Buffalo wrote:"The term Lamanite includes all Indians and Indian mixtures, such as the Polynesians, the Guatemalans, the Peruvians, as well as the Sioux, the Apache, the Mohawk, the Navajo, and others. It is a large group of great people." - Spencer W. Kimball
http://LDS.org/ensign/1971/07/of-royal-blood?lang=eng
That's the official doctrine. Don't let the apologists try to tell you otherwise. :)
First. Do you know what apologist means? "defender of the faith". You have categorically attacked those who spend years studying and researching in order to defend the faith that we hold so dear. Hugh Nibley would be outraged by your comment as would Neil Maxwell and James Talmage. FARMS (Foundation for Advanced Research and Mormon Studies), FAIR (Foundation for Apologetic Information and Research), and SHIELDS (Scholarly & Historical Information Exchange for Latter-Day Saints) are all apologists and are all respectable LDS organizations of scholarly study.
Second. That is NOT the official doctrine of the church! That was Kimball's opinion. Nowhere do I read, "thus saith the Lord" or "God has told me" or anything to hint that this statement was nothing more than his opinion. Every single serious LDS archeologist that has studied the ancient American cultures has invariably come to the conclusion that the Book of Mormon was almost entirely within the boundaries of Meso-America. The Lehi family was not alone when they arrived in the Americas. The Book of Mormon is full of clues to show you this, something I won't go into it now for it would take a book. Remember that Joseph Smith also said that there were men on the moon, but that was not recorded as scripture because it was his opinion and he was just a man when not in the capacity of being a prophet. A prophet is not a 24/7 job, or did you think it was? Hinkley was not much of a prophet (he was a counselor to the prophet) when he bought the Mark Hoffman forgeries as genuine documents or stated that before national TV that we do not believe God was once a man.
You really need to read, ponder and pray more. Don't leave it at pray only for God will not fill an empty cup. Try looking into FARMS or FAIR for more complete answers. It is actually a shame to tell your Indigenous friends that they are all Israelites. They were in the Americas long before the Lehites or Jaredites arrived. Some scientists claim they arrived up to 10,000 BC which may be partially true having migrated via the Bearing Straights but I believe that they have been here since the beginning before the separation of the continents. Just because Jospeh Smith and many early leaders believed that the American Indians were Lamanites does not make it true. It only shows that Joseph did not write the Book of Mormon (he translated it) and he himself did not understand all of it. I translated a manual for accountants from Portuguese to English once and knew it almost by heart yet didn't understand most of what was written. I am not an accountant just as Joseph was not an archeologist or anthropologist.
Don't forget that Moroni took the Golden Plates and wandered for many years into unknown territory. That means 1. the Hill Cumorah is any hill except the one in New York where the plates were laid to rest. In Mormon 1 Moroni says he will wander and in Moroni 1 he has begun his wandering, running as far away from the persecution as possible and still had a little room on the plates. Note he was no longer in the cave at Cumorah in fact he was doing his best to get as far away as possible. 2. North America was unknown to the Nefites or Lamanites. (Moroni had to find a place where the Lamanites would not find him and kill him.
All archeological evidence confirming the veracity of the Book of Mormon (and there is plenty, for my anti-mormon friends) has invariably come from Meso-America. None has been found in the US except the Book of Mormon itself, of course.
I also have some insights into Lehi's 7 year journey through the desert (China not Saudi Arabia) and his trek across the Pacific.