Events in Utah this October

Daniel will be going to Utah this month for the annual Book of Mormon Archaeology Forum's annual conference and other book signing events and firesides.

The BMAF's forum will be held at the Red Lion Hotel in downtown Salt Lake City on Friday 17 October. It will be from 9:00-5:30 and there are some great speakers lined up, so there is a lot to learn from the presenters. Daniel will be attending and selling the book in between the sessions. For more information, click this image:

That evening, Daniel will be signing books and answering questions at Seagull Books in Centerville. On Monday 19 October, he will be at Classic Books and Gifts in Lehi. Book signing will be at 4:00 and a fireside will be presented at 5:00. If you are in the area and looking for an interesting family home activity, come on down. Click here for address and store info. Since Derek is back in Utah, he may be joining Daniel for some of the events. Daniel arrives in the area Friday afternoon, so if anyone would like us to put together a fireside that evening or Sunday evening, get in touch with one of us and we'd be glad to try and arrange it.

Our first Spanish fireside

Daniel gave a fireside on the 6th of this month at the Oakland multi-stake center next to the temple. It was the first one in Spanish, finally. All in all, it went okay, but he will have to brush up on some more vocabulary if it happens again. Many attendees asked if our book was available in Spanish, but sadly, no. That would be a great idea, but if it ever happens, it's a long way off. We were told that up to 160 people attended the fireside, so that is a good turnout.

Daniel was even told that David Archuleta was in town visiting relatives and came to the fireside because he was interested and his mother is from Honduras. When asked if he knew who David Archuleta was, Daniel had to respond that he didn't. Pop culture was never one of his strong points. For those of you still in the dark, he is quite a famous runner-up on American Idol and from Utah. So now we have had a celebrity hear the fireside. We'll be expecting a song about the book soon!

More events are scheduled for next month. Daniel will be in SLC for the Book of Mormon Archaeological Forum's annual conference, selling the book. Maybe next year, he will finally get the chance to speak. He will also be giving a fireside and doing book signings at Classic Books and Gifts in Lehi on that Friday evening. As usual, he is looking for other fireside opportunities while he is there, so let us know. More details will be forthcoming.

Spanish fireside this weekend

Recently, Daniel was asked to give a fireside at a chapel in Sonoma. It was sort of last minute, but that's what we live for. It went well and many people asked where they could get the book. He will also be doing a fireside this Sunday evening in Oakland, at the stake center right next to the temple. This one will be in Spanish, so he has been busy translating sections of the PowerPoint presentation and trying to bone up on some needed vocabulary. Let's hope everything goes well. If you are a Spanish speaker and will be in Oakland at 7:00 this Sunday evening, come on by.

Back from Utah and yet another fireside

Daniel got back early this week after a jam-packed book trip to Utah. Since Derek and his family live there now, he was able to join him in the book signings. It was a bit different than the events held in California, but we had a good time and there were many opportunities to talk to many people about the book. Even with the short amount of time there, Daniel was able to give two firesides that were well attended. Many people asked questions and wanted to know about the places we went and what we had discovered. There still seems to be a lot of interest in this topic, so we are excited to share what we are still learning. Recently, we have looked into some unexpected correlations between Mayan glyphs and Book of Mormon names, so we should have more info on that shortly.

Without much time to rest, we will be giving a fireside at our chapel in Petaluma. Daniel and Jared have been working on the presentation to tighten it up and add some new information on Mayan writing, so if you have seen it before, please come over because it's all new again! The fireside will be Sunday 19 July at 7:00 pm.

Book signing news

Earlier this month, Daniel attended our first book signing events in California. The first was at Beehive Bookstore in Campbell. He had a great time meeting the people that worked there and talking to patrons who came in. A lot of books were sold for the event and people were very excited to discuss the details of our trips. If you're in the South Bay, Beehive is a great place to stop in for a friendly chat and a good selection of LDS books and merchandise.

If you are anywhere near Fresno, Far West Books is the place to be. The owners invited us to come down and sign books at their store. Daniel had a large stack to sign for people that had ordered books for the event. He enjoyed discussing our trips and research with the people that came in and especially with the store's owner Leon Henderson, who served a mission in Guatemala. He and his wife Louise posed for a picture with Daniel at their store.

The signing was on a Saturday and Daniel gave a fireside the next evening at the Fresno stake center. The Hendersons had put together a nice event, with over 100 people attending. Many were from Mexico and other Spanish-speaking countries, so Daniel had a good time sharing experiences with them.

