Jews, Christians, Muslims and Mormons, A Tale of Diaspora.

The story starts with Lehi, who along with Jeremiah and other prophets, was commanded by God to warn the Jews at Jerusalem of their coming destruction, if they did not repent. Being warned by God of plots to kill him, Lehi took his family into Arabia, where he taught the Arabians about the coming of the Jewish messiah in 600 years. The Dedanites were an Arabian people who oversaw the spice trade on the Frankencense trail, where Lehi was traveling. Frankensense and Myrrh were spices harvested from the bark of trees that grew along the southern coast of Arabia. Lehi was on his way to the southern coast of Arabia, following the Frankensense trail. The Dedanites stopped calling themselves Dedanites about this time, and took upon them the name of Lehi, calling themselves Lehyites. Later generations would remember a prophet known only as "The Jew". Six Hundred years passes, and Arabian religious leaders go to Jerusalem to find the Jewish Messiah. They bring gifts of gold, frankensense and myrrh, and tell Mary and Joseph of Lehi's messianic prophecy. They return to Arabia, where a record of their trip is kept, and later becomes included in the Quran.

From the Quran,

Surat Al-Ĥadīd:

"Then We sent following their footsteps Our messengers and followed [them] with Jesus, the son of Mary, and gave him the Gospel. And We placed in the hearts of those who followed him compassion and mercy and monasticism, which they innovated; We did not prescribe it for them except [that they did so] seeking the approval of Allah . But they did not observe it with due observance. So We gave the ones who believed among them their reward, but many of them are defiantly disobedient."

Meanwhile, Lehi and his entourage have sailed to America, where they shared the gospel of the messiah with the natives. They too are looking forward to the coming of the Jewish messiah, as witnessed by great signs and wonders in the night sky. At the birth of the messiah, there are great lights in the night sky, so much so, that it appears to be day in the middle of the night. Thrity three years later, Jesus explains to the apostles that he has another flock of sheep, that he must visit. He is brutally killed, soon after, and resurrected. The signs that follow the death of the savior occur in America: a cataclysm wherein fire rains down from heaven, enormous earthquakes rearrange the land, and thick darkess covers the land for three days. About this time, Apoyeque in Nicaragua erupted, one of the top twenty eruptions in earth's geologic history. The ash, sent violently into the upper atmosphere, is seen all the way over in Jerusalem, and reported by the apostles, along with the shock wave, which tears the curtain of the temple.

Jesus, fulfilling his words to the apostles, appears to the Nephites in America as a resurrected being, teaching his gospel and setting up his church there. The church flourishes for 200 years, but after 400 years, the descendents of the Nephites no longer believe in Jesus, and the keepers of the sacred history bury the books to keep them safe from encroaching enemies. Moroni takes one of these books, and travels in search of a lost colony of Nephites, who traveled north. He finds them in the Great Lakes Region, where he lives out the rest of his life, and buries the gold plates in a stone box.