On our way!

After dreaming about it for over 5 years we will finally be on our way to Gambella, Ethiopia to build the library on August 26, 2021.

Let me introduce you to the team.

My name is Leah VanderPloeg. My brother Ed Pollock is the one who started the project. In 2017 he started working with his church St. Andrews in Mt Airy MD to collect theological books with the dream of one day building a library to house the books at West Gambella Bethel Synod Bible School in Gambella, Ethiopia. Ed and I worked with his church collecting over 6,000 books. In April, 2019 my brother Ed called me with his last request. He told me he was dyeing of cancer and would I, his little sister Leah, promise to finish what the two of us started. I agreed to do my best. Ed died in October 2019. Praise God, He has added the following members to the team.

In 2019 God had other plans for me. In September 2019 I married Don Vander Ploeg. He and his first wife worked with Wycliffe in Africa and Papua New Guinea doing the same kind of jobs that Dave, my first husband, and I had done for Wycliffe. He agreed to join me in SERVE and travel to Ethiopia to help build the library. His many years of working in Africa make him a wonderful addition to the team. I am doing a lot of the organizing and planning and will leave the heavy lifting to the team of men.

The next two members of the team are my brother Ron and his son Adam. Again both have done lots of building in Africa and know what needs to be done. However, we have ordered a prefabbed steel building from Ethiopian Steel Profiling and this is new to them. It is the same building construction that we used in Pokwo, Ethiopia in 2014. I am sure that with God’s help they will be able to put everything together.

The next member of the team is Bob Kraft. He has been going on trips with SERVE over the past decade. He grew up in Africa and has worked there for many years. His background as an electrical engineer will be useful when it is time to wire up the lights and things when we get to that part of the project. Until then he is always happy to serve where needed.

The last team member is Jack (Manpiny) Jordan. Jack arrived in the South Sudan at age three and grew up playing with the other boys his age. Jack has continued to go back and visit with the Nuer and work among them every few years. The library is for the Nuer Bible School. Jack speaks Nuer and knows Gambela well. He will be a major player when it comes to shopping for supplies and relating to the people he already knows and well as making new friends. Yes, God has put together just the right team for this job.

We leave on August 26th and I trust that we will be able to update this site from time to time providing that we have an internet connection to work with. I hope to introduce you to the Ethiopian members of the team that we will be working with us, as well as post picture updates as the building goes up. We will be in Gambella five weeks and plan to leave the building lockable. Adam may stay longer to put on any finishing touches if needed.

Negative is good. All six of our covid tests came back negative PTL. We leave in the morning thanks for praying us on our way.

Advertisement