FIRM Foundation News-June 16, 2017
ZELPH EDITION
Understanding Zelph & his mound in Illinois

"During our travels we visited many mounds thrown up by the ancient inhabitants, the Nephites and Lamanites. This morning, June 3rd, we went on to a high mound near the river. From the summit we could overlook the tops of the trees as far as we could see. The scenery was truly beautiful. On the summit of the mound were stones which presented the appearance of three altars, they having been erected, one above the other, according to the ancient order of things. Human bones were seen upon the ground. Brother Joseph requested us to dig into the mound ; we did so ; and in about one foot we came to the skeleton of a man, almost entire, with an arrow sticking in his backbone. Elder Milton Holmes picked it out, and brought it into the Camp, with one of the leg bones, which had been broken. I brought the thigh bone to Missouri. I desired to bury it in the Temple Block in Jackson County; but not having this privilege, I buried it in Clay County, Missouri, near the house owned by Col. Arthur and occupied by Lyman Wight." The arrowhead referred to is now in the possession of President Joseph F. Smith, Salt Lake City, Utah. "Brother Joseph," continues Wilford, "feeling anxious to learn something of this man, asked the Lord, and received an open vision. The man's name was Zelph. He was a white Lamanite, the curse having been removed because of his righteousness. He was a great warrior, and fought for the Nephites under the direction of the Prophet Onandagus. The latter had charge of the Nephite armies from the Eastern sea to the Rocky Mountains. Although the Book of Mormon does not mention Onandagus, he was a great warrior, leader, general, and prophet. Zelph had his thigh bone broken by a stone thrown from a sling, but was killed by the arrow found sticking in his backbone. There was a great slaughter at that time. The bodies were heaped upon the earth, and buried in the mound, which is nearly three hundred feet in height." History of the Life and Labors of Wilford Woodruff. AS RECORDED IN HIS DAILY JOURNALS PREPARED FOR PUBLICATION BY MATTHIAS COWLEY THE DESERET NEWS Salt Lake City, Utah 1909 page 41


“Elder [Wilford] Woodruff carried the thigh bone to Clay county” Joseph Smith Papers History, 1838–1856, volume A-1 [23 December 1805–30

August 1834] page 483

See the video at the end of the newsletter introducing a new verse of the popular LDS Primary song, "Book of Mormon Stories". 
Featuring a solo by Sara Edwards. (A Heartland Enthusiast)
Zelph Mound-Griggsville, IL
Legacy Tour's Book of Mormon Evidence Tour, visited Zelph's Mound, also named Naples-Russel Mound 8 or Illinois Archaeological Survey #PK 335). It is near the small towns named Valley City, & Griggsville, Illinois.
This is a picture at Zelph Mound on June 8, 2017. (Left to right, Rian Nelson, Rod Meldrum, Richard Mudd, Zelph mound guide, and Eldon Barrowes, Dentist & Zelph expert, from Jacksonville, IL

"Zelph a Man of God" by Ken Corbett

To purchase prints visit worksofjoseph.com/store

LDS Church retains Lamanitish Arrow
"(Wilford Woodruff): On 22 February 1893, James E. Talmage visited President Wilford Woodruff who showed him "a sacred relic then in his possession in the shape of an Indian arrow head." This arrow was said to have been the cause of the death of the white Lamanite, Zelph. The arrow point had allegedly come into the president's possession through Zina Young Card, a daughter of Brigham Young who, according to the same account, had formerly had possession of it. President Woodruff, at the suggestion of George F. Gibbs, his secretary, then dictated an account regarding the finding of Zelph."
Step by Step, Alan C. Miner
Walk where the Nephites walked.
TWO AMAZING TOURS!
Enjoy our amazing deluxe coach bus tour. Learn while you ride, all about Book of Mormon Lands.

Visit Nauvoo and other Church sites. 

Did you know Joseph Smith is buried on an ancient burial mound?

Visit the Duck River where Alma may have fled from the Lamanites to the city of Helam. You'll visit Old Stone Fort on the tour.
Visit Lookout Mountain in Chattanooga TN, and view the land where Nephi's Temple may have been built.

