ON KIS (Little Rock)

Since before Azariah was born, Matthew and I knew we wanted him to grow up bilingual. We wanted him to speak both the language of his host country and his passport country. We also knew that this wouldn’t just happen automatically, especially in a place with a large missionary community and an international school. So, we made a conscious decision to be intentional about it, Matthew would speak Indonesian to him, and I would speak English.

Watching Azariah learn language has been such a joy. From the time he started understanding words, it seemed he could comprehend both English and Indonesian equally. When he began speaking, even though he understood both languages, he would typically choose the easier word to pronounce. Recently, he has started using both languages interchangeably, sometimes saying a word in English to me and then switching to Indonesian when speaking to Matthew or Indonesian friends. He has also begun forming simple sentences, often blending languages together. For example, he’ll say “mau bottle” (want bottle) or “mandi passy” (bathe pacifier).

Now that we’ve moved to the village, the local people have started teaching him words in Murkim. One day, while we were by the spring doing laundry, he saw a pig walk by and excitedly pointed, saying, “piggy, pig, babi, moo”—using all three languages to tell me what he saw.

One of my favorite language moments so far happened while we were sitting on the porch chatting with a local friend. Azariah was playing with a handful of rocks that someone had brought him from the river. He knows the word for “rock” in all three languages, and when our friend saw him pick up a small rock, he said in Murkim, “on kis,” meaning “little rock.” Without missing a beat, Azariah gave the rock a big kiss! He had mixed the languages and assumed our friend was asking him to kiss the rock. Matthew and I immediately burst out laughing. When we explained the misunderstanding, our friend laughed too and started repeating “on kis” just to see Azariah kiss the rock again. It turned into a hilarious little game for all of us.

We are so proud of Azariah and amazed at how beautifully God has designed children to learn and adapt to their environment. It’s incredible to watch his language skills grow, and we’re so thankful for this journey.