So I ended up answering my own question:

If you would like to tap into your db object from within a plugin and use mongoDB's native functions, 'db.client' will provide them.

Example:

        var db = module.parent.require('./database');
	
	function getResult(req, res, next, callback){
		 var data = db.client.collection('objects').find({cid: "1"}).toArray()//Query whatever
    		.then(function(data) {//Pass the promise through a callback
     			console.log(data.length); // Use this to debug
      			callback(req, res, data, next)//Send data to your render function or where ever
   			})
	}

Hope this saves someone else some time if they're trying to achieve the same thing!

This is likely a very obvious answer but, I would like to tweak the wording of the GDPR consent that pops up when a user registers for the forum for two reasons:

1. I would like to add some additional information that is specific
2. The bottom paragraph where users have to check consent boxes, I have sentence that is cut off -> ' Unless explicitly changed in your user settings, this community delivers email digests every .'

Is this text being pulled from the database? If so, against what key? If not I'm assuming it's hardcoded into some template/template partial/configFileName.json. I've been unable to find it thus far.

Thanks for any insight! I appreciate it.