When Niels was confirmed, the priest proceeded to say: "The Lord has laid a heavy hand upon you in your youth, which will be a hard cross for you to bear through life; but it was for a wise purpose--to prepare you for a great work that you do not understand now. After you have traveled thousands of miles to a strange land you know not, you will there eventually have a chance to go into the sanctuary of the Lord to do a work for your father's family and your ancestors that they did not understand or know anything about." This prediction made a deep impression upon the mind of Niels, who remembered every word of it, and felt that somehow it would be fulfilled, though he could not then conceive how or when. That he, a helpless cripple and confirmed invalid; without money or influential friends, should ever travel thousands of miles over land and sea, seemed very improbable; indeed, it seemed very unlikely that he would live long enough to make such a journey if he were financially able. CHAPTER II. DEATH OF HIS MOTHER--LIFE IN AALBORG--CONVERSION TO MORMONISM--HEAVENLY MESSAGE TO ELDER KEMPE--HIS OBEDIENCE THERETO--BAPTISM OF NIELS--HIS RELATIVES ASHAMED OF HIM--PROPOSITION TO MAKE HIM A LUTHERAN PREACHER. If the details of the life of Niels for the next six years were written it would be a record of helpless dependence and privation. To the surprise of all who knew him, he continued to live, and even gain a little strength. Life at home had become unbearable since the death of his mother, which occurred December 6, 1854. In the fall of 1856, when he was twenty years of age, Niels left home and went to live among relatives in Aalborg, where he had a checkered experience, often being made to feel that he was in the way and that his welcome was worn out, but occasionally encouraged by real kindness and genuine charity. One lady in particular took a great interest in him, and, finding that he had some skill in needle work, encouraged him to practice a kind that was much in vogue among ladies, and through her kindly efforts he obtained considerable profitable work from many aristocratic women. Soon after removing to Aalborg he met and became somewhat acquainted with some "Mormons," a family of Saints being close neighbors to his aunt. His partial investigation of the Gospel then confirmed his early conviction that it was the truth, but his dependent condition, and the opposition of his relatives to such an unpopular religion, led him to defer embracing it.