Mountains To Climb

I love watching Mormon Messages.

The touch my heart and spirt with their simple messages.

Message that relate to mu life, and what I am going through at that time.

When I first watched this video a couple of days ago I cried.

And each time I have watched it since my tears have flowed.

I know that the words spoken in this video are true,

It brings me peace during a hard time.

Please take a moment to watch this video,

No matter what faith you are, 

I promise that this message will bring you peace and comfort,

And touch your heart just like it has mine.

Wake Up!! Rise and Shine!!

Tomorrow morning I am heading to Melbourne for the week.

Half of the trip is for work,

The other half for shopping and the temple and fun!

I can't wait.

But first I have to get up SUPER early for a 'red eye' flight... my flight leaves at 6am

One of my biggest fears when catching this flight is that I may over sleep and miss it.

So I always have a million and one alarms set.

First one going off at 3:15am.

Cause I have to be ready in time for the taxi at 4:30am.

I am going to be so tired by tomorrow night,

I head straight to work as soon as I land,

And I'll be busy at work til 5:30pm, then I get to walk a block and check in to my hotel.

Lucky i'm staying in the city centre, and in a nice hotel!

Stay tune to twitter (@jess_barnes) or instagram (@jess_barnes22)
I'll post lots of photos of the hotel room and other fun things from Melbourne.

BTW... General Conference this weekend was AMAZING!!!
Loved each and everyone of the inspired speakers!
And the Mormon Tabernacle Choir sing 'Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing' was so powerful!

DON'T FORGET TO ENTER THE SHINE GIVEAWAY!

NOT LONG LEFT!!!

Religion & Relationship...

I'm Back!

Sorry about my little disappearance over the last few days.

Life was been a bit messy,

And I need to refocus a little bit,

Sorry that my blog and email has been the thing that has been put on the back burner.

For those of you that my be new to my blog, or that don't know me that well,

You may not know one important part about my life...

I am Mormon.

There is so much that I wish to tell you about how I have come to love this religion,

But that is for another day.

Today I would like to share with you some videos that have been flying around the web lately.

They have all started from one Video...

"Why I hate religion, But love Jesus"

I find this a very interesting video,

It makes you think about religions in the world today.

I really like the response that a member of my chruch

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (aka Mormons)

This video explains what we stand for...

I love the comment that goes along with this video...

I am a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints or "Mormons". I am also a Christian and agree with about 90% of what my brother Jeff said. He's right on the money about people being hypocrites and being self-righteous. We as human beings are not perfect and pride is indeed a sin. But the great thing about Jesus is that He established His own religion. He set up a church for His believers. And even though Jesus, the church. and its apostles were rejected, the gates of hell did not prevail against it. God restored His church again. And the good news is that the church is a hospital for the broken. We welcome all into our worship services. On the outside of every LDS meetinghouse are the words "Visitors Welcome".

I totally agree with the words in the comment and on the video.

The guy that did the original video to 'why i hate religion, but love christ'

Also did a video about Sex, Marriage & Fairytales.

Now this video I think he has done perfectly.

My favourite quote in this video is...

"Become friends first before becoming lovers,

Have Jesus as your foundation before getting under the covers,

A strong friendship before marriage,

Will make a good marriage after.

Marriage isn't just sex, it's conversation and laughter."

There is more to relationship then sex.

Become friends first before you race into things.

If a guy or girl is willing to put the effort into a strong friendship,

Then don't you think that they will be willing to put even more into a relationship/marriage.

That they are more willing to be there in the morning when you wake up,

Or when things get tough, they are willing to stick it out.

Marriage I think in the world has lost it's importance,

I know for me, that marriage,

The importance of being friends before hand,

To put the effort into my relationships,

That the Lord is going to be the centre of my life and relationship.

And to remember that no one is perfect, we are all human and we all make mistakes.

I am a mormon

And proud of it!

Gratitude...

Happy Thanksgiving for earlier this week!

I know that I have shared this video before,

Most likely last year,

But I love it.

I want to be grateful for the smaller things in life.
I want to notice more the smaller beauties in the world,
The small acts of kindness.
And I want to be more vocal of my gratitude.

I want to live my life with a attitude of gratitude

I am...

I am a mormon,

I am proud of member of The Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter-Day Saints.

I am a daughter of god,

I am so thankful for the gospel in my life,

The blessing that it bring to my life,

The peace and comfort that it bring to me.

And the person it makes me want to become,

A better person,
A giving, humble and caring person.
A person of hope and faith.

I know that the church is true,

I know that the book of mormon is true.

My life is different with the church apart of it.

I am a different person.
And I look forward to the future.

400th Anniversary

I am grateful for this man's sacrifice.

For the strength that he had to do what he knew had to be done,

To translate the bible into english.

For his sacrifice, he has brought knowledge and guidance to many people lives.

We have an amazing tool available to us,

All we have to do is use it.

To read and study the words of God,

And when we do, 

We will see the blessings that it has on our lives.

Thank you William Tyndale for translating the Bible into what we now know as the Kings James Version of the Bible.

Perfect place to be...

LDS Store.

At the moment I am currently in Melbourne til Saturday.

The main purpose of my visit to Melbourne is the building pictured above.

For those of you who don't know what that building is,

That is a Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saint (mormon) Temple.

In my opinion, it's one of the most beautiful and peaceful places on earth.

Whenever I am in the temple, I always feel at peace.

The problems and stresses of my every day life, seem to not matter.

I never feel down or worried, I only ever feel relaxed and happy.
To me the peace of the temple, feel like a bit of heaven on earth.

These couple of days that I get to spend doing Temple sessions,

Are the highlight and best point in my holidays.

And I look forward to returning soon.

For those of you who do not know much or understand why or what our Temples are,
Here are a couple of videos to explain :)
Enjoy!

HOORAY!!!

Picture credit

Today, 2 years ago,

I made a decision,

I looked at my life,

& decided that I needed to change the path that I was on.

That I was not happy,

& I deserved a better life then I was living.

Today, 2 years ago,

I turned my life upside down,

& inside out.

I reviewed every area of my life,

& made choices that will effect my life forever,

For the better.

Today, 2 years ago,

I started one of the hardest & longest trials of my life.

I had no idea what was install for me,

But I knew that the end goal will be worth it,

No one ever going to be easy.

I will experience my very lowest day,

& I will experience my happiest day possible.

Today, two years ago,

I started to break bad habits,

I quit smoking & drinking.
Which was the blocker of a lot of emotion stuff.
Smoking and drinking made me numb to what was going on with me and my life.

Today, two years ago,

I returned to the faith that my parents raised me in.

I returned to church,

I continually work on my testimony on the gospel.

I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (mormon)

I am non-smoker

I am non-drinker

I am improving my fitness

I am getting fit and losing weight

I am improving my health

I am improving the relationships with my family members

I am working on opening up to my friends more

I am working on becoming a better person.

I am developing my career

I am working on my anxiety disorder

I am the happiest I have ever been!!

The past 5 years have been the hardest of my life, 

The past 2 year have been a different type of harder then the 3 before it.

But all the trials I have been through have taught me so much

I never regret a single thing in my life

Because they have made me who I am,

And where I am today

And for that I am grateful for!

There are a handful of people that with
their support, encouragement, advise,
& a shoulder to lean on.
They know who they are,
And become of them, they have helped my get where I am today,
For that I will be eternally grateful for you!

I Am...

I am a daughter

I am a sister

I am a cousin

I am a friend

My name is Jess

And I am a Mormon.

Hope you enjoy the videos, these are only a few of my favourites.

Check out more here.