Elder Robert Bruce Forbes
Lansing Michigan LDS Mission

Robert entered the Missionary Training Center in Provo, Utah, on July 23, 2008,
and after three weeks of training he will be off to Michigan.
 
 

JULY 20, 2008 ... Today was Robert's address in Sacrament Meeting. Since it is the Sunday before Pioneer Day, he was asked to talk about "Heritage". He told stories from our national, religious, and family heritage - and the tremendous acts of faith contained in each. He asked the question: How can we honor the heritage left to us? He said that those who created the world we inherit built it in faith that we would carry on what they began; we honor our heritage and our ancestors by carrying on with the dreams and hopes and trials our ancestors set out to fulfill; by remaining faithful to the faith they showed in turning this heritage over to us to continue on.

What are my thoughts as my son gets ready to leave? This song pretty well expresses them:

"I pray you'll be our eyes, and watch them where they go,
And help them to be wise and help me to let go
Every father's prayer ev'ry child knows-
Lead them to a place, guide them with Thy grace
To a place where they'll be safe.

"I pray they'll find your light, and hold it in their hearts-
When stars go out each night Thy love to all impart.
Let this be our prayer every shadowed day.
Lead us to a place, guide us with Thy grace.
Give us faith so we'll be strong.

"We ask that life be kind, and watch us from above.
We hope each soul will find another soul to love.
Let this be our prayer, just like every child
Needs to find a place, Guide us with Thy grace.
Give us faith so we'll be strong.

"Lead us to a place, guide us with Thy grace.
Give us faith so we'll be strong."

 

JULY 22, 2008 ... Robert was set apart by a member of the stake presidency who was at one time our bishop and is a wonderfully kind man. He mentioned in the setting apart that we was dong so under the direction of President Thomas S. Monson, who is the president and prophet of our church, bringing home to me that even though he doesn't travel the world, individually setting apart each missionary, it is all still done under his direction.


Bishop Davis, Elder Forbes, President Porter

Our beloved bishop cut his family vacation short to attend Robert's setting apart - he left Palmyra, New York on Sunday afternoon and arrived in Utah Tuesday afternoon, in time for this event. I may need to lecture him on speeding, but I'll save that for another day.

JULY 23, 2008 ... It is a rite of passage for a young man to finally enter the Missionary Training Center (MTC), and it is something of a rite of passage for the parents as well - they realize they've done something right in raising the boy that he is worthy and able and willing to serve the LORD as a missionary. Robert is older than the standard LDS missionary; he's entering the MTC at the ripe old age of 21, which hopefully means he is a few more years mature than the other boys.


putting on 'The Name Tag'

Remember Whose Name Comes First
 by Bruce T. Forbes, copyright 2008

Yes, you were baptized when you were eight
And took upon yourself His name -
But you didn’t put a name badge on that day
That bears His name before it bears yours.

Today such a badge is proudly worn
On your chest - not just to tell the world
Who you represent
But to remind you as well.

For the next two years
Everything you do
Needs to be done as if by He
Whose name comes first.

And as you do
You will become His Agent
In finding more of his children
To bring back to His Fold.
And I promise you, my son,
He pays a handsome, Eternal
Finder’s Fee
For simply remembering
Whose name comes first.

I often wonder who's showing more Faith at the doors of the MTC - the boy, who's got the faith to go and serve the LORD; the parents, who know him so very well and are letting him go anyway, or the LORD, who really knows the boy ... I think the LORD is the only one who really knows the boy's heart and desires - and potential! His wisdom is so much more than I will ever attain in this life.

I am not allowing this to be a head trip for me; this is about him. He has kept himself worthy to serve the Lord, has had the desire to do so, and did something about it. I am more proud of him than he knows.
JULY 26, 2008 ... We've received our first letter from Robert. He's been in lots of meetings and isn't sure how he'll remember where they are all held, he and his companion have a room built for four all to themselves (he says it's quieter at night), and No, he is not flirting with the Sister Missionaries.

AUGUST 4, 2008 ... Just as you're wondering if your son is truly catching the spirit of missionary work, you receive a poem or two from him:

Saviors on Mount Zion
by Elder Robert Forbes, August 2008

Through ran and snow
     Through Hell's hot fires
The mountains we will move.

With pains and sorrows
     and God's angelic choirs
Over mountains we will go.

Wilt love and light
     From God's own wonders
Peoples' lives will will move.

Through hope and faith
    Through Heavenly showers
Through us blessings will flow.

With our fiery spirits
     We'll burn though the darkened world
And shine as beacons
     on our Father's beautiful path.

 

 "Robert's Psalm"
by Elder Robert Forbes, August 2008

Wo unto me
for my sorrows spread far,
and these burdens weigh
my soul to earth.

