Los Locos!

Soooo, I don't know what happened to the super calm, nothing ever happens "Los Cocos" because this week Los Cocos turned into Los Locos!

So first, one of our inactive members who we found and have been teaching for about 4 weeks decided to go on a rampage out of nowhere. He is usually a super chillaxed, nice 28 year old man, but something made him tick the wrong way last Friday. He exploded at his mom and attacked her with a machete. Luckily his mom blocked it with a chair, so it sliced the chair in half instead of her. He then left and his mom and her husband called the police (but they didn't do much to help them) and are still on the search for him to figure out why the heck he freaked out and where he is now living. We got there literally right after it happened, so she was kind of a mess. So we have been trying to help her as much as we can. But it's sad because she was so interested in the gospel and so close to coming to church with us, but now she is just distracted but her situation with her son :/ She seemed to be doing a lot better the last time we visited her and we took a member with us who lives by her so she could get to know a member and hopefully become friends with her.

Then on Sunday night, we realized that someone tried to break into our house through the windows. Our windows are plastic shutters basically and there are two on the top, two on the bottom if that makes any sense at all. The bottom two were locked, but the top two were not, so anyone could just open them and look right in our house and all the things we have. Our neighborhood is usually super safe and everyone looks out for each other. We are also super close friends with the neighbors across the street, two houses down from us who own a colmada (Dominican Snackbar thing) and are always outside/in the street. So if anyone saw someone weird try and break into our house, it would be them. But they didn't see anyone. Anyway, we could tell that someone tried to open/break our bottom shutters in order to reach in and grab something. We wondered what the heck anyone would want to steal from our house seeing as all we have is like scriptures and books in our front room. But then we realized that my companion's camera was sitting on his table right next to the bottom shutters, so that is what the person was trying to get. So now we have a lock and lock our front gate every day and night so that doesn't happen again.

A little bit later that night, right after our daily planning, we heard a bunch of gun shots. Sometimes the motors here make this weird popping sound that sounds like a gun shot, but this time we heard a bunch in a row that sounded more powerful and real, like gun shots. They shots got closer and pretty soon me and my comp were ducking under our study table. (Not gonna lie, I was kind of scared, but it was kind of a thrilling scared and it was kind of exciting ;p) the shots went right by our house and continued down the street. Apparently two guys were shooting at each other on their motorcycles. This went on for about 30 minutes and then we just went to bed figuring we would here all about it the next day. And we did. It was the talk of the town. Especially because the girlfriend of one of the guys was on the back of one of the motorcycles with him and was killed. She ended up being an old investigator of the missionaries before me :/ Way sad.

Now, enough of the craziness. On to the good stuff. We will be having the baptism for Empenitrez, our most progressing investigators, on the 21st. We were going to baptize her daughter too, but we feel that she needs more time to prepare and understand the gospel more and the significance of baptism. So we are postponing her baptism a little longer, but continuing with Empenitrez's on the 21st. We are also in the stressful process of planning the wedding of Rosario and Isidro for March 6th. We have to find all the paperwork and information they need which is way hard, and try and plan the party and all that fun stuff. We are having trouble finding help from our ward members because they are... kind of lazy and don't always like to take time to travel to Los Cocos, but my recent convert, Maritza has been awesome! I asked her to come to a lesson with us with Rosario and talk to her about the things she needs for the wedding and all that. She even took her to her house after the lesson to talk about it more, and show her pictures and lend her things. So grateful for her. Maritza has also been helping us with Empenitrez and wants to keep visiting our investigators with us. Her husband, Orlando, who is also my recent convert, has been great too and came with me to a couple lessons. I love the excitement and willingness to serve that the recent members have. We should always have that, not just as recent converts, but as members forever.

Rosario will then be baptized with her two young sons who also love church. I am working hard on getting Isidro to church and farther down the line, interested/committed to baptism as well.

Lots of things to look forward to! I am just praying they all end up going as planned. I would love your prayers for them all, especially that we can find/get all the information and papers we need for the wedding!

Love you all!

Elder Greer

So I think I need to work on my barber shop vocabulary, because this happened...

At least I wont have to cut my hair for a while! :)

2/4/15

I am being blessed with so much success right now! I had a baptism last week, another one this week, two more on the 21st, a wedding in March and 3 more baptisms the day after. I am so excited and love my area! Thank you for all the love and prayers and fasts!

