DiscussMormonism.com

I use several vendors at my current job. I have got acquainted with a couple of carpet layers. One is a younger (Wayne) rough and tough outdoor hunting and fishing guy, non Mormon. The other (Mark) is an older mellow TBM and a real nice guy.

Late last summer I bought a house and acreage on the coast in Bandon, Oregon for future retirement. I have been traveling there on the major holidays and remodeling the place. When I mentioned this last fall Mark indicated that his son served a mission over there and he had traveled there many times and was familiar with the area. Yesterday I had them back to replace some carpets and of course part of the conversation returned to the progress I am having in Oregon and etc.

Then Mark asked me if I knew of a tree that only grew in two places in the world? I said of course....it's Myrtlewood. It is true that the Myrtlewood tree only grows in a small area in Oregon around Bandon/Port Orford area and also in Jerusalem, Israel. Mark proceeded to tell me that according to him and through a theory of his son's, that because of this strange fact that it is yet another evidence for the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon. His son's theory is that Lehi landed in Oregon first and planted the trees there. I smiled a lot.

We had a short conversation about that but I really did not offer much of a rebuttal or set of questions. I mildly asked what the other evidence was and I got a comment similar to ....... "everything". I asked kindly how he was dealing with the DNA, lack of archaeological evidence, 2 Camorahs, etc. he only said it's all proven and true and there is plenty of evidence. I did not dwell on this subject any more and the conversation went else where. I was still smiling a lot.

I am wondering if anyone else has heard of this evidence for the Book of Mormon.

That's a fail. I don't have the book in front of me for the quote and page number but in Alma Burton's "Discourses of the Prophet Joseph Smith", it shows that J. Smith stated that Nephi's boat landed at the 30th degree latitude in Chile.
http://www.amazon.com/Discourses-Prophe ... 0877470677

I bet this book talks about it.
http://www.nephicode.com/lehi_landed.html

What tree is this?

The West Coast myrtle is distinct from the myrtle of the Middle East and Mediterranean, which is Myrtus communis L. or common myrtle.

http://oregonstate.edu/dept/ldplants/umca.htm
The Oregon Myrtle (U. californica) is also NOT the myrtle mentioned in the Bible and used in some Jewish rituals, that myrtle is Myrtus communis or Common Myrtle (in Myrtaceae).

Not being a botanist I didn't know if the trees are exactly the same or not. I do know that the brochures and sales literature on the Myrtlewood products sold in Oregon promote that Myrtle only grows in two places on earth. But it is obvious they are trying to sell their products.

I was very amused to see this used as evidence.

PS Myrtlewood is a very beautiful wood with a very distinctive grain pattern.

I once saw some dark skinned Lamanites when I drove through an Indian reservation. Does that count as Book of Mormon eveidence?

Petrified myrtlewood can be found at Moolack beach, OR. Estimated the trees lived 4500 years ago. Isn't that ~2200 years before the characters in the Book of Mormon arrive at an undetermined location in the Americas?

How do we know someone from Oregon didn't plant the seeds in Jerusalem?

How do we know Lehi didn't try to plant the seeds in Columbia but due to the climate, the planting failed, then later, Hagoth sailed north and planted the tree in Oregon?

These are two totally different plants. Not even the same family, let alone, the same genus or species. Just more common name confusion...

Rain Deer found in the far north of Europe are the same genus as caribou found in Northern North America. Many species of both plants (coniferous tress) and animals (wolves, moose, bison, etc.) are found in the Americas and are also found in the old world. There was a land bridge from Alaska to Siberia at one time.