Print Walk in the Land of the Nephites
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Are you ready to walk in the land of the Nephites? It’s going to be a fun adventure! Please note the map provided is not anything official and does not represent any particular part of the world. I really don’t know how the land of the Nephites looks. I did pour over several maps, scripture references, etc. and made my best guess of what things might look like. Some things we do know for sure. For example, it took 12 days to get to Zarahemla from the city of Helam. We also know that the city of Nephi was in a valley and near the Waters of Mormon. The River Sidon flowed through Zarahemla. Bountiful was north of Zarahemla and near the narrow neck of land. Hill Cumorah was not very far from Bountiful, etc. The question is, did the Nephites have to go around mountains and lakes or was it a direct path? How far did they travel in a day? What does traveling for many days really mean? It doesn’t really matter to our eternal salvation but I had to put some numbers to it all for this activity. I also only highlighted select cities that I had enough information to map. The pioneers roughly walked 11 miles a day when traveling across the plains with a herd of animals, women, and children. This is a great base for calculating distances for the people of Alma who traveled to Zarahemla with their families and flocks. That means it’s about 230 miles from Helam to Zarahemla. For the purposes of this activity, I used 15 miles a day for speedier travel and calculating how many days it would take you to travel. As you travel to each location, the goal is to help you become more familiar with these places and what significance they have in the Book of Mormon. That way as you read about the Lamanites attacking the city of Manti, it’s not just a name to you. You understand why they would attack Manti and its relationship to the rest of the land of the Nephites. At the end of each journey, celebrate with a fun activity that relates back to that particular location. How to Walk the Land of the Nephites 1. Choose your starting and end locations. Refer to my Distance reference page and overall map to give you an idea of how far each location is. Hang your two locations pages up to help remind your family or church group of your goal. Read about your starting location to learn more about it before you leave. 2. Pick how you want to mark your distance: by number of days, by total miles, or by kilometers. See the Distance reference page for details. 3. Decide how you would like to chart your course. There are several different charting pages you can use including coloring in a box a day, marking your path from one city to another, and making your own boxes. If a page you want to use has more boxes than you need, color them in to mark them off beforehand or use them to mark extra fun days. For example, a colored box could mean that you get to walk to the snow cone truck instead of your usual route. You would cross off two boxes that day- one for the snow cones and one for your walk. Put your chart between the two locations to show your route. 4. Go out and walk, run, skateboard, roller skate, bike, etc.! Check off the distance as you go. You can check the distance your travel through a program like google maps or use a fitness tracking app. 5. Celebrate! You made it to the next city, it’s time to have some fun! Read through my Destination Activity Ideas page for ideas to celebrate that tie into that Book of Mormon location. 6. Do it again! Tips and Bonus Activities • If your goal is to walk from Bountiful to Nephi, include some of the other cities along the way to keep your family or church group going. For example, after you walk 80 miles, do one of the Ammonihah activities. I don’t know how far it is from Bountiful to Ammonihah but I know it’s 100 miles from Ammonihah to Zarahemla and it’s 180 miles from Bountiful to Zarahemla where you’ll be going next so a celebration after 80 miles makes sense. This way you can have a big goal for the summer with lots of fun stops along the way. • Turn my charting pages into a board game instead. Make your own cards with rewards and consequences based on the cities and locations on the map. Use the location pages to help. • This is a great physical and spiritual goal project for children and youth! As you head to the next location, look it up in the Topical Guide and read all you can