Boat Family

The Elders called.

“Can you come with us tonight? We have found a special Lamanite family and we are teaching them.” I asked, “Do I wear my boots?” They assured me I wouldn’t need them. I was disappointed. I haven’t been able to wear them yet, because it hasn’t rained in about 2 weeks and the huge puddles have all dried up.

This special family had a stack of wood that they were hoping to sell. They had harvested the wood in the jungle. They knew they had to guard it in order to protect it from the pirates and bandits that would try to steal it. They parked their boat by the wood and planned to stay there until the wood was sold.

As a side note, we had a member man come to our gate last week asking for money to get back to Georgetown where he lived. He had been fishing the rivers close by where we live and pirates had stolen everything he had except his boat, including the motor, his food, the fish he had caught and I don’t know what else. I thought pirates were only in Peter Pan! Back to the story of the boat people…

Straight ahead you can see where the path starts.

We began walking down a dirt path with the elders toward where the family had parked their boat. It seemed to me more like we were going for a hike, because there were no houses or buildings in sight.

We continued down this path for some time. Eventually, I noticed the Canje River on my left… a smaller river that branches off from the big Berbice River…the one we have to cross quite often by way of a very old ferry.

I noticed a strange looking boat. It was long and narrow with some kind of roof. There was a girl that never left the boat. She seemed to be the boat’s watchwoman. When I realized it belonged to the family we sought and I began to wonder, “How does the whole family sleep in there together?”



When we arrived, the parents and several members of the family were already seated on some logs that were set up like a small set of bleachers. The rest of the children were called to join them on the “bleachers” and I counted 7 children and 2 parents. Then I really began to wonder how they all fit together in that boat. “They must sleep in a pile of bodies”, I thought.

When I pulled out my camera, the kids got excited and all began to dance around and pose for me and ask for individual photos. With my camera finally tucked away, the 2 elders began to teach this family.

We started with a song and they all listened intently as the four of us missionaries sang, “I am a Child of God”. Everything the elders taught that night was very simple and basic…Faith, Repentance, Baptism, Gift of the Holy Ghost. It was geared to the youngest child so all could understand. The parents smiled and agreed to pray and seemed to love the message the elders taught.

The elders kept calling on dad and me to comment during their lesson. We never knew when it would be our turn to speak so we tried to listen carefully and be ready whenever they would say, “What do you think faith is, Sister Bullock?” One time I let my mind wander just a bit, and sure enough he called on me again, and I had to say I had nothing more to add.” What a doof I was! We loved our time with this family, whom I found to be very humble and charming.

When the final prayer was finished and we started back down the path towards home, the children all wanted to walk with us and hold our hands. They had a big green pet parrot that Elder Williams carried on a stick as he walked. I kept thinking about bird flu and kept my distance from the bird.

My favorite thing to do here is to go with the elders to visit the families that they are teaching. Every visit is a sacred adventure. During these visits, I feel like I am in heaven!

P.S. I just learned the mother and father of the Lamanite family are getting married tomorrow so they can be baptized on Sunday after they attend church. They are getting married down where their boat is parked and we’re going. I’ll fill you in on the details later.