Home at Last

5 cities, 4 flights and 33 hours later Im finally home. For all of those I missed informed that my flight had been cancelled. Im sorry. That was false. Everything smooth and right to plan. In fact in went better. I was able to get on an earlier flight from JFK to LAX yesterday. I landed in the good ole U S of A at 12:30 PM Monday and my flight to LAX wasnt scheduled to leave until 7:20 PM. So I asked an AA travel agent to put me on standby for a 3:55 PM flight. I was the last passenger on the plane and the last person that got in by standby. Praise the Lord for that. It was so amazing to see my family, Molly, Lauren, and Jason in the baggage claim. I had been looking forward to it so much that when it actually happened I thought it was a dream. Im so glad to be home. The first meal I had was not the American tradition of hamburger and french fries and soda. It was Panda Express, chowmayne and a double entre of orange chicken. Sooo lish. Thank you all for your support and prayers and hopefully I was able to give you a little taste of life in Liberia and aboard the Africa Mercy. Thank you and God Bless!

Michael Phelps

I am in complete awe of what Michael Phelps is doing in Beijing. After taking the gold in the 200 M Breststroke and swimming a WR leg in the 4X200 Men Freestyle relay and helping shatter the world record by almost 5 Michael Phelps is now the greatest Olympian of all time. No one is on the same level as him and I think it is safe to say no one ever will. He is only 23 which means in 4 years he will be 27 and still competing. I cant fathom is gold total when all is said and done...16, 18, 20??? Who know. I said up until 3:30 AM to watch him and let me tell you it was worth it. Michael Phelps is a living legend. Who has ever heard of 11 gold medals in two Olympic Games?! And hes not done. I have my money on him to win all 8. There is just something about him. I dont think he will let up until he has 8 golds around him. You know someone is doing something special when the best athletes from around the world are showing up to your races to see you perform. I watched Michael Phelps reaction after he won #10 and it was almost as if he had won a regular race back in high school. No significant reaction whatsoever. Sitting here watching him dominant the pool makes me proud to be an American. Watching Lezak catch the fastest freestyler to carry the US to the gold makes me proud to be an American. And watching the passion of the men after winnning both relays makes me proud to be an American. We all know he is doing something special in Beijing but I dont think anyone will know the true magnitude until years from now. Say good bye to Spitz, Lewis, Owens, Johnson and say hello to the greatest Olympian of all time: Michael Phelps.

Not Much

Not a whole lot is going on. Ive been getting up and going to work cleaning toilets, mopping floors and stuff like that. I wish there was more to update on. Saturday Im going back to the market to get fabric, dont laugh (*cough* mrs norton *cough*). Im going to get some hoodies made. Thats pretty much it. Sorry. Til Saturday...Adios!

Sunday 8.3.08

So with 5 days until the Beijing Olympics the Africa Mercy is becoming more and more filled with trash talk. Ranging from track and the fastest man to basketball to gymnastics its heating up. This place is going to be a blast to be when the Olympics finally kick off. I know everyone here is anticipating it like nothing since the Euro Futbol Cup in June (not that long ago...I know). I have the opportunity to experience it for 9 days. I'm stoked. Anyway, today I went to church in Monrovia. The church lasted 3 1/2 hours but it was well worth it. Let me tell you the Africans know how to worship. Every song for them is like your favorite football team scoring a touchdown or baseball player hitting a monster clutch homerun. Seriously, its a huge celebration. Loud music, people dancing and screaming. And its all in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I had the chance to take communion with them. They do it different but its still communion. After church we went to one of the elder's house for lunch. It was so lish. I love African food. Rice, fish and a spicy spread on top. Sooo lish. After that we headed back to the ship and since Ive gotten back all Ive done is been watching the Angel game via Gamecast on ESPN. Chicka yeah! Well ttfn!

Life this Week

This week has been pretty boring unlike in California where the Angels trade for the biggest bat on the market and the Dodgers follow suit with a future Hall of Famer and So Cal being hit by an earthquake. My week was filled with pink eye, a cold and sore throat. As a result most of my time was spent in my room watching countless movies and following the MLB trade deadline. Who wouldve thunk that so many big names wouldve been traded at the deadline this year: Teixeira, Ramirez, Griffey, Bay, and Rodriguez. Geez. Well today I went the UNMIL (United Nation's Missions in Liberia) store. It was quite a treat...haha. It was fun. Tomorrow Im sleeping in til lunch time, saying goodbye to a friend and then possibly going to the market. One thing Ive learned to hate about Mercy Ships is that it brings christians together and makes them family (not bad at all, dont get me wrong, I love this) and then tears them apart. I have to say goodbye to 8 close friends in 10 short days. One left today, one Sat, one Sun, one Mon, 2 Fri and 2 Sun...ugh. Its tough emotionally. So I guess thats my prayer request, that Ill be able to survive with all the goodbyes I have to make in the next week and a half. Thank you all for praying for me so faithfully. I truly appreciate it alot.

Oh one more thing, for all you that have facebook I have put some pictures of my trip up. Im sorry to those who dont but I was unable to get my blog to work so I can put them up. If you want to add me as a friend on facebook just search Wesley Jamison Cummings and youll find me. Thank you so much! God Bless you all!!!