Importance of accurate records

[aclawson]

A member of the stake presidency in Costa Rica took his wife-to-be to the temple in Guatemala for his sealing (before he was in the stake presidency). Sorry, they had no record of him ever having been ordained to be an elder. Or having been baptized. Or having been born. They had to scramble to get all of their records back up from home.

[lajackson]

they had no record of him

You would think this might have been noticed as they were filling out the temple recommend. [smile]

[drepouille]

Or when they submitted him to be called as a member of the stake presidency.
Or when they submitted the LUCR to update the CDOL.
Or...

[aclawson]

This was long before he was in the stake presidency - it was what happened to him when he was much younger.

In another tale of record keeping horror stories, I was in a small branch that had an average weekly attendance of 20ish members. My companion and I volunteered to go through the membership records and track down address changes, deceased members, look for people to reactivate - that kind of thing.

There were well over 1,000 members on the books for that tiny little branch. Many of whom had addresses of record showing that they lived thousands of miles away on another continent.

[lajackson]

In another tale of record keeping horror stories,

I was called as a new bishop in the early 1980s, when computerized records had become generally established, and we received a quarterly mailing from Church Headquarters with the directory, action and interview lists, etc. (Quarterly by mail -- I am still amused when someone strolls into the clerk's office needing a printout "immediately", but I digress.)

My first quarterly printout included a two-page list of children who were over nine years of age and had not been baptized. Or so the membership records said. It seems that there had not been a baptism held in that ward for years that was recorded on the membership records. These included children of active members who were serving in ward and stake leadership callings, including nearly every member of the ward council.

Over the next few months I gained more experience than I ever would want in using the procedure in the handbook to record an ordinance missing from the membership record. I gained a great appreciation for those who kept journals and records, for those who had printed up baptism programs with names (and kept them), and for those who had witnessed ordinances and actually remembered them (I could not remember very many of the names of those I have witnessed being baptized.)

Using a combination of journals, baptism programs, and always following the rule of two witnesses, we were able to establish the baptism and confirmation information for almost every name on the list who had been baptized. "Yes, Sally was baptized the same day Johnny was, and brother and sister so and so were there." "No, he was confirmed at the baptism and not in Church the next day because the grandparents were there." "Brother so and so baptized my son the same day he baptized his daughter, and confirmed them both." "He was baptized on the Saturday before Fast Sunday, the week after general conference that year."

It was quite an introduction to the ward for me. I was fairly new in the area, and got to know most of the families quite intimately over the course of the first few months I served. I never did meet the clerk. He had moved out before our family moved in.

It is so much easier to record an ordinance at the time it is completed than to try and reconstruct it years later. Yet, even President Spencer W. Kimball was baptized again when he turned 12 just before he was ordained a deacon, because his baptism at 8 had not been recorded on his membership record.

[russellhltn]

I never did meet the clerk. He had moved out before our family moved in.

Probably just as well you didn't.

[lajackson]

I never did meet the clerk. He had moved out before our family moved in.

Probably just as well you didn't.

I like to think I would have been kind, loving, and encouraging. And then had him serve for about 25 more years. [grin]

[jbmorris]

I was just put in as membership clerk when the (also new) bishop was informed that a former member of the ward was not dead. Turns out her daughter had been doing some familiy history work on line and found that her mother was listed as deceased. After a few phone calls it was confirmed her mother was indeed alive and residing in rest home in the neighboring stake. A couple calls to church HQ got it resolved. So sad to think that (very possibly) this sister did not have the local priesthood bretheren looking after her for the previous three years..

[lajackson]

In the mid-90s I learned that a member we did not know of, but who lived in our ward, had died. I requested information from Church headquarters to determine if special funeral preparations were needed and to obtain help in locating family members to advise them of the death.

The kind lady in the membership department helped me gain the information I needed. When I asked if she should send the membership record so we could record his death, she said it was already recorded, ten years earlier, and named the ward and stake that did it (I have never revealed them to anyone, but still remember the location even though I never wrote it down).

Then she said, "I will update the date of death for you."

[joecondanmic]

Besides, entering the record or updating it in the MLS. I found out that we don't have standard form for any ordinance. Whenever ordinance were performed, sometime you got a note from the Bishop, sometime you got a piece of paper from the Executive Secretary or Missionary. Or you're told verbally that some kind of ordinance were performed and they may not even have the full name for you. A standard form for people to fill in the details will really help us as a clerk to have all the data handy when needed. Even when we are not around and information will be there in writing.