Canas, Guanacaste, Costa Rica 9.22.14

Hey Family!

Thanks for that quote Mom. It's exactly what I needed to hear. I got stabbed in the bum today by a syringe! My bum is killing me! We ate lunch with a woman named Odi. She has a son named Banardo. He is special. Everyday he comes and gives as a big hug. We walked in the kitchen to see what we could do to help out. My back was to the door so I didn't see it coming. I felt a pinch in my bum so I turned around to see Banardo backing away laughing. The syringe was bloody and bent. I understand what had happened and the only words I could think of was "No!" Everyone began to panic and I began hobbling over to the bathroom. My companion began asking me about my heart. I said, It's not my heart it's my bum dude!

Turns out if air enters it will travel to your heart and kill you. No bueno. I'm doing fine and just feeling some pain right now. But it's all good. 

We've had some pretty cool teaching experiences too though.Their are two youth here that have a hard time paying attention in lessons. They didn't understand the importance of baptism much. We entered the house and we found that they both really love futbol and basketball. We read 2 Nephi 31:5 which talks about Christ being holy but needs to be baptized, how much more do we need it. We picked up a soccer ball and asked them,"Quien son sus jugadores favoritos?"They said Mario something and Michael Jordan. We asked them to you think that they practice? They said yep. So we used that verse. If Michael Jordan is a professional, and he needs to practice, how much more do you, being a teenager need to practice? He said a lot. We then re-explained that Jesus Christ is a professional and still showed us that we need to practice. 

It was a very cool experience of us because we knew the Spirit was speaking through us in that moment. It was super simple to understand and their attention was fixed. 

We just keep moving forward. 

Siga Adelante,

-Elder Neider

I was able to contact Caden immediately after he emailed me.  This was my response to his syringe stabbing.

Hey. Could you get a disease from the syringe?  Tell your president what happened and seek medical care at the mission office. It is important that make sure to get it looked at. I'm not kidding. I will contact your mission president. Holy cow!

This was Elder Neider's response to me email.

Calm down. It's alright. We are all good. Already called and we are fine. Hahahahaha love you too Mom. It's fine. Haha. It was a clean syringe, never been used. If I was going to die it would have happened already. Hermana Garnder is the nurse for the missionaries and she said I'm all good.

Then I responded with:

Geez!