Child of Record over 8

We have a child of record who was born 1/2001 and was not baptized until 7/2009. In attempting to enter this baptism into MLS through the normal method, MLS keeps saying this child is over 8 and the baptism must be entered as a Convert Baptism. Technically he's not over 8, he's 8 and entering him as a convert is a little mis-leading to the records of the Church. I thought one had to be over 9 to be entered as a convert?

Sounds like your database might be corrupted. The simplest thing to try to reset your database is to back up to a file (from the MLS menu bar navigate to File > Back up to a File), and then restore from that file to see if that fixes the error (from the MLS menu bar navigate to File > Restore from a File). Doing a backup and restore is supposed to force MLS to rebuild its indexes.

Another thing to try is downloading the complete version of MLS from mls.lds.org and reinstalling it (your stake clerk should be able to help you find instructions on how to log in to that website). This should eliminate any problems that might have occurred when patching from one version of MLS to the next.

If the problem still exists after that, try doing a unit data refresh (from the MLS menu bar navigate to File > Request Unit Refresh Data... > select Membership Records > click Okay > then do a Send/Receive Changes > after waiting for at least 2 hours for that request to be processed you can do another Send/Receive Changes --but it can take up to 48 hours or longer before the return transmittal is ready for you to download via Send/Receive Changes).

If it is still a problem after that, then it is probably time to enlist the help of Clerk Support via your stake clerk.

I'd also double-check the date on the computer to make sure the computer isn't mis-calculating the age of the child.

RussellHltn wrote:I'd also double-check the date on the computer to make sure the computer isn't mis-calculating the age of the child.

You might also carefully check the birthdate on the record to see that it is actually correct.

I checked MLS 3.0.2 using the test database, and the MLS program works properly in calculating the age and allowing the recording of a baptism at age 8.

craighale wrote:We have a child of record who was born 1/2001 and was not baptized until 7/2009. In attempting to enter this baptism into MLS through the normal method, MLS keeps saying this child is over 8 and the baptism must be entered as a Convert Baptism. Technically he's not over 8, he's 8 and entering him as a convert is a little mis-leading to the records of the Church. I thought one had to be over 9 to be entered as a convert?

I tried to reproduce this error using a fresh install of MLS 3.0.2 and the test database. I couldn't reproduce it. I did discover some features I didn't know existed, namely the Child with Record Baptism and Child without Record Baptism links. (From the main MLS screen, NOT the dropdown menus, navigate to Membership Records > Record Ordinances > Baptism.)

In my experimenting I did encounter some welcome error messages.

When trying to create a Child of Record for a child that is at least 8 years old:

The child is 8 years old and must be entered using the Child without Record Baptism option.

When trying to record a baptism using the Child without Record Baptism link:

The child is older that 9 years old and must be entered using the Convert Baptism option.

This is the closest I could get to reproducing the error you described. Let us know if any of the suggestions mentioned in the above posts worked for you.