It was not until November 1, 1862, six years after he first attended a "Mormon" meeting, that he embraced the Gospel, and then under peculiar circumstances. Christoffer Jensen Kempe, who afterwards became well known in Utah and Arizona, was laboring as a "Mormon" missionary in that part of Denmark. One very stormy night he had found lodgings in a barn, about forty-two miles from Aalborg. Some time after retiring to rest he was aroused by feeling a hand laid upon his shoulder and hearing a voice tell him to get up and go to Aalborg and baptize the cripple, Larsen, whom he had seen at the Saints' meetings--that if he ever joined the church he would have to be baptized the next evening. Obedient to the voice of the spirit, he arose and set out afoot in the storm. He walked the entire distance, and on his arrival in Aalborg he called upon Niels at his lodgings and informed him that he had come to baptize him. Niels immediately asked what prompted him to come, as he had not even announced his intention of joining the church. Elder Kempe related the visitation he had received forty-two miles distant, and told of his journey for the special purpose, and added that he would like while he was at it to baptize Niels' brother and sister-in-law who were then living in Aalborg, and whom he had met and talked with on the subject of religion. Niels ventured the opinion that neither of the relatives mentioned had any serious intention of embracing "Mormonism," and that he was sure they would not if they learned their crippled brother intended to do so. "However," he said, "you may try them, and if you succeed in getting their consent you may call back for me, and I will be ready." The Elder promptly repaired to the brother's house and broached the subject of baptism to the couple, saying he was going to do some baptizing that night, and if they wished he would baptize them. They at first favored the proposition, but when he, hoping to hasten and make certain their decision, mentioned that Niels was going to be baptized they lost all interest in the subject and refused to be baptized. Returning to Niels, the Elder informed him of his failure and disappointment. Niels was not at all surprised, and told the Elder he should not be disappointed in him, as he was ready. They accordingly made their way that very night a considerable distance out of town, to find a suitable place for the performance of the ordinance, and Niels was initiated into the Church by baptism November 1, 1862. Some circumstances of which Niels was in ignorance at the time of his baptism, but which he afterwards learned of, may furnish the sequel to what was meant by the heavenly warning to Elder Kempe that Niels would have to be baptized that very evening if he ever joined the church at all.