Trying to create a membership record due to missing record and member says they were baptized

We have a member who says they were baptized at the same time as their brother but there is no record of this member and no baptism record. We have the brother's baptism date and membership record but he doesn't remember who performed the ordinance or the name of the ward. (They are youth that were baptized after age 8) We have the date of baptism and confirmation for the brother. The bishopric has asked me to call Salt Lake City to see if they have any record as to the person, ward or mission that performed the baptism so that we can contact them in order to recreate a baptismal record and membership record for his sibling. The bishopric thought the phone number I could call would be in LCR somewhere but I can't find it. If somebody could point me in the right direction, I would appreciate it. Thank you.

The procedure for dealing with an invalid or missing ordinance is listed in Handbook 1 section 16.1.10. If you have two appropriate witnesses as described in that section then you can record the ordinance without contacting the original unit.

The church doesn't keep a record of who performed ordinances but they may have information on which ward they were in when they were baptized. You should contact Local Unit Support to ask about that. Of course, there is no guarantee that anyone in that ward will remember the ordinance but you can try.

Depending on how long ago this was, there might be a record of it being done in the historical department. I don't remember when that was discontinued.

cdk28 wrote:They are youth that were baptized after age 8

russellhltn wrote:Depending on how long ago this was, there might be a record of it being done in the historical department. I don't remember when that was discontinued.

If they are currently youth then it was definitely too recent for that.

On the other hand, if they were older than 8, the mission would have been responsible for recording the baptism. It might be worth a contact there to see what records they keep. I would do that while following the guidance in Handbook 1 as a possibility that they may still have some record or recollection of the event.

If they were baptized in a different ward, one thing that comes to mind is to make sure it's not just that the record wasn't transferred in when the brother's record was. You may have already tried to request the record for the member – if not, try and request and see if his or her record exists.

I want to apply in online missionary application but I have a problem in my record. I was baptized when I was 8 years old but my record was not encoded so I was baptized again last year. the problem is it is not encoded yet again. How can we work on this problem? I really appreciate your help.

rabbanah8 wrote:I want to apply in online missionary application but I have a problem in my record. I was baptized when I was 8 years old but my record was not encoded so I was baptized again last year. the problem is it is not encoded yet again. How can we work on this problem? I really appreciate your help.

Work with your ward clerk. He should be able to enter the ordinance or at least contact the mission office if they had to be involved. But I think he should be able to enter it himself.

Hello, I have also this situation. I am a child of record, my father says he remembers me being baptized when I was 8 years old. but when I was a youth, I discovered that my record was missing and I was rebaptized. I was hoping that I can fix this issue because I wanted the original date of my baptism.

sharmeen.guray wrote: Sat Oct 12, 2024 6:42 am Hello, I have also this situation. I am a child of record, my father says he remembers me being baptized when I was 8 years old. but when I was a youth, I discovered that my record was missing and I was rebaptized. I was hoping that I can fix this issue because I wanted the original date of my baptism.

See General Handbook, 38.2.6.1. It provides the instruction on how to validate the original baptism. Essentially it requires two witnesses to the baptism to "give their testimony in writing, stating either (1) the complete date the ordinance was performed or (2) the year it was performed and the person who performed it." You did not mention what went into the decision process to perform the baptism again. I would expect the bishop and your father must have discussed the situation. Without the two witnesses testimonies the bishop followed the General Handbook instruction to perform the baptism again. The date that was done would be the date recorded on your record.