Nephi to Zar...

Join us on one of our premier Nephi to Cumorah departure dates as we follow the footsteps of the people whose travels are recorded in the Book of Mormon. Our Nephi to Cumorah tour is a result of fifty years of research and 500 tours to Mesoamerica under the direction of Joseph, Blake and Todd Allen.

You will vicariously follow the Nephite trail from their arrival to the new world at 600 BC to their demise at Cumorah at AD 385.

In this sixteen day expedition, you will be exposed to a balanced overview of the entire Book of Mormon. Over 25 places will be analyzed as potential locations as specified in the new second edition of EXPLORING THE LANDS OF THE BOOK OF MORMON.

Click on APPLICATION to reserve space on this once in a lifetime experience and let the Book of Mormon change your life....Again!

Lake Atitlan, Guatemala Tikal, Guatemala

Photos by Courtney Boice

You will visit several impressive archaeological sites of Mesoamerica, including Tikal, Palenque and Teotihuacan. You will see the famous Tree of Life Stone at Izapa and the fortified area of the day and a half journey referred to in the Book of Mormon. There is currently no other tour on the market that allows you such an in-depth look at Book of Mormon history and geography.

The cost of the Nephi to Cumorah Tour is $2995 per person, double occupancy, which includes the following:

* First class air-conditioned bus transportation to all places listed on the itinerary

* Daily buffet breakfast, and lunch or dinner, with the exception of flight days

* The Tikal Package includes ground transportation, entrance fees, guide service, brakfast and lunch. (Round trip airfare to Tikal is extra)

* Directed by Blake Joseph Allen, Co-author of Exploring the Lands of the Book of Mormon

Not Included: International airfare to Guatemala City and return from Mexico City. Round trip Tikal flights and flight from Veracruz to Mexico City. If you need assistance in your airfare, please let us know and our agent will work with you.

Day 1: Saturday - 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. (No meals provided)

Day 2: Sunday - Guatemala City After attending church with the local saints, 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). In the afternoon we sill visit the large outdoor relief map of Guatemala in order to orient ourselves with the geographical overview of the country in relation to the Book of Mormon. We will then explore the archaeological zone of Kaminaljuyu, a place considered by many to have been settled by Nephi in the 6^th century BC (see 2 Nephi 5:5-10). We conclude our day with a dinner at an Argentine steak house. (Breakfast and dinner are included)

Day 3: Monday - Guatemala City An 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 1^st century BC (see Alma 50:7-15). New evidence shows a strong relationship between Teotihuacan and Tikal at the close of the Book of Mormon history which resulted in the downfall of the Nephite nation. In the early evening you will take a return flight to Guatemala City. (Breakfast and lunch are provided).

Day 4: Tuesday - Lake Atitlan Today we will travel to beautiful Lake Atitlan. En route, we will pass by the tourist friendly city of Antigua and the Cakchiquel Maya village of Patzicia. The latter was almost entirely destroyed by the 1976 earthquake. We will recount the courage and faith of the missionaries and members of the Patzicia stake. We will continue on our trek to the village of Panajachel, and check into our hotel that is nestled on the shore of Lake Atitlan. A presentation of the historical literature of the Book of Mormon will be presented by your tour director in the evening. (Breakfast and dinner are included)

Day 5: Wednesday - 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. There will be time in the afternoon for some shopping at the many shops along the quaint street mall of Panajachal. (Breakfast, lunch and dinner are provided)

Day 6: Thursday - Quetzaltenango

Today we will pick up Alma’s trail and make our way through the wilderness to the Valley of Alma. Our journey will take us to Quetzaltenango, the second largest city in Guatemala and the location of the second temple in Guatemala that has recently begun construction, where we will check into our hotel. (Breakfast, lunch and dinner are included)

Day 7: Friday - Tapachula

After checking out of our hotel, we will visit the village of Almolonga, renowned for its pure water and lush vegetable gardens, a place that may have been occupied by Alma and his followers (Mosiah chapters 23 & 24). We will then travel down from the highlands to the Pacific coast where we will cross the border into Mexico and visit the archaeological site of Izapa. While visiting Izapa, we will see Stela 5, the “Tree of Life Stone”. This engraved stone dating back to 300 BC may depict Lehi’s dream as recorded in first Nephi. Following our visit of Izapa we will check into our hotel in the nearby city of Tapachula. (Breakfast and dinner are included)

