member wanting to find a returned missionary

We are serving presently as senior missionaries in the Alpine German-speaking mission. One of our inactive members is interested in finding a missionary who befriended her in 1988 in the Frankfurt area. I have the missionary's name and birthdate and his approximate age at the time, but have been unable to find him via Facebook search or on the West German Mission Alumni list online.

I believe there used to be a way to try and find and then contact members through Church records and let them know that someone was trying to contact them. If they were willing to be contacted, the contact info was communicated to both parties.

Does anyone know if this function or something like it still exists through MLS or some other channel? Maybe a General Services number?

Elder and Sister Mackay

After 2016 information on members is not released. The Church does not have a method available to the general membership to locate missionaries.

Would a Stake President or stake clerk have the permissions to be able to find someone, or is this not available to leaders either?

Nearly 40 years ago (1980s) a stake president with a compelling reason would be given the name and phone number of the bishop of a member. The stake president could contact the bishop and it would be up to the bishop to decide if the member would be contacted. I was trying to notify relatives of a deceased member about a funeral when I did it.

With the size of the Church today, I do not know if the Membership Department would do that again.

lajackson wrote: Thu Jun 30, 2022 4:45 pm With the size of the Church today, I do not know if the Membership Department would do that again.

That, and privacy laws getting tighter.

Thanks for your comments. It sounds like the church membership route will not bear fruit. I will think and pray about it and see if I can find another path.

slmackay wrote: Thu Jun 30, 2022 2:50 pm Would a Stake President or stake clerk have the permissions to be able to find someone, or is this not available to leaders either?

Stake presidents, bishops, and clerks can look up contact information for another stake president or bishop given the name of the stake or ward, but there's no search function for general membership that stake or ward leaders can access.

I would like to contact a missionary who taught me the discussions in the late 1960's in the Canada Halifax Mission, by the name of Elder (of course) Gibson. If anyone knows of a website where you can do this kind of search I would appreciate knowing. I believe he was from the USA but I have no other information. The Canada Halifax Mission has now merged with the Canada Montreal Mission.

Check to see if there is a mission alumni site for that mission and time period and mission. You might get lucky. Otherwise, the only method is to write the membership department with your request. They won't give you the missionary's info if they are able to locate him, but will pass your info to him. Up to him if he reaches out to contact you.

slmackay wrote: Wed Jul 27, 2022 1:08 am Check to see if there is a mission alumni site for that mission and time period and mission. You might get lucky. Otherwise, the only method is to write the membership department with your request. They won't give you the missionary's info if they are able to locate him, but will pass your info to him. Up to him if he reaches out to contact you.

Based on the conversation above, I don't think the membership department usually responds to these requests as they may have in the past.

Another option is to search Facebook for an unofficial mission Facebook group.