Legacy Tours and Travel

Educational, Recreational and Spiritual Tours

801-683-0123 or 1-877-221-5161

www.legacytoursandtravel.com

Like us on Facebook! www.facebook.com/legacytoursandtravel

Follow us on Instagram @tourwithlegacy.

Two Great Ways to Rediscover
the Book of Mormon in North America.

Do you have questions about the true location of the Book of Mormon Lands?  Is there a relevance to the geography in the Book of Mormon? You know you should be reading the Book of Mormon daily, but do you find that it isn’t a priority like it should be? A Book of Mormon Evidence Tour will change that! A Book of Mormon Evidence Tour will provide answers and insight! Expert Guide Rod Meldrum will educate you on the amazing historical record of the people who inhabited this continent during the period of 600 BC to 400 AD. This evidence will rekindle your excitement about reading The Book of Mormon. With your new found understanding and increased testimony of this sacred record, it will come alive in new ways. Join Legacy Tours and Rod Meldrum this fall and travel the “Plains of the Nephites” by deluxe motor coach.

Book of Mormon Evidence Tour
This updated 8-day tour will help you explore the history of the Book of Mormon in the "Promised Land."  You will visit Hopewell Mound sites in Ohio, Illinois and Missouri. You will see head plates and breast plates, fortified cities and ceremonial centers. You will climb Zelph's Mound, see proposed Head of the River Sidon, Zarahemla, and more!
 
Book of Mormon Chronology and Church History Tour
Travel from Florida to New York, following the Nephites from the Land of First Inheritance, the Land of Nephi, Zarahemla and finally to Cumorah. Guided by Book of Mormon evidence experts  Rod Meldrum and  Jonathan Neville, thistour also includes the wonderful church history sites in Nauvoo, Kirtland and Palmyra making it a two in one tour. Learn how Book of Mormon History and Church History come together in this sacred Promised Land of North America.
Legacy Travel's Book of Mormon Evidence
June 2017 Tour Testimonial VIDEO HERE
FUN FOR CHILDREN AND GRANDCHILDREN!
Share the Heartland with your Children and Grandchildren.
Coloring and Activity Books
by Val Chadwick Bagley
Val Chadwick Bagley is an American cartoonist and illustrator. He has illustrated many Latter-day Saint childrens books as well as regularly contributed cartoons to LDS magazines The New Era and The Friend for over 35 years.
Special Package: 4 Coloring & Activity Books, 16 pages each.  Package includes 5 Wall Posters-11″ x 17″ (Nephi, Zelph, Mormon & Moroni, Joseph Smith, and Captain Moroni). Package is just $15 and all may be purchased individually.Call Rian below for details.
Purchase Coloring Books HERE 
or click any picture
Download your FREE
coloring page's HERE
Adults reading with children will teach both more about the Book of Mormon.
Coloring, connect the dots, matching, and more, inside each activity and fun book.
ZELPH OF ZARAHEMLA at FIRM Foundation Expo
Life-size Zelph created by Val Bagley for the FIRM Foundation Expo &17th Book of Mormon Evidence Conference in 2016. From left to right, Rian Nelson, Rod Meldrum, Cartoonist Val Bagley, and Artist Ken Corbett. Learn about the next conference and other speaking times for Rod Meldrum
Fun on the tour bus. After visiting Zelph's Mound, the Scott and Julie Edwards family created there own "Zelph Rap" video. (Sara Edwards who was recently called to the Georgia Macon Mission was the author). Facebook them HERE

"Zelph Zingers"

  • Zelph made man
  • I took a Zelphie
  • Zelph absorbed
  • Be true to your Zelph
  • To your Zelph be true
  • Zelph denial
  • Find your Zelph
  • Zelph fulfilling prophecy
  • Enjoy your Zelph
  • I'm a Zelphite


