense rain forest is considered by many to be the East Wilderness where the Nephites, under the direction of the
military leader Moroni, built many fortified cities during the 1st century BC
(see Alma 50:7-15). During the time of Mormon during the Maya classic period
(300–700 AD, upwards of 15 million people lived in the Peten rainforest. Mormon wrote that the people in this region
were as numerous as the sands of the sea (Mormon 1:6). Stela 31, at Tikal
describes an event at 375 AD that literally set the stage for the final demise of
the Nephite nation. In the late afternoon we will take a return flight to
Guatemala City. (Breakfast, Lunch).
Day
8: Saturday, July 6, Flights Home
We
transfer to the airport where we will check in for our flights home. Our
journey to the Book of Mormon lands has come to an end, but we will take with
us memories that will last a lifetime. (Breakfast)