I cannot hold them
on my own; I have not
the strength.

Chained forever;
bound to my sorrow -
There is no hope for man alone.

O my Father, who knows my heart -
I plead with Thee.

Save me from my sorrows.
Guide away my pains -
I need Thee with me
     through the long night
While I await the coming Dawn.
AUGUST 9, 2008 ... "I am learning a lot... more than I thought possible" ... truly this is music to a father's ears! And if it's music to my years, that it has to be a whole symphony to Heavenly Father's ears. And speaking of music, Robert writes that he and his companion even willingly sang in a choir - Robert, who hates to sing, sang in a choir of about 200 people... "not that we could individually be heard, though." My reply was how Heavenly Father can hear us individually and is more interested in what our hearts are saying than in the quality of our voice. 
AUGUST 28, 2008 ... We received our first letter for Robert since he flew to Michigan on the 13th. He and his companion are getting along good, they have two families they are teaching that he says are "golden", and they found a bat living in their apartment building, caught it, and released it in the woods.
SEPTEMBER 5, 2008 ... We received a letter Robert wrote on August 31st. He thanked me for the inspiration of sending him 2 Nephi 31:16, 20 to read; he said it "came in useful." This is high praise from him. He says they have some investigators who are "awesome" and will be baptized but probably after transfers. He told me that, just as I had done in the first of my mission, he is falling in love with the scriptures. He says that his mission president's rule about missionaries and music is to stick with music that doesn't drive away the Spirit, and then he asked me to send a CD of Saints Unified Voices (known to Robert as "Gladys Knight's Choir") So, yeah, he's gong to get a copy, right along with Sister Knight's "Mercy's Arms" album. Yeah; I can do that.
    Robert is one of those boys who can't talk without a liberal amount of "um", "ah", "like", and "you know" sprinkled throughout each sentence, so we got a kick out of the fact that he could admit to it by sending us Isaiah 28:11 and saying it was about him: "For with stammering lips and another tongue will he speak to this people."
SEPTEMBER 20, 2008 ... Robert wrote, telling me thank you for being such a good Gospel teacher - "even when I looked bored," he said. That's the way to a father's heart! They are teaching a woman who has realized she can better her life and gave up tobacco and coffee even before being taught the Word of Wisdom. They are teaching a single-mother family that the mother had been a church member in her youth who now wants to return and bring her children into the church. And, they are teaching a family that has all the appearance of readying themselves for baptism.
     He sent a SHORT STORY WELL WORTH READING and the following poem and gave me permission to post both of them here:

Guiding Stars
Aug 2008 by Robert Forbes

In darkness though I freely wandered
Through fields of desolation, where the serpent-flowers grow
I could not see which way to go,
The sky was blackened, or was my eyes?
I could not tell.

Then from afar so bright a star shown
Through the night and rang aloud “Come, follow me.”

But my arms were weak my feet can’t carry on,
And all around I see the Dark grab hold of me.
Worry wracks my soul;
I cannot move, it draws me down.

Again the star brighter still shining;
Rings out angelic music that speaks of peace,
It fills my soul and gives me strength
To pull away from this dark despair.

But the harder I pull the tougher it gets.
It weighs me down to its darkening depths

Before I let go of my hope and seal my soul to death
I cry aloud “Father, forgive me, for I knew not where I went”

And in an instant the darkness burst to fire,
Filling my soul with life.

And in that moment, I felt arms around me
Guiding me to that star,
Now ringing and singing songs of joy.

With open arms he welcomes me;
With open hands he guides me
Home again.

OCTOBER 4, 2008 ... We received a letter this morning, telling us that this very day Robert will, in his words, have the "privilege and blessing" of baptizing a husband and wife. He said that now he understands about people "just glowing" when they are filled with the Holy Spirit, because this couple did so as they gained a testimony of the Gospel. He said that if he came home today it would have been worth all the preparation it took to get on a mission.
     How this father would love to jump on an airplane and fly to Michigan to share this moment with his son (I have a credit card...!), but I must be content to know that I will be seeking the Spirit today so that maybe my son can feel that this father's heart is with him today.
     He and his companion have also been teaching a woman who has come back to church. She asked for the missionaries to teach her children to get them ready for baptism. She has just recently been called to teach in Relief Society and is so thrilled to be back to church.

