sharing hope through soccer

 

Liberia

Beautiful Beginnings School & Darius

Good morning and best wishes as you head into the Labor Day weekend. Thank you for your continued prayers for Liberia and for Beautiful Beginnings School. Monday, September 5, is the first day of the new school year with students! Such an exciting time of possibilities. Here is Ollie with the 2022/2023 PTO Board. The two modems have been purchased and installed, so our next Cross-Cultural Professional Learning Community meeting on Friday, September 9, should have better connectivity. Thank you. Ollie has been traveling and leading back to back professional …

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 Endings and Beginnings (Roberta #5 of 5)

Ya hello-o! (A greeting to you all in Liberian Koloqua) Saturday’s professional learning session at the Deborah Kaye Moore Foundation had a challenging start. The generator broke, so we got a 30-minute late start. The technology did not function well, which pushed the start time back even later. We worked our way through three projectors before we found one that successfully connected with Ollie’s computer. It was very very hot (though I was the only one who seemed bothered by it). By many standards, the day should have fallen flat …

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Beautiful Beginnings School (Roberta’s Story #4 of 5)

Happy day after Independence Day! We have so much to be thankful for, and one of the things I am thankful for is you and your prayers for Liberia. In this penultimate email, I hope to give you a glimpse into Beautiful Beginnings School. Ollie had invited me to spend the day observing in classrooms, providing feedback, and listening to teachers. She picked me up in the morning and we made the hour-long drive out to Harbel. The gas situation is challenging. There is no gas available at gas stations …

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Laughter and Tears (Roberta’s Story #3 of 5)

Thank you for your prayers. We awoke after another sleepless night. George had been feeling poorly the night before, so he, Dave, Roy, and I did self-tests. Three of us tested negative, and one of us did not. Dave, Ollie, and I headed off to meet with the Minister of Education. Roy did not. Along the coast of Liberia, rainfall exceeds 118″ a year. In Monrovia, rainfall can reach as high as 198” a year. June (when we were there) is the rainy month, with rain falling an average of …

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It wasn’t the most dangerous road I have ever been on!

Dear Friends, We have completed our second trip to Liberia with a wild ride on the second most dangerous road I have traveled (open attachment for #1, #3, and #4). I also walked across the bridge into Sierra Leone that the rebels used to launch the civil war many years ago. More importantly we have established SURGE SOCCER LIBERIA and are working with our Liberian colleagues on educational, leadership, discipleship initiatives and sports ministry training.So much more in the attachment and on our website – www.surgesoccer.org.   And on our website read the …

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Sustained by Prayer (Roberta’s Story #2 of 5)

Good morning. This was the second email I sent out as I attempted to let our American prayer partners see the beauty, surprises, and challenges we saw in Liberia. Thank you for allowing us to serve together on His team. Thank you for your prayers. They sustained us. After the first night, we were able to move into the hotel that had originally been reserved for us. While the view was terrific, some of the other amenities such as running water and toilet paper were difficult to come by. We …

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Arriving in Liberia (Roberta’s Story #1 of 5)

Here are the promised pictures and a bit of explanation of what they depict. Let me start again with a thank you for your prayers. Arrived!We arrived in Liberia the evening of June 6, and met Ollie, Amos, George, and Darius in person for the first time. It was everything I ever could have hoped for and more. A wild hour’s ride over deeply rutted dirt roads with no illumination and a river running over the road (this is the main highway and under construction) brought us to our hotel, …

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Liberia in 60 Seconds / Sammy Surge visiting Kids in 2 States

Dear Friends, Sammy Surge is back from Liberia and will be at Morningstar Church/Salem, OR in May & and at the Red Hill Lutheran School Soccer Camp, Santa Ana/Tustin in June! The one page ATTACHMENT will inform you about our new work in Liberia. Liberia in less than 60 seconds: 4 cancelled flights, 59 hours of travel, over 8,000 miles one way, 4 covid tests, going from 29 degrees and snowing to 85 degrees, felt like 100 due to humidity; the electricity worked mostly. “And God was glorified throughout our …

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Liberia Trip Update: Feb 19, 2022

As we venture back out into the world, we all know it is not without risks. Preparing for the unexpected and adapting is critical in accomplishing our goals…. First my return flight was canceled, then changed. Next my departing flight was canceled, then changed. Yesterday I went to check in at PDX and much to the suprise of the Delta Ticket Agent she couldn’t check me in for my flights to Monrovia, Liberia. Air France had canceled my new flight. Almost 2 hours later my Thursday flight was now on …

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See You in Liberia on Friday!

– Follow our journey – Learn about Key Meeting with Minister of Education – About Training top Soccer Coaches in Liberia – Training Pastors in Sports Ministry – Developing partnership with Beautiful Beginnings School sharing hope through soccer, Dave Irby US Soccer ‘A’ License

Surge International to Partner with Three Organizations in Liberia

Irby and Lotz preparing for first trip to Liberia – February 2022 Surge International is pleased to announce a new project that will give you access to helping us shape the world we live in! Partnering with Ollie White, Beautiful Beginnings School; Doco Wesseh, the ONE GOAL Foundation; and Rochell Favor Woodson (One GOAL/President, World Girls Football Club) we hope to impact Liberia through education & football and through local churches. Meet Ollie White; a learner, reader, and leader who by the grace of God is revolutionizing reading in Liberia. …

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Liberia Donations

Surge International is pleased to announce a new project that will give you access to helping us shape the world we live in! Surge Soccer Liberia has been launched; along with partnering with Ollie White, Beautiful Beginnings School/Elite Teacher Training we are impacting Liberia through education & football and through local churches. Your donations will help us, Lord willing, shape Liberia for years to come.  Learn more about Ollie and our Surge Liberia directors Amos Gayflor and Darius Barrolle in their video interviews posted here on our website.

Ecuador + Liberia + Merry Christmas

Two sisters traveled five hours by bus from a jungle area to attend our training program. Their area was known in the past for its “headshrinkers.” As a child, another one of our coaches was shuffled around to seven different orphanages. Abuse during that time of his life led him to a life of alcohol and drugs. As an adult he met Jesus and is now serving the children of Riobamba, Ecuador through soccer. After two years of waiting to travel, Al Lotz and I trained twenty-three coaches in soccer …

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Ecuador, Mexico, Sri Lanka, Liberia: September 2021 Update

[tds_council]“Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— 14 yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. 15 Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.”[/tds_council] Dear Friends, IF the Lord wills the long wait will be over and in November I …

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Facebook Live with the Vice-President of Sports Journalism in Liberia

Join David Irby on on Facebook Live tomorrow at 10:00 am PST by the Vice-President of Sports Journalism in Liberia. We are starting new initiatives in Zambia, Liberia, Kenya and Haiti to train pastor and coaches in evangelism & discipleship through sports. Varmah Kamara, will be the host, from Facebook.