George Potter’s long journey from the Valley of Lemuel to Utah started in 1995 when Craig Thorsted and George located the real Mount Sinai in Arabia. The following day while retracing the saga of Moses, they came upon an amazing valley with a small river of continually flowing water exactly a three-day camel ride into the wilderness (1 Nephi 2:6). George immediately recognized that this must be the Valley of Lemuel. Subsequent visits to the valley proved that the small river and valley contain all the attributes of the valley that Nephi described.
Wadi Tayyib al Ism, the Valley of Lemuel On his first trip back to Utah after discovering the valley, George took his findings to Jay Todd, the managing editor of the Ensign magazine. Rather than agreeing to publish the discovery, which was later published in BYU’s Journal of Book of Mormon Studies, Brother Todd challenged George to find the rest of Lehi’s trail. Seven books and thirteen documentary films later, George is still uncovering more scholastic level evidence that the Book of Mormon is a true history. His first book, Lehi in the Wilderness was endorsed by the distinguished scholar Hugh M. Nibley.
What did Potter and his colleagues discover as they traveled over 50,000 miles on sandy roads retracing Lehi’s trail in Arabia? Besides discovering the Valley of Lemuel, Potter proposes locations for Book of Mormon sites including Shazer (1 Nephi 16:13 - still found on Arab maps), the ‘fertile parts’ (1 Nephi 16:14-15 – the actual name of a part of the ancient frankincense trail), and ‘Bountiful’ (1 Nephi 17:16 – the ancient name of the harbor Khor Rori where Nephi built his ship ).
George retired from his consultancy in Saudi Arabia and moved to Utah Valley. George continues to write his monthly newsletters and gives free presentations for church and private groups. His new book on the Jaredites contains many recent discoveries supporting the historicity of the Book of Mormon. You can follow his research on his website, www.nephiproject.com.
Jay Todd, who 25 years ago challenged George, wrote the following endorsement for his latest book Discovering the Amazing Jaredites:
“without serious challenge his remarkable efforts, research, explorations and their subsequent postulates regarding the lands of the peoples of the Book of Mormon are the best postulates of our time! George has it nailed! He has it nailed because the evidence--tons of it--has it nailed. The land of the headquarters of the Nephites, Lamanites, Mulekites, and Jaredites was in the great South American Andes areas of Chile, Bolivia, Peru, and Ecuador and from which locations some of those peoples migrated to Mesoamerica and the islands of the Pacific. You will find this latest summary (he's always finding more evidence) of George's work on the Jaredites stunning and memorable!”
George Potter, Isle of the Sun, Lake Titicaca, BoliviaDiscovering the Amazing Jaredites is available now at Seagull Book! Click here to learn more and purchase today!