We are looking forward to what we have scheduled this July. Daniel will be flying to Utah to sign books at several locations and Derek has recently moved to Utah, so he may be joining him. On Friday 10 July, we will be at a Barnes & Noble in Salt Lake City, 1104 E. 2100 S., from 7-9 pm. On Saturday 11 July, we will be at The Book Table in Logan, 29 South Main, at about 10:30 am. This will be a big event with other authors, so we will see what happens. We will also be at a Barnes & Noble that evening in Bountiful, 340 S. 500 W., from 7-9 pm. These are our first events in Utah this year, so we are very excited. We are also talking to friends to put together an informal fireside at a someone's home on Sunday 12 July, so hopefully that will happen as well.

June events and a new article online - Metalworking

Our summer is beginning to fill with events. On Saturday 6 June, Daniel will be at Beehive Bookstore in Campbell, CA from 12 to 2 pm for a book signing. This is our first official book signing at a store, so we are looking forward to it. Just a couple of weeks later on the 20th, Daniel will be at Far West Books in Fresno from 11 am to 1 pm to meet customers and sign books. He will also give a fireside at the Fresno Stake Center on the evening of the 21st at 6 pm. The odd thing is that we still don't know if it will be in Spanish or not, so it should be a fun challenge. The Petaluma fireside has been moved to July, so we will post updated information on that one later. We are still trying to plan a fireside and book signing tour near the LA area by the end of the summer, so stay tuned. We encourage anyone in the neighborhood on these dates to drop by.

In other news, Daniel has finished a paper on metallurgy and Ancient America. Many different types of metals and alloys are mentioned in the Book of Mormon, and it can be a challenge to figure out how it all relates to known archaeology. In his article, Daniel explains the latest theories on when metalworking began in the Americas and why evidence of Nephite metals may be hard to find. He also shows some unexpected ancient metal implements from both the Old and New Worlds. The Book of Mormon Archaeological Forum has published this paper on their website, so we are very pleased about that. They had considered inviting Daniel to speak at their annual conference this year, but it looks like the spaces may already be taken. However, they are keeping him in mind for next year.

Click here to read the article online at the BMAF website.
Click here to download a formatted, multi-page PDF of the article.

Upcoming firesides and book signings

The past few months have been very busy ones for us, but sadly with things other than book-related issues. Now with summer approaching, we have some events to get ready for. This Saturday, June 6th, Jared and Daniel will be doing their first official book signing at an LDS Bookstore in Campbell, CA. Two weeks later on the 20th, Daniel will be at the Far West bookstore in Fresno, CA for a book signing, tentatively scheduled from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. On Sunday evening the same weekend, Daniel will also present a fireside (possibly in Spanish) at a chapel in Fresno. We will send out more details as they become available.

Closer to home, Jared and Daniel will host a fireside at their own Petaluma chapel, put on by the Single Adults of their stake. It will be on Sunday the 28th of June at 7 p.m. Everyone (not just single adults) is invited, so if you are in the area, come on over and we would love to see you. If you have seen our fireside in the past, come see it again as it has been totally revamped and updated. If you missed it, now is your chance!

New article now online - Horses

Our midday forum at the Santa Rosa Junior College Institute went well. Daniel and Jared gave an abbreviated version of the latest presentation, focusing on accounts taken directly from the Book of Mormon. We had some nice discussions with the students afterward and everyone had a good time.

In addition, we are very excited to announce that the Book of Mormon Archaeological Forum has accepted an article adapted by Daniel from what we hope is our forthcoming book. They have published it on their website, along with other articles from their scholars and authors. From time to time, we hope to finish additional papers on interesting topics that we were not able to fit into An LDS Guide to Mesoamerica.

This first article is about the still controversial claim that there were horses in Ancient America. Horses are mentioned among the Jaredites, Nephites, and Lamanites, although not as frequently as critics might think. Over the years, LDS apologists have come up with various answers to this issue, suggesting that perhaps some other large native mammal was meant, or that these may have been small ponies that survived the last ice age, but were never used as transportation. We show that there is very strong evidence that horses as we would recognize them today were indeed in the Americas during Book of Mormon times, so that this is one issue that is quite easily resolved. We encourage you to read it and to share these findings with others.

Click here to read the article online at the BMAF website.
Click here to download a formatted, multi-page PDF of the article.

First presentation of the year

Greetings on this new year. We have a new presentation coming up soon. The Institute at Santa Rosa Junior College has invited us to do their Midweek Forum this coming week. For those in the area and available, we encourage you to drop by. It will be Wednesday 4 February at the Institute building on the SRJC campus (in Santa Rosa, of course). They provide a lunch at noon and the forum starts at 12:15.

As we keep doing these firesides and presentations, our content has been evolving. The current version focuses much more on demonstrating parallels between Book of Mormon passages and the sites, history, and artifacts we have studied. So even if you have seen it once, it's all new again!