My Story

Inspired by God

 

We feel the following information is inspired by God. I know the Book of Mormon is true. I know that we have living prophets today, and called to lead us in these latter days. Every comma, every period, every word, is very precisely recorded in the Book of Mormon. The Book of Mormon prophet's words are inspired. Mormon and Moroni abridgment is inspired. The Book of Mormon helps us in our time of trouble and tribulation today. I know it is to help us prepare for the second coming. I testify of its truthfulness. I know some people need this kind of understanding to help them understand the Book of Mormon fully. It has helped me to place things in context and to put things in order where and what has happened. It has opened the windows of heaven for me and prays that it will help someone else in the same manner.

 

South America 

 

When I served full-time in the Michigan-Lansing mission years ago, I got involved with Jack West and his theory of the lands being in South America. He seemed so convincing. From that time forward, I have heard. I read so many opinions of where the Book of Mormon occurred, as some people find archaeological or DNA "evidence," or select a scripture here and there to "prove" their point of how it applies to the Book of Mormon, and all people claimed to receive revelation. I struggled with this, much like the Prophet Joseph Smith--lo here! And lo there! Here's land and there's a land. How are we to know the truth?

 

Great Lakes

 

One day, my cousin Dr. Vaughn Hansen mentioned that he knew the Book of Mormon lands were in the Great Lakes area. Something happened inside that clicked, "Yes." I decided not to take the words of others, not even from my cousin. I felt that the only way to know the truth is to search the scriptures and see what they told me. For nearly seventeen years since that time, I have been studying the lands of the Book of Mormon.

 

Contradictions with others

 

The more I studied, the more I understood. I found a lot of inconsistencies with others and the scriptures. Others claim to know where the location of the lands are. Further, in my studies, I was being awakened by the Spirit at 2 and 3 in the morning. Night after night. Pictures, scriptures, and other thoughts would enter my mind — line upon line, one thing built upon the other. I got up and recorded this information. The next day I would research the information given in the middle of the night, and those thoughts were confirmed as truth through the scriptures the next day. It all fits.  Inspiration like this was different. I was receiving things night after night, line upon line. I found patterns and connections in the scriptures to the lands in the Great Lakes area. I like to think that my approach is different, as it is based entirely on the words and phrases in the Book of Mormon and Moroni's promise in Moroni 3:5. I did not use quotations nor theories from teachers, scholars, or other current members. I have visited these areas. I have seen what the scriptures say about the lands and see great connections in the Western New York, Canada, Michigan, Pennsylvanian, and Ohio areas. This information is inspired and fits perfectly with the Book of Mormon.

 

The Book of Mormon Testifies of Jesus Christ

 

It also bears testimony of the destruction that occurred in the land of the Nephites and Lamanites at the time of Christ's crucifixion, and according to its statement, continues to bare testimony of those truths. The Book of Mormon Lands like wise bare Testimony of  Christ. As I study the Book of Mormon, the stories have become one story, not a collection of many stories. It is one continuous history of people that lived here in the United States.