Mexico Trip: Tulum

On the 27th of May, Aaron and I got the chance to head to Tulum.

We didn't really tell anyone about the problems that we were having on the trip because we didn't want to make it sound like this trip was a disaster. It wasn't. It was wonderful in so many different ways. But thanks to a couple mix-ups and miscommunications, we ended up on a tour to Tulum with a mostly all Spanish speaking group. We went to Xel-Ha first because that was the only trip we could get from the hotel to take us to Tulum.

When we finally got to Tulum, Aaron and I were told that we would be pawned off on some other tour guide that was at the park. This kind of irritated me because....what if we got some crappy tour because it is some guy that doesn't care about doing a good job since his money doesn't come us.

Before we knew who our tour guide was going to be, Aaron and I spotted this guy walking around with a BYU hat. We both went up to him and told him that we liked his hat. He asked us if we were LDS and we said, "Yes. Are you LDS too?" And he said matter of factly, "Of course, my name is Mosiah." We talked with him for a little bit about the work being done in Mexico. He is the branch president of the Mayan ward about 20 minutes south of Tulum. Mosiah can speak 7 different languages. Since he was Mayan, he spoke Mayan at home and Spanish for everywhere else. He can speak Portuguese because he served a mission for the church in Brazil. He learned English when he went to school at BYU and worked with archaeologists on many of the ancient ruins in the area. He also learned German, French, and Laotian for the heck of it.

When we got to the place that our tour group was splitting, we were very pleasantly surprised when our main tour guide told us that we were going with Mosiah. Two other couples were suppose to join us but they decided that they didn't really want a tour. They just wanted to take pictures and head down to the beach (since Tulum is located right on the ocean).

Mosiah pulled us aside before we went through the wall, built by the Mayans, that is around the complex. He said, "Since we don't have anyone else in the group and I know you are LDS, I will give you my special LDS tour. There are things in Tulum that most do not understand because they don't know what we know in our church."

The next part, I've been a bit afraid to write about on my blog because some people who read it, aren't LDS and will probably think that this all sounds fantastical. But I want to tell you that I know that what I'm writing about is the truth.

The "Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ" is the stories of different people who left their homes in the Middle East and traveled to the Americas. They settled in South America. And in the BoM, we read about the history of the Americas through the eyes of these people. They knew when Christ was born because of a sign told to their prophets. They knew when he died because the earth shook and there was great darkness. This was a sign that the prophets had told the people would come when Christ died.

The most wonderful part of all in the Book of Mormon is when Jesus comes down after He was resurrected and visits His other flock of sheep. John 10:16 "And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd."

I took this picture of the map Mosiah showed us from Dr. John L. Lund. Sorry for the quality. But it showed that we were standing in the Land of Bountiful.

Mosiah reminded us of walled cities in the Book of Mormon and the Bible. They were temples. We were about to walk into what used to be a Mayan temple.

I found this website that covers basically all the things that we talked about with Mosiah in regards to the temple sites in Tulum. He also talked with us about the Mayan culture and how the city was laid out around the temple grounds.

Aaron and I were both feeling the Spirit so strongly testifying to us again that Jesus did come to the Americas. He visited His other fold and He blessed the children and healed the sick.

This picture is one that I took of the outside of the Temple of the Inscriptions or the Temple de los Frescos. Remember when I wrote about the sign given for the birth of Jesus? This is that prophesy. This is a child upside down which means that the child is descending from Heaven. The snakes that are around him are a sign of Jesus. When one group left Jerusalem in the Book of Mormon, they took with them some of the Old Testament that we have today. They had the story of Moses wandering in the wilderness. In the book of Numbers we read the story of when the Israelites were attacked by snakes and Moses put a bronze snake on a staff and told them that if they looked at it, they would live. The bronze snake was a representation of Jesus Christ. And one that the Mayans used. So this baby holding onto the snakes is the baby Jesus.

The three circles above him? The prophets told the people, when Jesus is born on earth, there will be a day and a night and a day as if it was one day. Helamen 14: 4

Needless to say, Aaron and I both had a wonderful experience thanks to some things that were awful at the time, that lead us to Mosiah. We learned so much while we were there and we got a bonus spiritual experience out of everything.

As we got on our bus to leave Tulum, our main tour guide said, "I heard you talking to Mosiah before and I didn't mean to overhear but you are from Utah?" We said yes and he asked, "Did he tell you about his special connection to this place?" We told him that Mosiah had told us all about it and that it was very special to us because we cared very much about the history of this people and he said, "Meeting Mosiah was not by chance. You are leaving Tulum with a special spirit from this place. You are some of the few who take this beautiful spirit home with you along with your memories."

He is very right. We did get to take this beautiful spirit home with us and so many wonderful memories. As we got off the bus when they dropped us off, he said one last time, "Never forget, it was not by chance."