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Re: HELP: Recording a child baptism who is not in my unit

Posted: Wed Aug 28, 2013 9:10 am
by abseckrobertjohn76
This has been a problem with members of our Ward having their children baptized in Utah.
Our bishop interviews the child. And then we give the paper work or copy of said paper work and have the parents give us the paperwork on their return. And the the information is intered into MLS.

It works very well.

Re: HELP: Recording a child baptism who is not in my unit

Posted: Wed Aug 28, 2013 9:22 am
by drepouille
Absolutely. We should handle these baptisms (and blessings) the same way we handle ordinations. We frequently have elders want to have their fathers ordain them high priests in another state, where the father lives. We complete the form here, and give it to the brother. We ask him to have the ordination witnessed by a stake representative, who signs the form for our records.

Re: HELP: Recording a child baptism who is not in my unit

Posted: Wed Aug 28, 2013 1:10 pm
by jasonfitt
drepouille wrote:Does the form require the name, birthdate, and MRN of those performing the baptism and confirmation, as the ordination forms do? If, so then those fields must be completed before the form is mailed to the unit that holds the membership record.

We have some units in my stake that pre-print a stack of blank forms, and the bishopric grabs a blank form during the interview. I prefer that the bishopric ask the clerks to print the form from MLS before the interview.
If the clerks in those units print a stack of blank forms from MLS ready for use at any time, isn't that the same thing as asking the clerks to print the form from MLS before the interview? I have a stack of blank forms for each ordinance always ready to go (baby blessings, priesthood ordinations, baptism, etc). I'm sure the bishop would love to have a clerk glued to his hip, but when a clerk isn't available, then a stack of blank forms works pretty well.

Re: HELP: Recording a child baptism who is not in my unit

Posted: Wed Aug 28, 2013 4:15 pm
by aebrown
jasonfitt wrote:If the clerks in those units print a stack of blank forms from MLS ready for use at any time, isn't that the same thing as asking the clerks to print the form from MLS before the interview?
Not really. Printing from MLS fills in a lot of the information reliably and readably. When you fill out a form by hand, there's much more room for error, both in the writing and the reading.

I'll certainly agree that a blank form is better than nothing if no one is available that can use MLS, but a form filled out in MLS is significantly better than a blank form.

Re: HELP: Recording a child baptism who is not in my unit

Posted: Wed Aug 28, 2013 6:32 pm
by Gary_Miller
jasonfitt wrote:I'm sure the bishop would love to have a clerk glued to his hip, but when a clerk isn't available, then a stack of blank forms works pretty well.
We try and be proactive and print the form before hand for the bishop. The Exec Sec knows when the interview is so usually he prints the form and puts it with the bishops interview schedule. This is what we call administrating so the bishop can minister.

If for some reason the form does not get printed before hand, or maybe during an interview with a youth he decides to give them a Patriarchal Blessing Recommend, then the bishop will go into MLS and print it himself if no one else is around to do it for him.

Re: HELP: Recording a child baptism who is not in my unit

Posted: Thu Aug 29, 2013 6:58 am
by drepouille
One of our newer bishops is an HVAC guy, not a computer guy. So he likes to use blank forms. The funny thing is that when he filled out the MP ordination form for his own son, he got the birthdate wrong. (He used the current year instead of the birth year.)

So that is my vote for printing the filled-in form from MLS instead of using blank forms.

Re: HELP: Recording a child baptism who is not in my unit

Posted: Thu Aug 29, 2013 7:27 am
by Gary_Miller
drepouille wrote:The funny thing is that when he filled out the MP ordination form for his own son, he got the birthdate wrong. (He used the current year instead of the birth year.)
I had to put my kids birthdays in my organizer so I had a place to look them up. I tell people who ask for my kids birthday that they are asking an unfair question, dads are not suppose to know those things. :D :eek:

Re: HELP: Recording a child baptism who is not in my unit

Posted: Thu Aug 29, 2013 7:49 am
by lajackson
Gary_Miller wrote:
drepouille wrote:The funny thing is that when he filled out the MP ordination form for his own son, he got the birthdate wrong. (He used the current year instead of the birth year.)
I had to put my kids birthdays in my organizer so I had a place to look them up. I tell people who ask for my kids birthday that they are asking an unfair question, dads are not suppose to know those things. :D :eek:
I know the first three and the last two, but the other ones in the middle are lost. So I always look on my list when I need to know for sure, as in helping leaders fill out forms, or for other person needs.

But I agree. If MLS prints it, it usually gets it right.

Re: HELP: Recording a child baptism who is not in my unit

Posted: Mon Sep 30, 2013 2:53 pm
by jirp
I am still learning. Have done 2 remote here with no forms. The baby was done here and I simply pretended like I was entering it in MLS here on another person to get the screen up to see what MLS required and then I looked up and phoned the ward clerks office for there using their scheduled meeting time to figure when he would be in the office. He then entered it right straight into MLS while I was on the phone. The other was my bishop's nephew from here was baptized along with a cousin while in UT. So in that case I got all the information straight from my bishop so it really didn't matter.

Does it need to be on paper or is talking to leadership in the appropriate ward enough?

Re: HELP: Recording a child baptism who is not in my unit

Posted: Mon Sep 30, 2013 4:57 pm
by Gary_Miller
jirp wrote:Does it need to be on paper or is talking to leadership in the appropriate ward enough?
It should be on paper and that paper should be generated by the members unit and presented to the ward bishop in the ward where the baptism is to take place. This shows that the individual has been interviewed and approved by their Bishop. Blessing are a little bit different but the paper work is still needed.

The paper then should be signed by the Bishop where the Baptism took place and hand carried back by the member or their parents back to their unit to be recorded on the records and a certificate printed.

I'm always pushing the Bishopric for the proper paper work. Without the paper work filled out and signed the ordinance, sustaining, or setting apart did not happen.

The lord house is a house of order.