Les and Mary Anne Harris have known each other since they were three years old. And they’ve been in love since the sixth grade. Both grew up in Africa. Les was born to missionary parents in Congo, and Mary Anne moved to Congo with her family at age two.

The two were married after Les completed his graduate work in the U.S. After Mary Anne finished up her graduate work, they joined Africa Inland Mission and boarded a ship – The Queen Mary – bound for Switzerland to study French. With language school behind them, a freighter carried them as far as Cameroon, where they climbed in their truck and headed inland, this time to Central African Republic (CAR) where they helped with 60,000 Sudanese refugees who had flooded across the CAR border.

Their heart for education and leadership development led the Harrises to start a Bible school to prepare Africans for ministry in the growing church.

They returned to the U.S. in 1987 to care for Mary Anne’s aging father and to be stateside while their three daughters attended college. During those years, they made annual short-term trips to Africa to teach and to continue to invest in the work. Les also worked for AIM’s U.S. Headquarters as a Church Relations Officer and in Donor Relations.

In 2013 Les and Mary Anne moved to AIM’s Retirement Center where they remain very active in a wide range of ministries. With children and grandchildren living and serving in Africa, Les and Mary Anne are grateful for technologies like Skype and Facetime, enabling them to stay connected across the miles.

If you ever pop in for a visit, be sure and ask Les about the time a 16-foot python almost had him for lunch. In the end, with the help of a large stick, Les won the battle, and keeps the skin rolled up in his closet for just such an occasion.

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