Life as a Missionary Family

Over and over again, I have had friends and family ask questions about our home and life as a Missionary family. Today, I would like to answer your questions about life in Zambia, Africa. In another post, I will share about our ministries in Lusaka, Zambia, and maybe make this a series.

We lived in Lusaka, Zambia, serving with Family Legacy Missions International for seven years. While we loved our time there, God moved in our hearts to make some hard decisions. That resulted in moving our family back to the USA in late 2023.  We love Zambia and truly feel at home here. Since our children grew up here, they feel comfortable with the people, ministry, life, and culture.  While some things are difficult, overall, we truly love Zambia. My husband continues to serve as the pastor/spiritual life director with Family Legacy. He travels back and forth to Zambia 3-4 times per year.

Before shifting to the USA, we lived in a few rental homes which would look much like American homes.  We had running water, indoor toilets, and a full traditional kitchen.  We didn’t have central air conditioning, but we did have a unit in the master bedroom, school room and kitchen.  Our home even had a pool!  We were spoiled!  

When we shifted our address from a Zambian one to a Florida, USA one, we sold much of our home furnishings, clothing, etc., but we kept our beds, fridge, stove, kitchen items, couch, etc.  We moved those items into an empty home at our ministry’s Tree of Life Children’s Village (TOL).  This is a 100-acre property which currently houses 400+ vulnerable children and teens. 

One of the biggest challenges in living in Zambia is having inconsistent power and water.  Because Zambia’s power is made from hydroelectricity, when the country does not receive a good rain during rainy season, the power will be limited. The government will limit the power supply. They turn off the power according to a schedule (well, there is supposed to be a schedule). It is common for people to only have power 6-8 hours per day.  Even as I am writing this (May 2025), we are experiencing power challenges.  We are here in Zambia for two months of ministry and are staying in our house in the Village. The power schedule has been that it turns on at 10 am and then it goes off at 6 pm.  That means that we only have power for 8 hours per day.

Because of the limited power, several years ago we purchased a gas stove/oven.  We have been so thankful for that through the years, especially when hosting lots of visitors!  Now that we are living at the TOL for these months, we are thankful to have that for cooking! Food is such a big thing when you have a large family. We cook when we want to, even though we cook by lanterns or solar lights!  Since our power outages are normally overnight, we are thankful that our refrigerator stays cold at night. 

The government also rations water.  In many communities, the government will only turn on the water for a few hours overnight.  Many will get up and run to the nearest spicket to fill all buckets.  For us, we have been blessed over the years to have a large tank on a tower or on a hill that we fill when the water is on.  That means that we will have gravity fed water even with the power is out. 

Now that we live in the Children’s Village, we have a well. We pump water into a holding tank on the hill. From there we use gravity to get water whether the power is on or not.  When we do have power, we have a pump to get water pressure for running a washing machine, showers, and get hot water. 

There are just constant struggles wherever you live….life as a missionary family or not. BUT… There is more to life than power and water!  We know that Jesus is better than both of those things! That is a message that we must share with Zambians who do not know that truth yet. 

What other questions do you have about our home life as a missionary family? Let me know in the comments below!

Find out HERE the top eight characteristics of a Biblically Minded Family.

We feel passionately that every highschooler should go on a missions trip to a third world country. Find out more about the benefits of serving internationally before graduation HERE.