Day 8: Saturday - Tuxtla Gutierrez Today we will travel by bus along the Soconusco coastal region as we discuss things such as Lehi’s landing site, a day and a half journey for a Nephite, and the city of Ammonihah and its destruction. We will arrive in the Chiapas valley, considered by many to have been the Land of Zarahemla where the Nephites had their headquarters for 550 years (Omni 1:13-15 and Mormon 2:28-29). (Breakfas and dinner are included)

Day 9: Sunday - Tuxtla Gutierrez You will have the opportunity to attend church with the saints of Tuxtla Gutierrez. The LDS Temple and the archaeolgoical museum are included in today's activities. You may want to take and afternoon stroll through the Tuztla Gutierrez zoo which features animals which are indiginous to the Book of Mormon time period, including the majesticc Quetzal bird, the national bird of Guatemala and the bird used to represent the white god Quetzalcoatl. (Breakfast and lunch provided)

Day 10: Monday - Palenque We will begin our day with a visit to the archaeological zone of Chiapa de Corzo, a candidate for the City Sidom (See Alma 15:1-8). We will then take a boat ride through the majestic Sumidero Canyon on the Grijalva River, with walls towering 3000 feet above our heads. The Grijalva has been proposed as the River Sidon in the Book of Mormon. We will pick up the trail of Explorer John Lloyd Stephens as we travel through the massive Chiapas mountains to the town of Palenque where the historic Maya ruins of Palenque are located. (Breakfast and dinner are included)

Day 11: Tuesday - Villahermosa Although only four percent of the population of the country of Mexico live in the State of Chiapas, over 40% of the wild animals live in the Tehuantepec, Chiapas and Lacondone mountains. This is reminiscent of the statement in Ether wherein it states that the “land southward was preserved for a wilderness to get game” (Ether 10:21). We will visit the majestic Classic time period Maya ruins of Palenque where we will analyze the panel of glyphs at the Temple of the Cross which shows the lineage of a 7^th century AD king named Chan Balaam, which dates back to a Jaredite king named Kish, who was born on March 8, 993 BC. After lunch we will bus to Villahermosa and check into our our beautiful hotel with time to relax and enjoy our surroundings. (Breakfast and lunch are included)

Day 12: Tuesday, Catemaco We will visit the LDS temple in Villahermosa. and the unique outdoor museum of La Venta where we see many of the stone carvings taken from the ancient Olmec city of the same name. The Olmecs coincide with the Jaredites in the Book of Mormon with many strong evidences linking the two. We will then bus along Mexico’s “golden lane” passing by both the “place where the sea divides the land” (Gulf of Mexico), and the “narrow neck of land” (Isthmus of Tehuantepec). (See Ether 10:20.) Prior to our arrival at beautiful Lake Catemaco where we will spend the night, we will pass by the hill Shim (Cintepec) where Mormon obtained the records for his history (See Mormon 1:3, 17). (Breakfast and dinner are provided.)

Day 13: Wednesday - Mexico City The climax of the Book of Mormon is illustrated in a dramatic fashion as we visit the hill Vigia, a hill which has been proposed by the leading scholars of Book of Mormon geography as the hill Ramah of the Jaredites and the hill Cumorah of the Nephites. You will have the opportunity to analyze the research on this important history recorded in the books of Ether and in Mormon's own record. In the afternoon, we will bus to Veracruz passing by the massive Papaloapan water basin, whose ancient name correlates with the waters of Ripliancum outlined in the book of Ether. Our flight takes us to Mexico City, the second largest city in the world. Upon arrival we will transfer and check into our deluxe hotel. (Breakfast and lunch are included)

Day 14: Thursday - Mexico City Today we visit the ancient ruins of Teotihuacan. Occupied from about 200 BC to AD 900, Teotihuacan was one of the largest populated cities in the world during its peak. The inspiring pyramids of the Sun and Moon attract millions of visitors to this most popular archaeological zone in

Mexico

. This may have been the great city occupied by King Jacob of the Gadianton Robbers (See 3 Nephi 7). (Breakfast and lunch are provided).

Day 15: Friday - Mexico City This morning we will visit Mexico's National Museum of Anthropology and History as we summarize the events of the last two weeks by analyzing the magnificent artifacts that have been preserved and which relate the history of the ancient inhabitants of Mesoamerica. Our tour concludes by visiting downtown Mexico City and visiting markets where we can get in some last minute shopping. (Breakfast and lunch are provided)

Day 16: Tuesday - Flights Home Transferring to the airport, 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. Thank you for traveling with us. (No meals provided)

The second edition of Exploring the Lands of the Book of Mormon can help you in preparing for the tour. Once you have made your initial deposit, we will send one complimentary copy of the new edition or a copy of the CD and a map..