Email me your own Zelph Zinger 

riannelson@aol.com


Letter VII states there is "ONE" Hill Cumorah!
"PROPHET APPROVES OLIVER COWDERY’S VIEWS. The quibbler might say that this statement from Oliver Cowdery is merely the opinion of Oliver Cowdery and not the expression of the Prophet Joseph Smith. It should be remembered that these letters in which these statements are made were written at the Prophet’s request and under his personal supervision. Surely, under these circumstances, he would not have permitted an error of this kind to creep into the record without correction. At the commencement of these historical letters is found the following: “That our narrative may be correct, and particularly the introduction, it is proper to inform our patrons, that our Brother J. Smith Jr. has offered to assist us. Indeed, there are many items connected with the fore part of this subject that render his labor indispensable. With his labor and with authentic documents now in our possession, we hope to render this a pleasing and agreeable narrative, well worth the examination and perusal of the saints.” Later, during the Nauvoo period of the Church, and again under the direction of the Prophet Joseph Smith, these same letters [Letter I to Letter VIII], by Oliver Cowdery, were published in the Times and Seasons, without any thought of correction had this description of the Hill Cumorah been an error."  Doctrines of Salvation Joseph Fielding Smith: A Voice from Cumorah Witnesses of Book of Mormon Chapter 12 (Click picture above to purchase Letter VII by Jonathan Neville)
CHECK IT OUT!

YOU MAY HAVE MISSED OUR FREE DOWNLOAD BELOW.

Rediscovering the Book of Mormon Remnant through DNA. 

Over ten years of intensive research in scientific journals, historical documents, and the scriptures on the subject of DNA and the Book of Mormon have finally been compiled in the pages of this powerful book on DNA by Rod L. Meldrum.  “Not since the long-lost Joseph Smith papyri burst upon the scene in 1967 has there been news of this magnitude and import regarding the physical corroboration of Latter-day Saint doctrine and scripture.” said Ed Lauritsen, Ph.D. This is the book that many have been searching for, to further their study of the genetic evidence that supports the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon and the prophetic calling of the Joseph Smith.

This FREE download includes the ENTIRE 170 PAGE BOOK!  170 full-sized PDF pages with images and references.  Download it now and begin learning about this exciting new evidence that offers strong support for the truths of the Book of Mormon. If you have family or friends struggling with the DNA controversy, share the link to this page with them an encourage them to download the book and read it!  Both of you will be blessed in doing so.

For a FREE Download CLICK HERE

Purchase Rod Meldrum's Newest Videos
by CLICKING PICTURE Below
Did Joseph Smith translate 
"2" different sets of plates? 
This is the book that explains the "two-sets-of-plates" scenario that everyone is talking about. It is an awesome book for LDS audiences who are familiar with Church history and want to learn more. The book explains that Joseph translated two sets of plates, that Mormon’s repository was in New York, and that the plates are still not far from Cumorah.

Purchase Here

"The main references in Joseph Smith’s journal occur in connection with the march of “Zion’s Camp” from Kirtland, Ohio, to Missouri in the spring of 1834 for the purpose of assisting the Saints who had been driven from their homes by mobs several months earlier. The route taken by Zion’s camp is known only approximately.

The first mention of a mound encountered on this journey is an entry in Joseph’s journal under the date of May 16, 1834. The party was en route from Springfield to Dayton, Ohio.

“About nine o’clock . . . we came into a piece of thick woods of recent growth, where I told them that I felt much depressed in spirit and lonesome, and that there had been a great deal of bloodshed in that place, remarking that whenever a man of God is in a place where many have been killed, he will feel lonesome and unpleasant, and his spirits will sink.

“In about forty rods from where I made this observation we came through the woods, and saw a large farm, and there near the road on our left, was a mound sixty feet high, containing human bones. The mound was covered with apple trees, and surrounded with oat fields, the ground being level for some distance around.”

JOSEPH SMITH AND THE PREHISTORIC MOUND-BUILDERS OF EASTERN NORTH AMERICABy John H. Wittorf, editor, Biochemical Indexing Department, Chemical Abstracts Service, and former president of the SEHA Campus Chapter. (Full Article Click the Link)
New Zelph Video-
June 8, 2017 during Legacy Tours. Visit Below
More Zelph-absorption for Zelph-aholics HERE
FIRM Foundation 
1181 W. 1700 N.
Provo, UT 84604  

Main Website
Speaking Schedule
Contact: Rian Nelson
Cell: 801-931-9031
  Email: riannelson@aol.com

Faithfully Exploring
Relevant LDS Topics of our Time