Can't get a hold of our records.

Discussions around using and interfacing with the Church MLS program.
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brandon.ku
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Joined: Tue Apr 03, 2012 11:09 pm

Can't get a hold of our records.

#1

Post by brandon.ku »

Hi,
My wife and I not long ago moved to a different city in Ukraine, but our records for some reason can't be found. When I signed into the lds.org and directory, it says that we are in the Rostov Mission. No one can get a hold of our records, and we really need them to be moved, our clerks have requested the records both from Donetsk where we moved from, and here in Kiev, and yet nothing has changed. Our records are still not where they belong. What can we do?
russellhltn
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#2

Post by russellhltn »

There's really nothing a member can do. It's the clerk's job to get the records. Knowing where they are now may help him in sending in the request. If he is having trouble, he can call on the stake clerk (District clerk) or contact the area office for help.

Since we're dealing with a country outside of North America, I'm hesitant to give any additional advice because it may not be correct for that country.
Have you searched the Help Center? Try doing a Google search and adding "site:churchofjesuschrist.org/help" to the search criteria.

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rbeede
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#3

Post by rbeede »

I've seen records that have taken over 1 month after being requested in a foreign country. Your clerk should contact membership support with your full legal name, date of birth, membership record (found on your temple recommend), and last known location of your records.
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dobrichelovek
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Location: Utah, USA

#4

Post by dobrichelovek »

All the procedures are correct, and the proper way of finding your records. Since church records are computerized, the information that is needed to 'find' your record are those things that rbeede identified, except you have reason to believe that the last known location of your records is in the Rostov Mission. (The current location doesn't seem to be critical, but it is helpful in case there is an inconsistency in the other information from what was entered (like birthdate or the spelling of a name.) It's great that you have identified the location of your records by logging into your account, and it is just the Rostov Mission (or is it one of the units within the mission? ) which is right next door to you, so to speak, so although it might not really speed things up too much, reaching out to the mission office clerk might at least confirm that they see the record there.

It's been a few years since I have been over there and it is not clear to me how exactly membership is handled right now, but if your current unit has MLS and the current location of your records also has MLS, the records can either be pulled to your Ward or Branch, or pushed from the Mission (or whichever unit they happen to be in) to where they really should be. This, of course, will have to be done by whichever clerk has proper access to the Member and Leader Services (MLS) software in the unit.

My point being, RussellHltn is right, that a member who is not in a leadership role cannot do anything to get the record there, however, such a member can ensure that those who can get your record there understand what needs to be done and have all the information to be able to do it. :) Good luck!

Если всё-ещё будут проблемы, пожалуйста скажи, и может что-нибудь придумаем.
brandon.ku wrote:Hi,
My wife and I not long ago moved to a different city in Ukraine, but our records for some reason can't be found. When I signed into the lds.org and directory, it says that we are in the Rostov Mission. No one can get a hold of our records, and we really need them to be moved, our clerks have requested the records both from Donetsk where we moved from, and here in Kiev, and yet nothing has changed. Our records are still not where they belong. What can we do?
greggo
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Location: Battle Creek, MI

Check birth date

#5

Post by greggo »

When I was a clerk in an English speaking ward outside the US, I more than once had trouble getting member records, because the member wrote their birth date in format d/m/y (normal for their country of origin) when I was expecting m/d/y - something for you to check.
Aczlan
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Joined: Sun Jun 06, 2010 5:29 pm
Location: Upstate, NY, USA

#6

Post by Aczlan »

greggo wrote:When I was a clerk in an English speaking ward outside the US, I more than once had trouble getting member records, because the member wrote their birth date in format d/m/y (normal for their country of origin) when I was expecting m/d/y - something for you to check.
In Argentina where I served as a missionary, we were required to put the dates for church records in dd-mmm-yyyy format (ie: 08-Apr-2012) specifically to prevent such problems from occurring.

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aebrown
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#7

Post by aebrown »

Aczlan wrote:In Argentina where I served as a missionary, we were required to put the dates for church records in dd-mmm-yyyy format (ie: 08-Apr-2012) specifically to prevent such problems from occurring.

MLS only allows date input in that format, so there's no problem on the MLS side. The problem that remains is if a member writes down their birthday for the clerk to request their records, and the member writes it in the d/m/y format -- you can't be sure if 4/7/65 is in April or July. So if a member writes down a date, have them write it in dd-mmm-yy format to avoid that potential confusion.
Questions that can benefit the larger community should be asked in a public forum, not a private message.
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rbeede
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#8

Post by rbeede »

aebrown wrote:MLS only allows date input in that format, so there's no problem on the MLS side. The problem that remains is if a member writes down their birthday for the clerk to request their records, and the member writes it in the d/m/y format -- you can't be sure if 4/7/65 is in April or July. So if a member writes down a date, have them write it in dd-mmm-yy format to avoid that potential confusion.

On the form we give to members I have them circle the day (I print 1 - 31 on the form), month (I put all the months on it for them to choose), and write the year. That stopped that issue from occurring.
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