about that location. Make your own map glossary so you can refer back to it as you come across it again in your Come, Follow Me studies. • Days are the easiest way to track your progress from place to place. You can walk as much as you want each day and not worry about keeping track. • Pick a city to make your own home base then try to go to as many cities as you can starting from your home city. You can host a speech and debate style forum to convince each other which city to use as your home base. • Keep the overall map with all the locations on it near your charts so you can remember what part of the land you are traveling in better. • Fill in the rest of the overall map! Add in additional bodies of water, the mountains, forests, etc. • Do it as a children’s or youth activity group! For example, you could easily have a goal to walk from Hill Cumorah to Nephi as a group. Each person or family would submit the number days or miles they walked weekly. Then you can update the chart and send everyone a progress report. When you make it to a city, celebrate together by doing that location’s activity and learning more about it. • Split it up. Pick which cities you want to walk to and which locations you want to visit by doing an activity instead. For example, instead of walking to Gideon, I could read the scripture verses about the man Gideon to represent my journey to this city. Instead of walking to Amulon, play a game of tag to represent the wicked priests running away from people in King Noah’s time and talk about the story. • Use the location quarter sized pages like a passport book. Assemble the pages and stamp or color each location as you visit it. Challenge your family to walk to or do an activity to represent each city by the end of the year. • Color the location page as you come across it in your studies. Happy Trails! P.S. Here are some references I used as I compiled my map and distances: • BYU Studies Charting the Book of Mormon (see charts 150-160) • BYU Virtual Scriptures Book of Mormon Map (You can download the virtual map program and click on book to see what locations are mentioned in that book) • Book of Mormon Land Map • Book of Mormon Geography • And, of course, the Book of Mormon and scripture study helps. Ammonihah • to Melek: 3 days or about 45 miles (about 72 km) • to Zarahemla: 7 days or about 100 miles (about 161 km) • to Nephi: 19 days or about 280 miles (about 451 km) Amulon • to Zarahemla: 8 days or about 120 miles (about 193 km) • to Nephi: 4 days or about 65 miles (about 105 km) • to Helam: 2 days or about 35 miles (about 56 km) Bountiful • to Hill Cumorah: 4 days or about 60 miles (about 97 km) • to Zarahemla: 12 days or about 180 miles (about 290 km) • to Nephi: 25 days or about 380 miles (about 612 km) • to Moron: 3 days or about 40 miles (about 64 km) Gideon • to Zarahemla: 2 days or about 30 miles (about 48 km) Helam • to Zarahemla: 12 days or about 180 miles (about 290 km) • to Nephi: 8 days or about 120 miles (about 193 km) • to Amulon: 2 days or about 35 miles (about 56 km) Hill Cumorah • to Moron: 9 days or about 135 miles (about 217 km) • to Bountiful: 5 days or about 75 miles (about 121 km) Jerusalem • to Lehi-Nephi: 3 days or about 40 miles (about 64 km) Lehi-Nephi (Nephi) • to Zarahemla: 21 days or about 315 miles (about 507 km) • to Manti: 11 days or about 165 miles (about 266 km) Manti • to Zarahemla: 10 days or about 150 miles (about 241 km) • Lehi-Nephi: 11 days or about 165 miles (about 266 km) Melek • to Ammonihah: 3 days or about 45 miles (about 72 km) • to Zarahemla: 2 days or about 25 miles (about 40 km) Moron • to Hill Cumorah: 8 days or about 125 miles (about 201 km) • to Bountiful: 3 days or about 40 miles (about 64 km) Narrow Neck • Walk across: 1 ½ days or about 22 miles (about 35 km) • to Bountiful: 1 day or about 15 miles (about 24 km) • to Hill Cumorah: 4 days or about 60 miles (about 97 km) Zarahemla • to Amulon: 8 days or about 120 miles (about 193 km) • to Ammonihah: 7 days or about 100 miles (about 161 km) • to Bountiful: 12 days or about 180 miles (about 290 km) • to Gideon: 2 days or about 30 miles (about 48 km) • to Helam: 12 days or about 180 miles (about 290 km) • to Lehi-Nephi: 21 days or about 315 miles (about 507 km) • to Manti: 10 days or about 150 miles (about 241 km) • to Melek: 2 days or about 25 miles (about 40 km) Ammonihah • Try an Escape Room to represent Alma and Amulek walking out of the crumbled prison.