INVESTS IN REAL ESTATE--ACQUIRES A HOME--VICARIOUS WORK IN LOGAN
TEMPLE--CONSEQUENT ELATION--PROMISE TO A DYING FRIEND--GRATUITOUS
FULFILLMENT IN MANTI TEMPLE.
In the course of a few years he found an opportunity of buying a small
city lot north west of the capital grounds, with a rather old house
upon it, for the modest sum which his capital represented, and he
actually became a landlord. He rented part of it to the former owner,
who had lost the property through mortgaging it and being unable to
meet the payments when his notes fell due. His income from the rental
was only $5.00 per month, and it required half of that to pay the taxes
upon the property; but he had a shelter for himself as well--not very
comfortable it was true, but much more so than some of the houses he
had occupied--and it was his own. It was all the more appreciated when
he thought of the improbability of his ever owning a home of any kind
had he remained in his native land. He could now look forward with
more hope to his declining years, when age would naturally add to his
decrepitude.
When Niels accepted of the Gospel in his native land, no feature of
it was more attractive to him than the promise of salvation for the
dead contained therein. He found comfort in the assurance he obtained
of personal salvation through compliance with the Gospel principles,
and he was anxious to do something if possible that his ancestors and
friends who had died without a knowledge of the Gospel should share
in the Gospel privileges. When the Temple in Logan was completed and
opened for ordinance work, he joyfully journeyed thither and spent
eight weeks in receiving ordinances for the benefit of dead relatives.
He felt that he was coming into his own, that he was accomplishing
something that made life desirable. There was something exalting about
the thought that he, deformed and weak and frail though he was, could
do all for the salvation of his dead kindred and friends that the most
able-bodied man in the community could do. He had long admired the
missionaries who left their homes in Utah and the surrounding states,
and, at infinite sacrifice, went forth into the various nations of the
earth to proclaim the Gospel message, without hope of earthly reward.
The sole reason for their doing so was that they had been called by
those whom they regarded as the Lord's earthly representatives to so
labor, and because they regarded the Gospel as so priceless that they
were anxious to have its benefits extended to all humanity. He, too,
appreciated the Gospel, and his love for his fellows would have enabled
him to find joy in laboring as a missionary, but, alas! he could never
hope to engage in that labor because of his physical disabilities. But
here was a labor which had for its object the same purpose, in which in
point of ability he measured up to the full stature of the best of his
fellows; and who should say that the work done in behalf of the dead is
not just as important as that done for the living? He had never engaged
in anything that so increased his self respect and made him feel that
he was of some consequence in the world as this work in the Temple,
and he regretted when necessity compelled him to abandon this labor
which had such a savor of heaven about it and "come down to earth,"
figuratively speaking, by seeking such employment as he could engage in
to earn the meagre necessaries of his subsistence.
[Image: Niels and his home]
A considerable period passed afterward with little to relieve the
monotony of his existence, during which, however, he again succeeded in
accumulating something. In the meantime the Temple at Manti had been
completed and ordinance work was being performed therein.
It happened that an old gentleman named Nielsen with whom Niels had
years before, (while he was a resident of Salt Lake City,) been
somewhat acquainted, had located at Manti while the Temple was in
course of construction, and indulged in the hope of spending his
declining years in laboring therein for the benefit of his dead
kindred. Before being able or ready so to do, however, he had been
stricken with sickness, and, at the solicitation of a daughter who
was living in Salt Lake City, and who was the wife of a Catholic,
had come up to reside with her and be nursed back to health. Instead
of recovering, however, he continued to grow worse until his life
was despaired of. During his illness he worried constantly over the
fact that the work in the Temple which his heart had been so set upon
performing for his dead kindred had never been done, and there now
seemed no hope of his doing it, for he felt that he must soon die. In
his emergency he thought about Niels as a friend whose services he
might enlist, and induced his daughter to send for him to come and
listen to her father's dying request. Niels came, and found his old
friend almost in the throes of death. Being asked if he would do the
work in the Temple which his friend had neglected, he consented without
hesitancy, to pacify the dying man, and wrote down at his dictation the
names of about seventy of his dead relatives, in whose behalf he wished
the work performed. He was told that a certain sister living in Manti
had promised to perform the work for the females, and could be relied
upon to do so, and that it would only be necessary for him to see that
she did it, and to do himself the work for the males.
After receiving the promise from Niels that he would attend to the
matter, the old gentleman seemed satisfied, and soon died in peace.
Niels then realized, as he had not done before, the responsibility
that rested upon him, in consequence of his promise. He had never made
a promise even to a person who was well without faithfully fulfilling
it, and his promise made to a dying man seemed doubly binding. He must
fulfill that if he never lived to do anything else. With this impressed
upon his mind he soon journeyed to Manti and called upon the sister
who had promised his dead friend to serve in the Temple for the female
relatives. He found her so ill that there was little hope of her ever
being able to keep her promise, and so he conscientiously applied
himself to the task of fulfilling completely the commission assigned
him. He hired sisters to do the work for the female dead, and he spent
ten weeks in the Manti Temple, in constant labor for the male dead
kindred of his friend Nielsen, and felt satisfaction in having done all
that duty and honor could require of him in the matter.