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I Never Saw so Great a Change in Anyone

There is an interesting, if not ominous, passage in Alma 17 of the Book of Mormon. The four sons of King Mosiah were journeying to the land of Nephi to bring the truth to the Lamanites. They fasted and prayed much that the Lord would grant unto them His Spirit that they might be instruments in his hands to convert the Lamanites. In response the Lord said this, “Go forth among the Lamanites, thy brethren and establish my word; yet ye shall be patient in long-suffering and afflictions, that ye may show forth good examples unto them in me, and I will make an instrument of thee in my hands unto the salvation of many souls.” The price to be paid to overcome Lamanite tradition and prejudices was much suffering and affliction. Only then
would the proper example be set and the Lamanites converted. And so it has always been.

In the late summer of 1830, Charity Carter Ames, wife of Ira Ames, learned by a letter that several members of her family had joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. While her husband Ira was open to the new religion, Charity was not. When Ira read the letter to Charity and her sister, “They laughed mockingly and cast much ridicule.” Ira, however, was deeply affected, went to his bedroom and “laid the matter before his Heavenly Parent.” He knew the Church was true. Jared Carter, his brother-in-law came several months later, taught him and he was baptized in June 1832. Charity was not. Ira had just been appointed a class leader in his former Church and she resented his sudden change of religion.

About a month later, Orson Pratt and Lyman Johnson stopped to visit Ira and strengthen him in the faith. Their presence angered Charity very much. “She became so bitter that she almost lost her reason. One morning in the forepart of August, Ira had been reasoning with her in mildness,
meekness and calmness when, suddenly, she seized her infant son and left the house, determined never to live with him again.”

She stormed away, headed toward a neighbor’s house where the preacher from her own religion was staying. As she approached the house, the minister called out to her, “Ah, Mrs. Ames, how is that Mormon husband of yours? If I had been to your house when those fellows were there, I
would have cracked their heads together.” As she said it he made a motion with his hands cracking two heads together. “All of this was said in a sneering, jeering, mocking tone and manner. It had a powerful effect upon…Charity.” She stopped in her tracks, and without saying a single word, turned around and went home. Ira said, “She told me she was convinced I was right, told me of the preacher’s words and that she saw that he was full of a devilish Spirit. And from that moment was a humble, obedient, quiet and dutiful wife. I never saw so great a change in anyone. She said she was willing to be subject to me, to gather with the Saints or do whatever I saw proper for she saw the difference in my Spirit and that preacher’s.” Charity was baptized in Lake Champlain by Orson Pratt in August 1833.

From that day forward, Ira and Charity gathered with the Saints, first to Kirtland and then to Missouri. All the bitterness and persecution, mobbing and driving that came upon the Saints, came up Charity and her family. When the Saints were driven out of Far West, Missouri in the winter of 1838-39, Ira and Charity left as well, but Charity was sick, so sick that she had to be lifted into the wagon that was taking her family to find refuge in Illinois. Because of the trials and persecutions, Charity Carter Ames passed away 22 June 1839. Ira wrote of her the highest tribute, “She was a most excellent wife and mother. She was all a man could ask of a wife. My affection for her was powerful and death will lose much of its sting in the joyful anticipation of seeing her again.”

Source: https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/memories/KWJP-FR4