So last week, we went to the house of one of the sister missionaries’ investigators who I am really close with. As we got to talking during our lesson, we came to understand that he hadn’t eaten in a while because he didn't have any money at all. He literally lives in a tiny, one-room room with only enough room for his bed, a tiny shower and bathroom, and a small sink. The whole room is about the size of a small public bathroom to give you guys a picture of just how small it is. So after the lesson, we went to a nearby colmada (Dominican snack bar thing) and bought him a meal and some juice. As missionaries, we don't have much money as it is, and this day we were literally almost out of our mission money which is all we have if we don't have a personal card, or money from home. We spent almost the rest we had on his meal but I just figured I would go to an ATM after and get just enough personal money to get by for the next two days until we get our money from the mission again. As we returned to his humble home, it brought tears to his eyes. It was a really awesome experience and I could tell he was truly grateful. He thanked us a ton and said we lifted his spirits with our message, and even more with the unexpected meal. We then called the bishop to see if he could take care of this man and help him out through our church program for the needy. The bishop took him shopping that night and took care of him. I am baptizing this man on Saturday and am so excited about it. After that, we walked to multiple ATM's, but none of them were working. Luckily we were able to make it the next two days without anything because Heavenly Father blessed us. Usually I always have some extra for emergencies and stuff, but we had to do a lot of traveling that week so we were super low.

I finally bought a Price Smart card so I can buy well worth it, expensive, imported American, name brand products! haha. So family, thank you for the money you all put on my card! I definitely used some of it well in Price Smart! It'll be nice to have something else in the house than the same Dominican things we eat every day. Especially from America! Haha.

Speaking of Dominican food, I have been realizing a lot lately that in our rice and potatoes and other foods, there are worms and eggs in them! So we are being extra careful about the things we buy now. We bought rice in the Colmada next to our house, and found worms in it. So who knows how long we've been trusting that food we have been eating/buying! We even went to a regular store to get potatoes that we could trust, but when I was cooking them, I found a bunch of eggs in one of them! So we had to throw them all away because when I looked at the other ones I was going to eat, they had worms too. So yeah, I don't know how I haven’t gotten sick yet, I guess because I am in the work of the Lord! :) But I mean, maybe the worms will give me a little more taste and protein to my diet?? ;)

So an interesting fact, the boss of our investigator with a baptism date is like a crazy voodoo witch lady that openly does satanic things! She asked our investigator for her blood so she could do a sacrifice! So yeah, we are definitely on the hunt for a new job for that investigator!

The other night as we were walking down the street back to our house when all of the sudden, ten feet away, this car and motorcycle crashed into each other and the people on the motorcycle hit a concrete wall and fell into a ditch! It was crazy because we usually walk on that side of the road, and where they crashed is exactly where we would have been! So big thanks to Heavenly Father for looking out for us! We ran over to help and they were all bloody and one of the guy’s foot was all jacked up way bad. In a matter of like 1 minute, the whole neighborhood was outside and someone quickly took them in their car to the hospital. The sad thing is that that's a totally normal thing that literally happens all the time so I wasn't even surprised.

I want to share a part of this email from one of my best friends from back home who is a convert. She says I am an example to her, but she is more of an example to me an everyone else than she even knows.

"I don't tell you & everyone else that's out in the field enough how great of examples you guys are to me and how much I admire all of you. Lately I haven't had many people to look up to. My testimony is still strong and I'm so thankful to be a part of this church. Although high school has just never felt more "high schoolish" then it does this year. I have to actually fight to be who I am which is kind of weird. The typical saying of "remember who you are" is something I actually apply to myself instead of just a head nod back to my mom. Although I've gained a new and different gratitude for the church at this time. The standards we all have are kind of actually hard to hold up to at times and are seen as weird and crazy. What's even crazier is how weird other kids really think our standards are. I've never given them a second guess. It's not too fun feeling different, which for some reason has never been an issue before for me until now. Although I know I'm given strength through Heavenly Father and that I have the holy ghosts with me. Knowing these truths have allowed me so much freedom because I already know who I am & I haven't had to make these decisions when they are thrown at me during a stressful time. The adversary knows how to make us tick. More importantly the spirit knows how to help us thrive. I have the constant companionship of the holy ghosts with me & he's a pretty darn awesome friend. I'm so thankful for weird stuff that goes on in my life. It's crazy and really sucks sometimes but it helps my testimony grow in ways I have never thought about before. I know we are all here with purpose and in keeping the standards of the church we will be blessed. Even though it seems a little hard to be different at times I think of how much harder it would be to not live the standards & a life without integrity to myself and heaven father.

One more thing I want to share is my testimony that Heavenly Father works in mysterious ways & wants us to be happy. Living a righteous life and being open to the spirit allows promptings which allows us to share our love and help with others in need. & I don't know about you but that's about the most rewarding thing in the world to me! True happiness is found when you love. Loving the sky, loving chocolate, loving your mom, loving fuzzy socks.

This scripture testifies how everything we have is a "witness" of god.

44 But Alma said unto him: Thou hast had signs enough; will ye tempt your God? Will ye say, Show unto me a sign, when ye have the testimony of all these thy brethren, and also all the holy prophets? The scriptures are laid before thee, yea, and all things denote there is a God; yea, even the earth, and all things that are upon the face of it, yea, and its motion, yea, and also all the planets which move in their regular form do witness that there is a Supreme Creator.

Alma 30:44

When you love the earth, people, & life you are loving god! This is happiness! LOVE!"

 I loved that email!

Well, somehow I have 6 months! Don't know how! Seems like I'm still a greeny!

 Love you guys!

Elder Greer

The baptism of Lesly Rosmeri Bonilla Romano!

A family home evening we had at my convert, Ruth's house.

A super huge bowl/pan that I thought was awesome!

When me and my companion were helping build a house.

Lastly, shout out to my hip Grandma for this awesome shirt and shorts!

1/28/15

Last week my theme and most of my blog was about service. We ended up having a total of 9 hours of service! Four of the nine hours we spent building a house for the brother of one of our investigators. We had a lesson with her in the morning and saw that her brother was building a house next to hers, so after the lesson we hurried home, changed into grubby clothes, and returned ready to get dirty and build a house! It is times like those I am thankful for the things my dad taught me, being a son of a man who constructs houses and pretty much knows how to make anything he wants. I surprised myself that I knew as much as I did. My companion knew even more, especially because we were building a "Dominican" house haha... It was hard work in the sun, but I got to serve and get a better farmers tan! So it was a great experience and hopefully we have a new investigator! I mean, he better be willing to let us teach him now! :)

So as missionaries, we have days like that, filled with great experiences, great lessons, and everything is awesome. Then we have days like Monday that kind of, well, suck. Monday started off like this... We were walking down the main street of Los Cocos, when we saw our best investigator who also has a baptism date for next month, with a cup of beer in her hands. She saw us and we all 3 half smiled and half waved as we kept walking to our next appointment. When we turned the corner, I said, "Elder... Our flipping investigator with a baptism date for next month is drinking..."  "I know. What should we do!?" My comp replied. We were devastated. We have been trying to have a lesson with her or at least talk with her ever since, but she hasn't been there. The worst part is that she has done so much to change her life for the better and live the gospel to the fullest and even rejected her boyfriend from living with her again when he came back because she didn't want to break the law of chastity. So please keep her in your prayers!

That's not even half of the bad news from that day. Our next lesson was with another one of our investigators who wants to get baptized and loves church, however has a boyfriend that she lives with. When we asked her why she didn't come to church this past Sunday, she told us it was because she saw someone going to church with us who she doesn't like, so she didn't come. That someone just so happens to be her cousin... So that's another problem we have to deal with. Then, we got a call from the investigator of the sisters in our ward who has a baptism date for this Saturday. He is really close with me so he wanted to talk. He said he is depressed and doesn't know if he should get baptized this Saturday anymore. (I am baptizing him this Saturday) So that too was a big bummer. Then we had a lesson with a less active who I have been working with since I got here. I asked her why she got baptized and her answer was, "I don't know." We asked her if she got an answer to her prayers if the church was true. Her answer was, "No." We then asked her if she ever prayed to know if this was the true church. Her answer was again, "No." So when we left that lesson, you could say we were super interested in seeing who the heck baptized her! That really ticked me off. People aren't numbers! This is Salvation missionaries, not a dang game!

Some other things happened to but the bad news isn't important. What is important is we have to work even harder and pray a little more. So please keep my investigators, especially my investigator who has a date for next month. I would also greatly appreciate it if you all fasted for them this Sunday for fast Sunday!

To bring back the good mood into this email, the elders and the sisters both have investigators who are getting baptized this Saturday and their investigators both have asked me to baptize them! So I am super stoked and honored!

Love you all!

Elder Greer

 

 Me and my comp doing the dishes after a meal with Ruth, the girl I baptized.

 

Service, Service, Service

This week we had some great experiences serving others. We always ask everyone we teach if there is anything we can do for them, like service, or clean their house, or clean the backyard, or fix something, or anything at all. Everyone always says no and a lot of people say preaching the "Word of God" id enough. But we genuinely want to help and serve people. So because it is nearly impossible to find someone who will let us do a service of some sort for them, we have just been looking for and praying for opportunities to serve. Instead of asking to help, we just do it. And when the people tell us, "Oh, no! It's OK, sit down, don't get your clothes dirty!" we ignore them and continue to do whatever the task is at had with a smile on our face. Yesterday, when we got to one of our investigators houses, we saw her son and grandchildren tearing down a house because the son was moving. The house was made out of all wood and hammered together by only nails. We immediately put down our things and started helping lift and hammer and taking out nails. They all insisted we sit down, but we refused and kept helping. As we were on the ground taking out nails from the wood, there were 5 little kids from the ages of 5-7 years old literally on top of the house that was barley still standing, just hammering away carelessly. The house was wibbling and wabbling back and forth. `It was pretty much like this; give 5 little kids hammers and tell them to take down a wooden house. It was obviously a disaster waiting to happen. Eventually the whole house was only a couple wooden sticks holding up a quarter of the roof that was still there. They all just pushed the house over and it fell on the ground with a large "Bang!" and then we started the lesson because by that time it was dark and there wasn't much light. I could tell they really appreciated our help and it showed them that we aren't just there to teach and preach, but we are here to render service in anyway we can.

That morning we also had a huge service project with all the missionaries in the area/boundary of Santiago (not including the missionaries outside the city of Santiago) We went to one city in Santiago and cleaned the roads. We swept and picked up trash for about 2 hours. The roads were all super gross and no one ever cleans the roads or picks up trash here, so it looked a lot better after we were done. It also rained that morning so the roads were muddy and extra nasty. We found some interresting things... Normal to Dominicans and me now, but anyone else would be thoroughly disgusted and shocked haha. We also had the opportunity to help the trash men with their jobs and make their day a little easier. It was tiring and nasty, but a super great feeling knowing we were serving and being examples. It had a great effect on the people who saw us. Some people thanked us, others offered us free food. It was pretty cool to see how when we serve, others can see the good we are doing and maybe be inspired to render more service in their lives as well. Or at least try and be a little more clean.

Another cool experience I had took place last week in the morning during my morning exercise/run. I was running up the mountain in my area when I passed a Haitian man wearing rain boots and carrying his baby daughter in one hand, and a gallon and a half of water in the other. I said hello, and kept on my run. As I kept running, my diligent and determined thoughts and words I usually have in my head when I am trying to distract myself from the pain and tiredness, were interrupted by sympathy for this Haitian man. I remember thinking, "Wow, this man probably works far up the mountain laboring and doing hard work in the hot sun all day and he has to carry his daughter and that water up with him. That must be way tough to do every day. On top of that, after he diligently labors and sweats in this humidity just to provide for his family and put food in their mouths, he probably doesn't get paid very much." Then I stopped. I turned around, ran back down to where he was, and offered to carry the jug of water for him. He gave me the jug and we walked together up the mountain and talked as he carried his daughter now in both hands. When we got to where he needed to be, he happily thanked me and we went our separate ways. We got back to our house obviously a little later than we were supposed to (because we have a very strict schedule and need to be doing studies by 8:00am) but that didn't matter at all because I was doing exactly what a missionary should do. It was a small, yet treasured experience.

There are opportunities and people to serve all around us, everyday. We just need to open our eyes a little more, look for those opportunities, and be a little more willing. It's easy to say, "Oh, that must be tough, sorry for him." Or, "That's someone else's job." But those are thoughts of the natural man. How do we expect others to help us or render their service or do favors for us if we aren't willing to do the same for them? Christ is the perfect example of serving. Not just when it was convenient, or when He felt like it, but every day, 24/7  giving every ounce of energy He had. We need to look at Christ's example and do as He did. Let's be a little more willing. Let's work a little harder. Let's look a little more for opportunities and people to serve. And when the job is done, let's find something more. Because there is always something more we can do. I am so thankful for the Savior's example to us all and know that He blesses us when we serve others. I know He puts specific people in our paths and in our lives for us personally to serve. I am thankful for these great experiences I have everyday as I render my service to others in every way I can. So my challenge to you all is to be as Christ is, and serve someone every day.

In other news, I have at least 3 more months in my first area where I still am, Los Cocos. My companion ends his mission this transfer, so I will stay at least one more transfer after that and train the area. It will be a total of 5 transfers and 7 months (at least) which is a pretty long time in one area, but I love it and the people. There is a lot of work to do! However, this mission has a total of 250 missionaries, but we are only allowed to have 200 now. I guess it is a new rule or something. I don't know if that is for every mission, or just in the Caribbean. So that means that 25 areas here will have to be closed! So our areas will be bigger and more though to cover. I am really hoping they don't close my area, but it is a big possibility. But I am going to do whatever I can to make sure that doesn't happen!

We also got a new mission leader in our ward. He has only been a member for 5 months... But he is well qualified and honestly the best member in our ward. So it should be great for us, and him.

Love you all! Thanks for the love and support! Keep my people in your prayers :)

 

 

My companion is literally counting down the days till he leaves as he ripps on off everyday until #1 the last day! Can you say trunky??...

1/14/15

So lately it has been colder than normal. At least for the people here... It will be like 70 degrees and people literally will be wearing beanies and jackets and sweats. Last week, I saw a guy wearing a full on ski jacket that you wear when you are in the mountains skiing where it is like 20 or less degrees! But I have to admit, I think I am used to the humidity and weather because I have definitely worn a sweatshirt more than once in my house haha. Usually in the early mornings or late at night. But it's probably not even cold at all, I don't know.

Sunday mornings are always an insane rush. Our church is 30 minutes away in car and our church starts at 8:00am so every Sunday morning me and my companion are literally running around town, gathering our investigators. Luckily we always have a member who takes us all in his car. This week was great and we got 5 investigators to church! They all really liked it and 2 of them have baptism dates. Two of the others want to get baptized but can't because they live with their boyfriends. And the other is progressing really well and I have a lot of faith in her and can tell she sees the blessings of the gospel.

Here is a super cool video that took place in Puerto Plata, an area in my mission where I was actually at not too long ago. It's super funny and shows a small glimpse of a small part of my huge mission. Here is the link: http://globalnews.ca/news/1701772/westjet-releases-latest-christmas-miracle-video/

I want to share a part of an email I got from one of my best friends who is a retern missionary. This really pumped me up and I feel I should share it:

"This week has been a crazy one.. I feel like I've been stuck in this crappy mentality of poor perspective. I have felt like my mission was such a spiritual high, like that was my peak, and like I'd never be that good again. I've spent the whole time I've been home trying to feel like I felt on my mission. I've heard every excuse in the world about why it isn't possible and how you'll never feel that way again. That's bull. This Gospel is eternal. The truths God taught me, the experiences He blessed me with, those are eternal. If He wasn't going to allow me to progress when I came home, He wouldn't let us come home.

I guess I'm telling you all of this because that's in turn how all of us feel, to some extent at least. Think about it. We're all His children. We were all with Him, and we were perfect. In that sense, coming to this world and living this life is like coming home from a mission. In the pre-existence we were at a spiritual high. That's how a mission is. Now we're here, in the world, and Satan makes us think we'll never be good enough to make it back. Go teach people that's a lie. Go show them that God lives, and that His son has enabled them to be far more and far greater than anything they were before this life. Go give them hope, because they need it."

Sometimes in life we feel like we are on top of the world and everything is great. Other times, it takes a turn downward and Satan will do everything in his power to take advantage of that and prevent us from being able to go back to feeling on top of the world. We all just need to turn our hearts to the Lord and humble ourselves and let him strengthen us. Don't ever let Satan make you think you are not good enough or that you can't be better. Because we can.

Love you all and wish the best.

Elder Greer

Also, quick shout out to my aunt Jodi and Mimi & Papa for the Christmas package and cards! Love ya'll!

1/7/2015

This week was great! We definitely saw some miracles happen. I want to first off thank my family and anyone else who fasted and prayed for my investigators. Definitely payed off! Empenitriz, one of my investigators, was pregnant but had a miscarriage and was way sad so we taught her the plan of salvation and she loved it! It was a great, spiritual lesson and it was so awesome to testify to her that there is a place for us all after this life and that she will see her family and kids again and can live with them for eternity. She was so receptive and loved it. She also told us on Sunday that her boyfriend moved out! So we set a date for baptism on the 21st of next month! We also just started teaching her 11 year old daughter who is really smart and wants to get baptized too so we will have 2 baptisms for sure next month! It's so awesome to see how the gospelm applies to peoples lives and how it brings such happiness. We are also teaching her sister Yokida who is just as amazing of an investiagor. She has such excitement for the church and for learning more every visit. She and her sister are both amazing and have so many questions and really understand. They are so ready and definitely have been prepared for this gospel. However, Yokida lives with her boyfriend so she can't get baptized even though she wants to so bad. She said she will come to church every Sunday and loved church both times she came. This past Sunday I bore my testimony and she told me she loved it and loved that we have an opportunity every month to share our testimonies. She told us yesterday that she talked to her boyfriend about church and he said he might come with her this Sunday! I was fasting and praying for that! I have really come to see how important it is to fast and pray with real intent. It really is a blessing and brings so many blessings into our lives, and the lives of others.

Not that I want to deliver bad news, but one of our other best progressing investigators told us she doesn't want to continue with us. The first time she came to church she loved it and said she wanted to come back every week and keep learning. Our lessons with her were always so great and exciting. But Recently I could see that she was loosing her excitement and not following commitments like she used to. When we passed by her house on Sunday to see if she was coming to church, she told us she didn't want us to keep teaching her. I was devastated and confused why. So we said we wold come back when we had time and talk things out. When we came back on Monday, she didn't really have a reason, she just said she didn't want to continue. So I bore my testimony and it was incredibly strong. The spirit was so strong and I know she could see it in my teary eyes. But I don't think she was willing to hear or listen to the spirit. We told her we wouldn't pass by anymore but if she needed anything, we are always here to help. I walked away heart broken because she literally had salvation in her hands and knew the truthfulness of this gospel and church, yet chose to drop it. As a missionary, I now see how important and special this gospel is. So the fact that she came so close to partaking of the blessings and now is missing out on all the blessings she could/would have had is super upsetting. Just goes to show how much more Satan works on you when you try to do the right things or come close to accepting the gospel. But I wont give up. I will continue to fast and pray for her. I know I did all I can and that it is up to her to accept. So I will do everything I can to make sure that doesn't happen with Empenitriz or her sister.

I want to leave you all with a quote from an email I got this week from Bri Jackson;

"Matthew 25:40 "Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me." President Monson had a really good talk called "The Real Joy of Christmas" And it talks about celebrating the Savior by celebrating his life. He said that rather than receiving we should give ourselves through service. Serving others and living the way he did, we can find true happiness and joy. Even though Christmas is over, this is still a good principle to live by all year round. We should always want to strive to be like him and serve others always so we can have true happiness all the time rather than just around the holiday season."

I loved what she said. It's so true, we should always, always, always be on the look out to serve and help others. Not just in seasons of holidays where that's the norm, or when we are having a good day and feel like doing something cool for someone, but always. Everyday. Christ did not serve sometimes, or help people when it was convenient, but 24/7.

Love you all, thanks for the prayers, and HAPPY NEW YEAR!! 2014 was a great year full of unforgettable memories for me, and I can't wait to see how this next year plays out! Hopefully with much success!

Also, if you scroll down far enough, one of my stories is on this blog. It is the blog of my mission president's wife. It is a super fun and cool and informational blog with awesome stories and experiences of this crazy mission! My story is dated October 16th, 2014. If you scroll down to this date, you will find my story and picture and it is called "Led By the Spirit of God" Also, one of Elder Rodriguez's stories/experiences is on there that is also super cool dated December 7th, 2014. Here is the blog website: http://beckydouglasparadise.blogspot.com/

Elder Greer