Jasmine, the Italian Voice of Maddalena

Sidenote, right off the bat!

(You might be interested to know that I found Haagen-Dazs Belgian Chocolate ice cream at the Esselunga yesterday... eating it as I write this!! And you may think, “Why would she even care about that when she has a gelateria across the street?” But the truth is, this ice cream is amazing, and tastes like the USA!! Sometimes a girl just needs that.)

Okie Dokie, back to Jasmine.

Last April, when Mark and I came to the premiere of “Maddalena” here in Milan, we met the most interesting and wonderful woman. Her name is Jasmine and she did the voice of Magdalena for the Italian version. Not only is she a voice actress, but she is an evangelist who loves Jesus with every fiber of her being. She and I 'clicked' immediately - like you just do with some people. I listened to her testimony about how God rescued her from darkness, as she told it through tears. She shared how the time she spent dubbing “Maddalena” was so rich as she could relate to the woman she was playing in the movie. After spending only two days together, we hugged and kissed each other, promising to stay in touch.

Once I got home I found her on Facebook and we have kept in touch. I knew I needed to spend more time with her, as God had knit our hearts together. We invited her for a visit and she took the train down from Milano last Friday to spend the weekend with us. What an adventurous woman!! Well, we spent three days walking, talking, eating, laughing, crying, and praying together. She worked on her excellent English skills and we worked on our terrible Italian skills. The girls and I figured that she was a pretty reliable source for how to pronounce words in Italian since that is her JOB!! She taught me how to cook the pasta just right, and how to make the coffee taste even better... (she adds a pinch bit of salt!) She also bought me some of those tiny little coffee cups, called “tazzine da caffe”, so that all the Italians that come here don’t have to drink their espresso out of a giant mug!! What a precious time we had. God just confirmed yet again that our being here is part of His plan for our family. We are blessed beyond measure.