An editor for a newspaper (John Wentworth, Chicago Democrat) asked Joseph Smith for more information about the church, and their beliefs. In response, Joseph Smith wrote up these articles. They were then printed in a church newspaper (Times and Seasons) for all of the saints to read.
As kids, we try to memorize these articles. This is a story about one girl who changed a family's life because she knew them (it's from an Ensign article by Thomas S Monson):
Some years ago I had worked with [Sharman Humell] in the printing business in Salt Lake City, and during that long-ago period, I once gave Sharman a ride home from work and asked him how he came to receive his testimony of the gospel. He responded, “It’s interesting, Tom, that you asked me that question, for this very week my wife, my children, and I are going to the Manti Temple, there to be sealed for all eternity.” He continued his account, “We lived in the East. I was journeying by bus to San Francisco to establish myself in a new printing company, and then I was going to send for my wife and children. All the way from New York City to Salt Lake City the bus trip was uneventful. But in Salt Lake City there entered the bus a girl—a Primary girl—who sat next to me. She was going to Reno, Nevada, there to have a visit with her dear aunt. As we journeyed westward, I noticed a road sign which read, ‘Visit the Mormon Sunday School this week.’ I said to the little girl, ‘I guess there are a lot of Mormons in Utah, aren’t there?’ She replied, ‘Yes, sir.’ Then I said to her, ‘Are you a Mormon?’ Again, ‘Yes, sir.’”
He countered:
“What do Mormons believe?” And that little girl recited the first
article of faith, and then she talked about it. Continuing, she gave him
the second article of faith and talked about it. Then she gave him the
third, and the fourth, and the fifth, and the sixth, and all of the
Articles of Faith and talked about all of them. She knew them
consecutively.
Sharman Hummell
said, “When we got to Reno, and we let that little girl off into the
arms of her aunt, I was profoundly impressed.” He said, “All the way to
San Francisco I thought, ‘What is it that prompts that little girl to
know her doctrine so well?’ When I arrived in San Francisco, the very
first thing I did was to look through the yellow pages for The Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints; I called the mission president, J.
Leonard Love, and he sent two missionaries to where I was staying. I
became a member of the Church, my wife became a member, all of our
children became members, in part because a Primary girl knew her
Articles of Faith" ... Sharman said, “I have but one regret. I never asked for her name. I’ve never been able to properly thank her.”
(If you'd like, here is another story about the articles of faith, it's along the same lines as the last one, only this time it's a young man)
The articles of faith are very important to learn. If you understand them, then you understand the basic doctrine of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.
