about the truthfulness of the BofM, I recommend a book "Latter Day Swindle" by Blair Watson. You can download it free and I think it covers all the issues about the BofM in a very intelligent way. I say this, because the I had been reminiscing the other day about a vacation my DH and I had taken several years ago to Peru, during our TBM days. I had went with high hopes of seeing proof that Nephi and his little band had lived in Cusco, because there was a lot of speculation in our "ward" at the time, that the coast of Peru was where Lehi and family had originally landed. My husband is from Peru,so we had gone to see relatives, and see the sights. One of the cities we stayed in was Cusco, and we saw the splendor of Machu Picchu. When we arrived in Cusco, I asked my husband the first question that came to my mind: "All of the Inca descendants here look Asian; how can that be? Far Eastern, yes, Middle Eastern,no." There was no silk: the Incas used,and still use the fur from llamas and alpacas. No steel or steel swords in sight. Fast forward to last spring when I read about scientists from none other than BYU, who had gone to Peru and did DNA testing on 6,000 Inca descendants. Over 99% were found to have Asian DNA, not a drop of Middle Eastern blood. Then I came across "Latter Day Swindle" and in Chapter 5, pages 91-94 it talks about the anachronisms such as silk, domestic animals,steel,as well as the DNA issues. Even though we were TBM at the time,it still was a great trip with some of the most beautiful wonders in the world.

The Inca civilization did not arise until several centuries after the Nephites had disappeared.

No possible connection.