About Us
Mary (Anderson) Harris, Founder and Vice President
Mary grew up on a fourth-generation dairy and crop farm in south-central Minnesota. She worked alongside her grandfather, father and husband and enjoyed farm living – hard work, close family structure, and the meaningful purpose of growing healthy food for market. She graduated with an Associates degree in Accounting and worked at a local bank for 29 years, holding a variety of jobs, the last one being Assistant Vice President and Mortgage and Consumer Lender. Mary and her husband, Ed Anderson, raised 2 children and were married for 29 years before he passed away from a long-term kidney disease. Both of Mary’s children are married and she is also blessed with two wonderful grandchildren.
When Mary was 15, the Lord told her she was going to be a missionary. She politely refused. Nonetheless, the Lord continued to prepare her for missions over the next years to come. She was a Sunday school teacher and youth group leader for many decades, attended and then led many bible studies. The Lord provided her with a mentor who pushed her go deeper in her faith, and challenged her to line up her beliefs with biblical backing. She participated in short term mission trips to Uganda, India, Haiti, and many missions within the United States. She also lead a mission trip to Dominican Republic.
Mary hosted a decade long soaking group at her home. Soaking is spending time in quiet reflection, listening to the Lord’s voice. This practice, along with reading the Bible, deepened her faith greatly. She also attended the NewDay School of Supernatural Ministries, where her spiritual gifts began to operate more fully.
After the passing of her husband, the Lord again spoke to Mary and said it was time to step out in faith and follow the plans He had for her life. Seeking the Lord’s confirmation on becoming a full time missionary, she prayed and asked God for proof. He came through in a big way, as she received a check in the mail for just the amount that she needed to attend missionary training school. This was the confirmation she needed and she obeyed the call. In 2012, she quit her job, sold the farm equipment, rented out her house and moved to Oklahoma to attend Victory Bible Institute’s mission training program.
In January of 2013, she packed a suitcase and moved to Haiti. Moving in with a Haitian pastor and his family, she hired a translator to work with her, and began preaching the gospel. She soon realized she needed to try to meet some of the physical needs of the people she was ministering to. So, she began a project building stoves that cooked food quicker and used less wood. This led her to the realization that wood was in short demand (Haiti is 98% deforested), and began a new chapter in her missionary journey.
In 2015, Mary founded an organization called APR (a Haitian acronym who’s English translation is: Farmer’s Planting for Reforestation). She purchased a ½ acre piece of land in Pignon, Haiti (located in the central plateau), and began a farmer training program, which included the farmers helping to plant trees. To date, more than 95,000 fruit and hardwood trees have been planted, all from seeds and grown in her nursery.
In 2017, Mary was introduced to a farming method that originated in Zambia, Africa, called Farming God’s Way. Designed to help the poorest-of-the-poor to develop sustainable profitability, this method teaches three principles: Biblical, Management, and Technology (farming using the tools and resources they already have at hand). To date, Mary and her staff have trained over 550 farmers who have reaped tremendous results.
Rodney & Mary
Also in 2017, God answered another prayer. While living in Haiti, she met a Christian man online and a year after their first in-person date, they were married. Rod Harris also has a heart for Haiti and served as a missionary there for three months before his senior year of high school. He partners with Mary in growing the mission and participates there several times a year. Mary communicates with her Haitian staff daily and is responsible for overseeing all aspects of organization’s operations, project activities and fundraising. She is a spiritual leader and mentor. Now married again and having trained a competent staff of Haitians who perform day-to-day operations, Mary continues in full-time service splitting her time in the States and on the field in Haiti.