As predicted by the revelations of the Lord, the peninsula of Baja California is undergoing a noticeable transformation. The once-cursed land is changing rapidly to a blessed and “comforted” homeland for father Lehi’s children. In older English, the term, “to comfort,” meant “to strengthen physically and to invigorate, refresh and gladden.” This renewal or refreshing of Baja California mirrors the remarkable change in the land of Israel over the last six decades. The children of the first settlers who returned to the Holy Land in the 1940s were called Sabras, as an allusion to the tenacious, thorny desert plants of the same name—similar to prickly pears—that had invaded the Israeli countryside over the centuries as “briers and thorns.” Now that land enjoys a renewed landscape with prodigious agricultural production and matching economic growth.

Likewise, Baja California is being changed in unmistakeable ways. The peninsula did not even have a rough highway from top to bottom until 1973, nor was the southern half granted the privilege of statehood until 1974. Now the two states on the peninsula boast the newly acquired status as being among the fastest growing population areas of Mexico with an economy considered to be one of the leading growth regions of the nation. Baja California until recently has had few native Americans among its population. Now tens of thousands of Uto-Aztecan people (father Lehi’s descendants) are migrating into the peninsula from impoverished areas of mainland Mexico seeking jobs in three booming industries of Baja California: Agriculture, Tourism and Manufacturing.

The new agribusinesses are impressively modern and based on sophisticated agricultural techniques such as drip irrigation practiced in Israel. New agriculture-based towns have sprung up seemingly overnight. New tourism facilities cater to the sit-on-the-beach crowd staying in hundreds of luxury hotels in such storied places as San José del Cabo and to eco-tourists who come pursuing a wide range of ventures from whale-watching to tramping over a spectacular and unequaled countryside. An incursion of diverse and modern manufacturing has yielded thousands of “maquiladora” facilities on the northern half of the peninsula, including an upstart “Silicon Border” electronic park.

Church growth in Baja California has paralleled the population surge and the growth in the economy. In 2010 there were two missions and 12 stakes, a striking increase from no missions and one stake in 2000. Many members are coming from the mainland seeking work, and there are now more stakes per capita in Baja California than even on the mainland of Mexico. All of this newfound growth of Church membership led to the announcement at the October General Conference in 2010 of a temple to be built in the Tijuana area on the north of the peninsula.

We are monitoring these awe-inspiring developments as father Lehi’s descendants return to the “lands of their inheritance” and are attempting to document the remarkable transformation and growth on this ancient Book of Mormon homeland. The Lord’s prophets have declared not only the past but also the future: