Bannon's First Week in the Dominican Republic!

Hi Everyone,
Bannon made it to the Dominican Republic! We got to talk to him while he was in the airport on his way to the Dominican and he sounds great! He is so excited to be serving the Lord and teaching the people of the DR! Please keep him in your prayers as he gets used to the culture and language. It sounds like it will definetly be a humbling experience! :) 
His Preparation day is still on Wednesday so I will continue to post after Wednesday each week. His mission President's wife has a blog for their mission so if you are interested in finding out more about where he will be and who he is serving with click here. If you would like to send Bannon physical letters here is some info on that from his mission president 
Letters:

The best way to send physical letters is through Mail Boxes Etc. (10-14 days) (more information immediately below).  You can also use “dearelder.com” (16-18 days).
The Santiago Mission has contracted with a company called: Mail Boxes Etc. to ship all letters received to its Miami, Florida address to the mission office in Santiago.  For letters and cards only, the mission covers the shipping cost from Miami to Santiago.  This is the most reliable and cheapest means to deliver a letter.  Letters should be addressed as follows.  If SDQ 8013 is not included, the letter might not be delivered:
           Elder Bannon Bryce Greer
           SDQ 8013
           PO Box 025725
            Miami FL 33102-5725
If you want to get information on sending a package get in contact with me (Jordan) or my mom (Susie) and we can give you info on that.
This is the mission home address:
          
 Elder Bannon Bryce Greer
           Misión Santiago, Iglesia de Jesucristo de los Santos de los Últimos Días
           Av. Estrella Sadhalá #10 2do piso
           Frente a UTESA
           Santiago 51000
           Dominican Republic
            (809) 241-1145
 Anyways if you have other questions about these addresses or anything contact me. Have a great week!



I made it!

I am finally in the Dominican Republic! It was quite the long journey, but I am here. I ended up traveling all by myself, but while on my layove in New York, I met the parents of a missionary coming home from her mission in Santiago! They were on my flight, on there way to pick their daughter up. They were a huge help to me and it was fun talking with them. I landed around 11pm and the AP's were there waiting for me. We drove to the mission home and then I met President Douglas. He is awesome and I am really excited to have him and his wife as my presidents. This morning I met all the other missionaries who I was supposed to be with in the DR MTC. There are 18 of us. Then we went into the city and parked on the side of a busy road and met our new companions. My comp's name is Elder Rodriguez from El Salvador. He is exactly a year older than me because we have the same birthday! He is pretty decent at English (better then I am at Spanish, but that's not saying much) He is going to need some serious patience with me cause I can't understand anyone nor do I know how to really say anything that's not about the gospel haha... But he's great and is awesome! I got assigned to Los Cocos, a very poor suburb of Santiago. It is very mountainy and lots of dirt roads. It is one of the harder areas because people there don't really have cars and the church is about 25 minutes away in car so it's hard for us to get people to church which also effects the baptism ability. But we are working on changing that rapidly! Later today we are teaching a man named Junior and a woman named Nena. And later I have to teach a guy named Erickson the first lesson (the restoration) and the Book of Mormon. I don't know what to expect or how it will go, but I am confident in being able to get my point across and teaching him those things. We'll see how it goes...

Today is our P-Day, So still on Wednesdays. We do a Lot of walking. We went shopping for food and stuff. The people here are insane when it comes to driving! There are pretty much no rules on the road. People drive on the other side of the road, people drive in the middle of the road, cutting off people is a norm, you can even fly by a cop at 80mph and the cop wont even care. People J-Walk like crazy and it is way dangerous. There are a lot of motor cycles with multiple people on them. It is rare to find seat belts in cars, and they pack in up to like 7 people in a small taxi. I am way happy I don't have a car or have to drive here!

My house is obviously very small, enough for just two people. We have electricity but it runs out often. Our fridge turns off often as well. We wash our clothes in like a washer that doesn't really work, so we just hand wash our clothes in it and then hang our clothes on a line inside our apartment. There are no drawers or anything for clothes, just two small closets. I have definite been humbled, and it is going to be an adventure!

The elder I replaced served in my area for 7 months! So I'm curious if I'll be up here that long.

I am definitely in a third world country and it is nothing I have ever experienced. My living conditions are much different then I am used to. I don't have a big budget so I have to be extra cheap. But I wouldn't have it any other way.

Wish me luck this next week and that I don't have the runs for too long! ;)

Love you all!

Con Amor,

Elder Greer

PS, I can't send pictures yet, but I am working on getting an adapter thing so I can.

Last week in the MTC

 Hi All, 
This is Bannon's last week in the MTC! He heads out to the Dominican Republic on the 9th! As soon as we find out his address in the Dominican I will post it so he can keep getting everyone's letters! Please keep him in your prayers as he travels this week. Have a good week! 


Last week in the MTC!!

Big news!! I, along with my district, got our travel plans! So I officially have my visa and am leaving Sep. 9th! The rest of my district including my companion leave the day before me on Monday the 8th :( So I have to stay a whole day longer then all of them -_- But esta bien. So I will have to be in a tri companionship for a day, but the president let me pick who I want to go in a tri with so I'm actually way excited cause I picked my good friends Elder Jensen and Elder Matzle! I leave the MTC at 6am and then take off to New York for my first lay over at 11:30 and then have about a 2 hour layover then take off again to the DR! I'm really hoping my mission president doesn't forget me. That would suck.. But I mean with my luck, it'll happen.

We unfortunately had our last lesson with our investigator this week :/ But some pretty awesome news.. So for our last lesson we decided to share our favorite scripture and a cool story/spiritual experience that related to the scripture. I shared Helaman 12:1 which basically says to put your trust in the Lord and He will take care of you. Then I shared my mission call experience that I shared in my farewell. She loved our experiences and then asked if she could share hers! Talk about a committed/excited investigator. She shared a cool story that happened to her and why she liked the scripture. She never stops amazing us. Then she gave us a whole box of cupcakes! (Our district is soooo jealous of us, it's the best) And if that wasn't good enough, She then told us that she got a job in CARLSBAD CALIFORNIA of all places!! I was definitely meant to be at this MTC to teach her and help bring the gospel in her life and continue it after she gets baptized! So I got her pumped about Carlsbad and told her how much she is going to love it and how I know pretty much 80% of the missionaries there and the mission president so I know exactly who to talk to about her and who to take care of her while she's there. I'm so stoked! And she will be living there when I get home so I'll be way fun to see her and how she is doing when I get back. It's amazing how the Lord blesses you. I am here for many reasons, But especially because of this incredible experience I have had with our investigator, Ivette. I know there will be many more of these experiences to come, because I am going to the DR for specific people and to bring the gospel and this joy to certain people there. There are no such things as coincidences! I have a huge testimony of that. 

I saw Mitchell Rush and Spencer Weenig on Sunday at the devotional! That was way fun.

I learned a big lesson this week. I learned how important it is to make sure you get things cleared up and are worthy to serve a mission before you come out here. It simply is not worth the pain, sorrow, and tears. I'm sad that some Elders and Sisters have to learn that the hard way. I'm so grateful for the Atonement and our savior, Jesus Christ, and the opportunity to be forgiven of our sins. We are so blessed to have that. Take advantage of that blessing. Become clean. It is so important.

I love this work so much. This is only the beginning and thankfully the end of the MTC ;) Jk, It's been amazing here! Now I am ready for the real stuff! I probably will not know what the heck I just spent studying for 6 weeks in the MTC because the dialect is so different there, but I have faith that the Lord will bless me. I know He will.

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC HERE I COME!!

-Elder Greer

 

 There is even a mattress room!

My Brown Boi

 On your last service day, if you are special, they take you to the hidden and legend pillow room!! It's so sick! literally a room full of pillows! It's a kids dream!

 Ivette and Us

 More pillow room

 Selfie with the best investigator

 Mitchell!!

Week 4

Hello All, 
Here is Bannon's letter from this week and some more pictures! He is leaving the MTC on the 9th of September so if you want to send him letters to the MTC make sure and do it soon! :) Have a good week! 

This week was amazing! So we fasted on Wednesday and kept our investigator, Ivette, in our hearts and minds which really helped us forget about our hunger and think about the blessings that would come from it. The next day at our lesson with Ivette, she told us she felt the spirit so strongly and got an answer and set a date for baptism on the 6th of October!!! She thanked us for fasting for her and told us she doesn't think she would have gotten an answer if we hadn't fasted for her. She also gave us delish Equadorian food that she made and it was so good. I'm jealous that my companion gets to eat that for the next two years. But the next lesson was even better! We talked with her about a lot of things and comforted her. She opened up to us about her life and how she was worried about her dad being ill. Her dad has been missing for a week and was very sick the last time she talked with him so she was really worried and stressed. We shared with her a little bit of the Plan of Salvation and our testimonies that she will see her family again in Heaven. She was in tears and the Spirit was the strongest I have ever felt it. I bore my testimony to her and told her how much I love and care about her. I told her that she is so much more then an investigator to me. I told her that I have left behind so much, and it has not been easy being out here, but it is people like her who make everything worth it. And that she is a huge example to us and the people around her. By this point, there were tears streaming down my face and Elder Dickerson's and especially hers too. I knew she felt the spirit so strong and that she could see how much we truly love and care about her. I feel that is so important to have with investigators. We have a very strong trust which is also very important. After, I prayed for her dad and she thanked us so much for the lesson and for the precious time we had together. She told us we were sent to her from God to help her and that when we talk with her, she feels so good and that we are helping her so much. I was sad when the lesson was over because I wanted to keep going. I wanted to never lose that feeling. I love that feeling so much. I love having a real investigator.

But wait, it gets better... So our next lesson with her went okay, but she was really upset because she was still worried about her dad so I offerred to give her a priesthood blessing. She looked at me confused. Apperently she has never heard of a priesthood blessing or what the priesthood really is.. So we explained it very simply and told her that the next day we would teach her about it. She agreed and we went on our way. The next day came around (this was yesterday) and we had an awesome lesson prepared for her. We had been praying long and hard about/for her dad and that he would be okay. Right when we sat down with her she looked at us with a bright, big smile and told us that her dad was fine and that he finally got ahold of her! He was super sick and was in some small village in Equador and there was no phone. So that's why he never called her back or answered until then. She was really relieved, as were we. We then taught her about the priesthood and the restoration of the priesthood after it was lost and we showed her a mormon message about the priesthood that really helped. She understood it pretty well and liked everything we taught her. We figured she didn't need/want a blessing anymore because her dad was fine, but she was really excited about the priesthood and wanted one anyway! So I got to give her a blessing! My first blessing for a non-member and I'm still in the MTC! It was way awesome! She felt very comforted by it and liked how it is done because she said she has been or other churches where they just say random things and do weird stuff that make her feel uncomfortable. She said this one was very personal and spiritual and with the proper authority. Then she gave us cupcakes! haha it was the best. I love it. So thank you for all the prayers!

It has been randomly raining a lot this week with thunder and lightning. The mountains actually got snow! I'm over here like, Yeah it's dang cold and I'm supposed to be in the Caribbean right now... But it's all good. The spirit warms me inside ;)

Shout out to Bri Jackson for the packages and cookies! And to Grandma Bonnie for the Cinnamon rolls. And MiMi & PaPa for the dear elder letter. To Bridget Murphy for the colorful letter. To Kate Greenwood for the package with the sweet tie-dye cat shirt and all the rest of the sweet stuff! And to all the rest of you wonderful people. (I Hope I didn't forget anyone)

Well, I love you guys!

Elder Greer

 

 

Goodbye to my boy Elder Slavens.

Elder Manning is my favorite, plus he looks like the guy from Up.

Elder Nord

My Zone leader, Elder Jackson

Elder Bluth! He will be my teammate in two years!

Shout out to Kate Greenwood for this SICK shirt! I seriously love it so much, and the top offer for it currently is $50

 

Week 3

 Hi Everyone!

Here is Bannon's letter from this week. He is doing great and we are so happy he is doing well! Again the picture captions are from him so some of them don't make sense to me but they might to you! ;) Happy reading!

 

 

 

Buenos Tardes, mi bonita amigas y familia! All you Spanish speakers out there don't make fun of my greengo Spanish, I'm still learning! ;)

So I have been talking to a couple of teachers here that both served in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. Hermano Graff told me a bunch of really awesome and crazy experiences and stories he has from his mission. Like about how he was caught in the middle of a gun shoot out, and how he had to take cover behind a car and then run to a nearby church and lock himself in to keep safe and then call his Mission President for help. And about how this one time he... Actually never mind. For the sake of my mom and other family members, I'll just not go into detail of the things he told me ;) But I'm pretty much just preparing myself for anything :) I am actually so down to be in the middle of a shoot off and dodge bullets or get stabbed or something crazy like that! I mean, as long as I live to talk about it ;) But fortunately for you, mom, he said I am going to the safer part of the island. Safe-ER. Him and Hermana Avery both told me that It's the best and I will love it so much. They tell me that the people are so kind and exciting to work with and are willing to do anything. They love the Elders down there and I will be taken care of and have nothing to worry about. But they did also inform me that we are not allowed to eat at member or non-member families house :( Which means that I will have to cook every single day! So that will be interesting... And very stressful. I might be living off of mac and cheese for a while. So send me some easy recopies and things I can make in little time. I hate cooking and am the worst at it, but at least I'll come back knowing how to cook! Worthy husband material ;) (Hopefully) Either that or I'll be able to make some dang good Top Ramen!

It's raining right now. Well, it was anyway. Utah weather is so weird. Definitely wasn't prepared for Provo, but at least it's not cold yet.

I'm getting a hair cut tomorrow. Let's see if these MTC barbers know how to cut hair! Hopefully they don't bick it! (Mel I need you to fly up to Utah ad cut my hair haha)

We got our first real progressive investigator yesterday that we get to teach for the next two weeks! Some of us get fake investigators who just act and stuff, but the lucky ones like me and my companion get real investigators! Her name is Llevette and she is from New York. She is in Provo for about 3 months living with her member friend who goes to BYU. She used to be Atheist, but now believes in God but doesn't know much about religion or Jesus Christ. Her friend got her interested, now the work is ours! Our first lesson was on Monday with her, and it went terrible. Not only were we trying to figure her out and what she needs and what to teach her, but we had to do it all in Spanish! So it was a huge challenge understanding what she was saying back to us. We managed to get her to commit to read the Intro to the Book of Mormon and sincerely pray to God to know if it is true. So if nothing else, we accomplished that. We left feeling like we did awful, but we just prayed a lot about what to do and what to teach her for her next lesson. The next day, we planned to just listen to the spirit and have a back up lesson if we needed it, but to just talk with her and let the spirit guide the way. And it totally worked! She was really open with us and told us that she did what we asked her to do, and she felt the spirit so strong! She said she really felt like she was talking to God and that before she would always want Him to show himself, but that he did that by letting her know through the Holy Ghost that this is the true church and that she needed to get baptized! It was amazing! Except she wants to wait a whole year, but I talked her down to more like a month or two and to just pray to God again like she did the night before and to ask when she should get baptized. She agreed and the rest of the lesson went so great. The gift of tongues is real! And relying on the spirit is KEY! Me and my companion decided to fast for her. We are fasting that she will be able to get an answer and to go to more church activities to become more comfortable and make solid member friends. Me and Elder Dickerson were going to fast on Thursday because today is our P-Day, but we thought about it and decided that today would be way more of a sacrifice because we were going to go to Brigham's Landing to eat real, delicious food. The bigger the sacrifice, the greater the blessings right? I also hope we can be an example to everyone in our district by fasting and sacrificing for others, especially for our investigators.

Well, that's all for this week. Keep Llevette in your prayers and that she will be able to get an answer :) I know she will.

I love you all.

Until next week!

Elder Greer

 

 Bus ride to main campus

Bus ride selfie game strong

The Elder Slavens

Rain! To a Sandy Eggan, rain is a big deal.

 

 

Week Two :)

Hi Everyone, 
Here is Bannon's letter from this week and some pictures he sent as well! I am using the captions he sent because they are funny and so Bannon. Have a good week!


Buenos Dias!

So this week definitely went by faster then the first week. It has definitely been interesting. I swear me and my comp have the worst luck here, but it's ok (esta bien) because we make the most of it.

Our zone leaders and their district left at 4am on monday morning so after the sunday devotional we went over to their apartment and had a huge zone going away party for them. they turned their room into a huge sleep over room for all 10 of them. The floors were pretty much all mattresses haha. They put together a couple of huge boxes of all their food and candy that they can't take with them. So we got hooked up for sure! Definitely been having a feats every night since! 2 of these Elders in my district have already gained 10 pounds! But don't worry, I am still the same haha. Our zone is literally the best zone here, of the 4. Not being biased at all. We just are. We are all so tight and have the best times together and make this place a blast when it could be so lame. I'm gonna miss that zone that just left. Especially our zone leaders cause they were way cool.

There are so many awesome people here that are going to Utah State when they get back, so USU is gonna be amazing! Utah State is where it's at! BYU is way overrated these days ;) One of my zone leaders is actually going there too and he wants to room with me and my good friend connor who is in my district is gonna try and room with me too so that'll be way sick if it ends up happening.

So this may come as a shock to all of you, but I joined the choir! haha. It's actually so much fun! And all the really good people drowned out my voice so it makes me sound good haha. Yesterday I got a close up on the broadcast  and big screen! The devotional was broadcasted to 13 other MTC's so I'm pretty much internationally known ;) haha, jk. But way cool still!

I've gotten to see a couple of my buddies from Utah and a couple from California that are here too. That's always fun.

I got my passport today! So hopefully my Visa will come in a couple weeks! Pray that it does haha.

Shout out to Denise, Grandma Bonnie, and Tanner for the awesome package! And to Jodi for the letter and the upcoming package. Thanks dad for the letter that I just got! And mom for the package! If you send stuff here from the weekend, we don't get it until tuesday for some reason. And thanks for all the love and emails! Sorry if I can't get back to you often.

Use dearelder.com if you want to get messages or letters to me quick. If you use that, I get it as a letter the next day so it is super convenient and helpful. Especially for me so I have time during the week to write back and don't waist time reading emails.

Well I wish I had more time and I could tell you more of all the funny things that happen to me, but #notime. So hasta luego me amigos!

Elder Greer

 

THE Elder Nelson. His band opened up for Imagine Dragons before his mission!

My other zone leader Elder Ford. Gonna tear up USU with me when we get home!

Elder Olson my zone leader

Elder Slavens was way good buddies with Alex Bates and knows Devan!

All the stuff the district that left gave us!

Me and my boy Elder Cahoon (he has a bunch of friends from our stake including the McMasters and the Moores)

 

Pictures from Bannon's first week in the MTC

District Sleepover

Elder Manu from Samoa

Bannon and his companion

Temple Day

Bannon and his companion at the temple

Provo Temple

Bannon's First Letter

Hello Everyone!
For those of you that don't already know Bannon had a little hiccup on his last day at home when he couldn't find his passport that also had his visa in it. We spend the majority of the day tearing apart the house trying to find them with no luck. So since he had such an early flight the next morning (he was supposed to be there at 4am) my mom called the mission travel office and within an hour he was booked on a flight to the Provo, UT MTC. At first Bannon was really disappointed but after a few hours he had changed his attitude and he knew that he was supposed to go to the Provo MTC for some reason (we are hoping we find out that reason sooner than later). Since we still haven't found his passport or visa he has to get new ones and will stay at the Provo MTC for the full 6 weeks and then he will go straight to the Dominican Republic mission. Since he is not going to the DR for the MTC he was a little worried about picking up their Spanish since it's a little different from other Spanish (We keep hearing that they speak really really fast) but we know that he will do great and will pick it up fast.


So Bannon's preparation day (P-day) is on Wednesdays while he is in the MTC so we will probably update this blog with his new letters every Wednesday or Thursday until he goes to the DR. If you would like to write him a physical letter instead of an email his new address is:
Elder Bannon Greer
DOM-SANT
2023 N 900 E Unit 859
Provo, UT 84602
Also if you would like to send him a package their is a great website dearelder.com that you can send different  or write letters, and while they are in the MTC they get them the next day. Anyways here is Bannon's letter from this week he sounds great and we are happy he is doing so good! :)


Hola mi familia! Buenos dias!? My spanish is picking up quite well can't you tell? ;) JK, it's still pretty bad haha. So as you know, the Provo MTC was the absolute last place I thought I'd be not to mention wanted to be, but I actually love it so much! That'll probably change here in a couple week haha. But it has been so great! I love my district so much! there are 12 of us so that"s like a lot in an MTC districtapperently. But its great. My apartment is me and 5 other guys. Its pretty nice, two bathrooms. My companions name is Elder Dickerson from Roy Utah.Hes pretty cool. We get a long great and I like him a lot. We probably wouldn't be great friends out side of the mission, but he's chill and we work well together. All the spanish speakers stay at West Campus which is like 10 minutes away from the Main MTC campus which sucks cause the main campus is way cooler and has everything! Including good food. The food here is sometimes good, sometimes worse then school food, but I don't mind cause I'm going to miss it when I'm eating liver in the DR. the showers in our apartment are always freezing cold which I think they do on purpose so that we hurry and don't waist water, and to prepare us for the living conditions in our missions haha. My computer is being stupid and won't let me go back so sorry if this email is super random and all over the place. My companion is going to Equador. Everyone else and their mothers seem like they are going to Argentina. Literally 90% of the missionaries here on west campus are going there. Me and my comp are one of the only companionship's that arent going to the same mission together. One of my teachers served in Santo Dmomingo, DR and loved it! so i asked her a bunch of ?'s and stuff. This one guy that is not my teacher but other peoples teacher served in that same mission and has some pretty crazy stories! DR seems way sketch but awesome at the same time! Can't wait! He said he would go back in a heart beat!

So me and my comp had to go to the post office the other day for my passport stuff and we had 30 minutes to kill, so we went out into the "outside world" and it was awesome! it was right next to the new temple in provo and we just walked the streets. The people were so nice to us it was the best! We got waved at and people smiled at us and even called us Elder's haha. IDK why it seemed so great but it was. When we were on our way back, we passed this lady who was smoking and was all tated up and said hello to her, She said Hi back and kept walking. Then she turned around and said, "wait!" so we stopped and asked her if we could do anything for her. after she got done having a mini coughing attack, she said "I am new to provo and was wondering if you fella's could tell me where my church is or ward or whatever." I said "Well we aren't the missionaries in this area, but if you give me your name and number I can find that out for you and give you a call and maybe set up a time to teach you and take you to church." so she gave me her number and we went on our way. Right after, I was like, "Elder!!!! We just got an investigator and it's only our 4th day here and we are still in the MTC and we aren't even missionaries in this area! haha. It was so sick! So we reported it to our president at the MTC and zone leaders and they were all way impressed! And that lady is gonna go to church! I am so excited! It definitely pumped me and my comp up! I think my comp really needed that cause I could tell he was a little home sick and discouraged. My copm is also a freaking pro at spanish already. He took 5 years in school so he knows it pretty well which helps me a lot haha. We had to teach a lesson in complete spanish our SECOND day here! That was rough ahah. I went to the temple today, that was fun. I've seen like 5 different people I know here! Thats always fun. 

So missionaries love real mail and packages FYI ;) and I actually really do need my kacky baige pant and a copuple regular shirts for P day.

I already love my mission so much and I know there is a reason for me here and not at the DR MTC, everyone keeps saying that. The teacher I talked to, this same exact thing happened to her. she said she figured out why it happened on her last week here. I just need to figure it out myself. My comp is in the same boat too. He was supposed to go to the Mexico MTC but had to come here cause he didnt ever get his visa yet. God doesn't do random. I know that for a fact. I love you all and can't wait to update you next week!

I'll send pics soon, love you!

Elder Greer