Chapter 19

Just before I left on my mission to the Navajos, my dad took the new Triple Combination he and mom had purchased for me and he found a blank page in the back and wrote: “The Lost Expedition.”  Then he proceeded to explain and draw a diagram for me of the adventures of a group of Nephites that left Zarahemla to go back to their homeland in Nephi-Lehi.  It was a fascinating and complex tale.  The story begins with the overzealous Zeniff who caught the adventuring spirit from his days as a spy among the Lamanites in Nephi-Lehi.  He wanted to move there and live among the Lamanites thinking they weren’t so bad after all.  The adventure includes two major escapes, an assassination attempt, and the discovery of an extinct race of people called the Jaredites who left their bones and a record on metal plates behind.  It involves a wicked king, two righteous kings, an amazing prophet named Abinadi, a zealot high priest group leader named Gideon and a rescue party led by the other-not-the-arm-chopper-offer-guy named Ammon.  Alma immerges as the hero prophet and the whole adventure ends with all of the Nephites back home in Zarahemla!

Hearing my dad complete the tale helped me see that he believed the Book of Mormon was true and that Joseph Smith could not have possibly made up such an intricate story.  I wonder how excited he was to send another son off to preach among the Lamanites.  My oldest brother Dave had done so ten years earlier. Maybe he was telling me that my older brother escaped and if I had faith I’d make it back alive too.