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From the highlands to the lowlands and back again

From the highlands to the lowlands and back again

Last updated on: October 30, 2024 at 11:13 pm by Dan Peterson

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From the highlands to the lowlands and back again 2024-10-30T23:13:34-06:00 Dan Peterson

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The excavated acropolis at Kaminaljuyú, Guatemala (Wikimedia Commons public domain image)

I continue my attempt to dig myself out of the hole into which I fell when my computer failed me last week. That is, I’m trying to catch up on my reports from this Interpreter Foundation educational tour to Guatemala and Mexico.

We spent the first part of our first full day in Guatemala by visiting a huge open-air relief map of the country, showing its mountainous highlands and its flat jungle lowlands. Very helpful, much in the way that the great outdoor model of second-temple Jerusalem at the Israel Museum is helpful. We also spent some time on the grounds of the Guatemala City Guatemala Temple.

In the afternoon, we drove by the Miraflores Guatemala City Guatemala Temple, which is pretty far along and which will likely be dedicated sometime in the middle of next year. It will be Guatemala City’s second temple. Three temples in Guatemala have already been dedicated; three more, including Miraflores, are either under construction or in the planning stage.

We also visited the park-like archaeological site of Kaminaljuyu, within the confines of Guatemala City, which John Sorenson and others have identified as either the city of Nephi or nearby. This would have been the Nephites’ first major settlement in the Land of Promise:

5 And it came to pass that the Lord did warn me, that I, Nephi, should depart from them and flee into the wilderness, and all those who would go with me.

6 Wherefore, it came to pass that I, Nephi, did take my family, and also Zoram and his family, and Sam, mine elder brother and his family, and Jacob and Joseph, my younger brethren, and also my sisters, and all those who would go with me. And all those who would go with me were those who believed in the warnings and the revelations of God; wherefore, they did hearken unto my words.

7 And we did take our tents and whatsoever things were possible for us, and did journey in the wilderness for the space of many days. And after we had journeyed for the space of many days we did pitch our tents.

8 And my people would that we should call the name of the place Nephi; wherefore, we did call it Nephi.

9 And all those who were with me did take upon them to call themselves the people of Nephi.

10 And we did observe to keep the judgments, and the statutes, and the commandments of the Lord in all things, according to the law of Moses. (2 Nephi 5:5-10)

Thereafter, we flew down to Flores in the Petén jungle lowlands and drove out to the Jungle Lodge at Tikal, arriving after dark. I’ve already written here about our stay in Tikal. We flew back up to Guatemala City on the evening of Thursday, 24 October.

In Antigua, Guatemala, with looming volcano (Wikimedia Commons public domain image)

On Friday, 25 October, we drove up to Antigua, the old Spanish colonial capital of Guatemala, which was abandoned after it was destroyed in a catastrophic earthquake. I loved Antigua when I visited it the first time many years ago with Noel Reynolds and Alan Ashton. I loved it again this time, even though, apart from a jade shop, we didn’t spend much time there. Then it was on to Lake Atitlán, which I had also loved during that first visit. We arrived quite late and after dark. Our lodging was in the lakeside village of Panajachel.

Sunset over Lake Atitlán, in Guatemala (Wikimedia Commons public domain image)

We woke up to a spectacular view of the lake the next morning, Saturday, 26 October. The air was clear and the lake, itself an enormous ancient volcanic caldera that still boasts three beautiful volcanos on the opposite shore, was gorgeous. John Sorenson and many others have proposed Lake Atitlán as the Waters of Mormon (see Mosiah 18-19), where Alma the Elder organized the Church of Christ in the first century BC. We cruised on the lake, over to the opposite shore, where we visited a women’s collective that creates and sells fabrics and, delightfully, a place that creates and sells locally-produced chocolate.

And then we cruised near a place where an ancient city lies submerged under water. Some Latter-day Saint scholars have suggested that it may be the New World city of Jerusalem. Here is a reference to that Jerusalem from early in the first century before Christ:

1 Now when Ammon and his brethren separated themselves in the borders of the land of the Lamanites, behold Aaron took his journey towards the land which was called by the Lamanites, Jerusalem, calling it after the land of their fathers’ nativity; and it was away joining the borders of Mormon.

2 Now the Lamanites and the Amalekites and the people of Amulon had built a great city, which was called Jerusalem.

3 Now the Lamanites of themselves were sufficiently hardened, but the Amalekites and the Amulonites were still harder; therefore they did cause the Lamanites that they should harden their hearts, that they should wax strong in wickedness and their abominations. (Alma 21:1-3)

And here is another reference to the New World Jerusalem from approximately AD 33-34:

6 And behold, the city of Gilgal have I caused to be sunk, and the inhabitants thereof to be buried up in the depths of the earth;

7 Yea, and the city of Onihah and the inhabitants thereof, and the city of Mocum and the inhabitants thereof, and the city of Jerusalem and the inhabitants thereof; and waters have I caused to come up in the stead thereof, to hide their wickedness and abominations from before my face, that the blood of the prophets and the saints shall not come up any more unto me against them. (3 Nephi 9:6-7)

Lake Atitlán is a marvelous place, one of the most beautiful lakes that I’ve seen. It reminds me a little bit of Lake Como, in Italy, and of Crater Lake, in Oregon. If I were wealthy, and if there were an easier way to get there, I would seriously consider trying to build a vacation home somewhere along its (possibly too steep) shores. But then there are those volcanos . . .

Posted from Villahermosa, Tabasco, México

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"And they did preserve the land southward for a wilderness."

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