Tech Forum

Had a family move into our ward. Their son was baptised last year and it was not recorded. Went to record it on lds.org. When I view the certificate it shows our ward instead of the ward where he was baptized in. Is there a way to change that to the correct ward?

You can try sending a Special Request via MLS and see if it can be fixed.

russellhltn wrote:You can try sending a Special Request via MLS and see if it can be fixed.

If the baptism location is recorded at CHQ they may be able to correct that but I don't think it is recorded. I've never seen it displayed in MLS, LCR or even in Family Search (after death). If I try to print a certificate for one of my children (whose baptisms I personally recorded in the correct unit) it shows my current unit, not the unit they were baptized in.

And I don't see any way of changing the unit name in LCR. You used to be able to edit all fields on the certificate in MLS but in LCR it appears they only allow you to print certificates using (mostly) prerecorded information. From what I can tell, you really can't print a completely accurate certificate once the member has moved to another unit. And even if you could the bishop signing the certificate wouldn't be the correct bishop either.

You could print to PDF and use Adobe Acrobat to edit the text – however, make sure you delete the certificate file after editing and printing, since it's not a good idea for it to be floating around in an editable format (someone could hypothetically forge a certificate to prove membership).

As mentioned by eblood66, it's best if you can have it signed by the ward where he was baptized.

Another option would be to have the other ward record the baptism, print and sign the certificate, and mail it to you. It wouldn't be a bad idea to work with the other ward either way, in case it brings to their attention other baptisms that may not have been recorded.

sbradshaw wrote:Another option would be to have the other ward record the baptism, print and sign the certificate, and mail it to you.

The problem is that you need to have the record in your unit in order to record the baptism and pulling the record changes the moved date on the record.

Thanks for all the suggestions. I will probably contact CHQ.