(In a later letter Robert told us that the mission president had been planning to pull missionaries out of this area as they had gone so long without any positive results. He was very grateful for two young missionaries who could seek and find some souls in this area.)
OCTOBER 6, 2008 ... Received an email from Robert, expressing the thought that for the first time in his life he wished General Conference was longer. I think he's finally discovered the spirit of the meeting.
NOVEMBER 22, 2008 ... received a letter dated Nov. 16th, which included this statement: “Things are going as good as they can. I'm not really having much success at the moment in teaching or finding people to teach, but we are working on it. We just got two possibly three or four more people to teach and probably even baptize in the next few months.” I promise will be writing him and explaining the contradiction in this letter – to me having three or four people to teach and baptize (sounds like it is a likely thing) sounds more like success than not. Knowing how many people a missionary teaches just to find the few that commit themselves to the Lord through baptism, I will also be sending words of encouragement in regards to the teaching and testifying.
Christmas 2008 ... Missionaries are allowed to call their family on Christmas, so we were eager for his call. He sounded happy and (gasp!) mature. He sounded like he knew he was about his father's business. He and his companion had been invited to someone's house for Christmas morning, and this kind family has presents and even stockings waiting for them.
     He and his companion had a baptism the week before - a single mother who had grown up in the church but had wandered away and was trying to find her way back. Robert takes no credit for this event as he transferred in and was only there to teach one lesson. (This father advised him that we shouldn't take credit anyway as it is the Holy Spirit who does all the converting.) A 'returned missionary' who had completed his missionary time flew in from California to perform the ordinance.
JANUARY 19, 2009 ... I received the following from Robert: "my mission is almost a quarter of the way done, and I am noticing that it's not much time... I'm running out of it.... I couldn't come home even if I wanted to..." Notice he didn't say he "wouldn't" come home; he said he "couldn't". It is exciting to know that he has received such a vision of missionary work.
     He also said they have an investigator who has set a baptismal date, and says that's all the good news he has for me this week. that's acceptable!
FEBRUARY 2009 ... Robert has a new companion who is "awesome," likes to cook, and more importantly cooks well.
     He and his companion had to drop some investigators recently. "I am sure you can remember how not-happy that is like," Robert wrote, "especially when they seemed to be extremely promising."
     I replied:

     Yes, Robert, I DO remember what it's like to drop investigators! I still have heartache for some wonderful investigators my companions and I had to drop. It has been thirty-three years since I came home from Japan, and I still remember some of them in my prayers, praying that other missionaries were able to help the Holy Spirit touch them and guide them. I can still describe their living room and what they were wearing, the Spirit was so sweet and the testimony so beautiful and the individuals so wonderful.
     This, Robert, is the heartache we call Love and the scriptures call Charity. This is the feeling Jesus has for those who go astray and aren't listening to Him - this is a clue as to what He felt as he called "Jerusalem, Jerusalem..." to the city and people He loved so much. Nephi said that he had charity for the Jews - the Jews who drove him and his family into the wilderness!
     Throughout your life you will become more familiar with this ache than you will wish, but it is a marvelous thing to be able to love like this. I won't trade this sort of Love for all the "comfort" and "convenience" a hardened heart only thinks it feels!
     Dear Son - the heartache you might be feeling over this is but a prelude to the love and ache you will feel for your own children... trust me on this one.

     He and his companion are teaching a woman who is very excited about the Gospel and about being baptized; "even more excited that we," he writes.
MARCH 2009 - Robert has been the third person in a threesome. he was told by the mission president that it was because the other two were not getting along; sort of the peacekeeper/shepherd role. It is a momentous moment in a father's life when one of their boys; so recently a teenager, is made a peacekeeper/shepherd. Robert, however is not completely thrilled with the role. A week after this news he writes and tells us that there's no peacekeeping needed; everyone seems to be getting along. Perhaps just have a third body there was the peace that was needed?
     Also, he was able to return to his former place to baptize a woman who has struggled with the Word of Wisdom and finally reached the point that she could be baptized. His official statement on how happy he was over this was: "Happy, Happy, Joy, Joy".
APRIL 2009 - Robert is in an area where he and his companion are covering three branches (smaller congregations). Besides the teaching they do while proselyting, he is also teaching Sunday School classes. "I enjoy teaching in church," says the boy who never carried his scriptures to class himself... 
MAY-JUNE 2009 - Robert is in a town that is a lakeside resort on one of the great lakes. The work is slow and they hate tracking (who doesn't?), so they are doing a lot of contacting less-active members and fellowshipping them.
JULY 2009 - after having great success in the town mentioned last month, where the real job was restoring the members' faith in missionaries, he was transferred to another place just as he was feeling the fruits of his labor there. This did not thrill him in the least and he had some pretty strong feelings. I wrote and told him to go ahead and be angry, throw your fit, express yourself, and then kneel and tell the Lord that he's thankful to serve Him and that he is still willing to follow Him. He pretty well did this before getting my advise, which made me feel good.