Matt Smallbone

Monday May 17

We are currently sitting at the gate in Johannesburg. After our 17 hour flight, we have a short flight to Durban. We board in 60 minutes.

Everyone has a sore tooshie… but other than that the J-burg flight was great. (It was definitely less stressful than flying to Australia with three kids under the age of 4…)

I spent 17 hrs sitting beside Jimbo-D. Jim is a good guy to sit next to on planes for the following reasons:

1. He is a slender dude
2. He has great hygiene
3. He laughs out loud when watching Romantic Comedies.
4. He is emotionally honest (I saw him shed a tear during Marley and Me).
5. He only needed the bathroom twice

A few of us watched Avatar for the first time on the trip. Jim is holding out to watch it on BlueRay. Manix and I thought that it was an awesome film. Olson didn’t like it as much as we did… (for plot/ characterization reasons). For some reason I thought that the film was going to be blue people not speaking in English for the whole film (which I concede… it kind of was), however I thought that it was a clever and entertaining piece of movie making. I wonder how James Cameron comes up with that stuff. He would be a great dinner guest.

It is Clay’s birthday today. Celebrations have been pretty laid back so far… maybe we will do better tomorrow.

MWS is feeling strong and ready for the first show in Durban. He got some good rest and looks fresh as a daisy (which he always does).

Out,

matt

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Sunday May 16

After getting to the Atlanta hotel at 11:30pm, today started with an 11am lobby call. The entire team squeezed into a hotel shuttle and we were off.

I ate my fill of American food during our stop at Dulles (Washington, DC) , bought a power adapter for the South African leg and read a few chapters of Crazy Love.

This was probably the highlight of my day.

I said goodbye to Mary and the kids on my cell as we were taxiing out of Dulles. We are relient on Skype for communication from this point onwards.

I am sitting next to Jimbo for the entire trip to Johannesburg. I love that guy.

Peace,

matt

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3:45pm

I am currently sitting in a Lear Jet at 28,400 feet, with my best friends on God’s green earth, bound for Charleston, SC.

The next three and half weeks is gonna be CRAZY busy. Team Michael W. Smith is hitting the road hard and we will be seeing lots of Africa and South America in the upcoming 23 days.

I will be keeping a daily journal… so please check back once in a while.

The schedule has been INTENSE of late. After a two and half week tour in Canada, we were home with our families for almost 46hrs.

I spent most of my time making cubby houses, playing baseball and jumping on the trampoline with my three boys. I also mowed the lawn, fixed smoke alarms, killed ant’s nests and bought a weed-eater. Oh… and Mary and I had a great time hanging out after the kids were in bed.

There were no tears as I said goodbye at 3:30pm this afternoon. I had a tickle fight with the boys in the car at the airport… and we left on a super-positive note. They are cool kids… and my wife is HOT!

Tonight we are playing the final of four “Women of Joy” events with Steven Curtis Chapman, before we head off to sleep in Atlanta. Tomorrow night we leave for South Africa… which is a 16 hr flight.

The tour party for this next three-weeks is as follows:

Michael W Smith (the artist)

Joe Ciccoline (simple tour manager)

Matt Manix (production manager and monitor engineer)

Jim “Jimbo D” Daneker (music director/keys/vocals)

Michael “MO” Olson (drums)

Ben “Supple Goodness” Gowell (guitars/vocals)

Christa Black (violin/ vocals)

Me (bass)

Brooks Abbott (front of house engineer)

Josh “Fieldy” Fieldhouse (lighting guy)

Clay “The Bearded Wonder” Caissie (stage manager/ servant of all)

Mitchell “Young Mitch” Sallee (drum tech)

Anna Smith (tour assistant/ video/ photography)

This is a very inspiring and talented group to do life with. We will have fun… but more importantly, I pray that this tour will strengthen the Church in amazing ways.

Grace and peace,

smalls

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