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Answered Prayer: Rush UMC’s journey of compassion and connection
July 28, 2025 / By Erma Perkins, Rush UMC
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On May 29, 2025, Rush United Methodist Church commissioned a missionary team to Empangeni, South Africa, continuing a partnership that has spanned more than two decades with Zululand Hospice and MusaweNkosi Orphanage. This year’s mission once again deepened relationships and offered lasting hope to all who participated. Erma Perkins, who has faithfully led the team for most of those years, described the experience as “a true moment of answered prayer.” Upon the team’s return, she shared the following reflection with the congregation.
E.M. Bounds, a 19th-century pastor in the Methodist Episcopal Church South, once wrote:
“We are rich and strong, good and holy, beneficent and benignant, by answered prayer. It is not the mere performance, the attitude, nor the words of prayer, which bring benefit to us, but it is the answer sent directly from heaven. Conscious, real answers to prayer bring ‘real’ good to us.”
How strange, the word benignant. Perhaps we know the word benign as in “the tumor is benign.” A simple definition from the dictionary is “not harmful in effect.” But the word carries a greater meaning than that – how does one feel when receiving news that a tumor is benign, rather than malignant. In this case it means favorable, and it means propitious (giving or indicating a good chance of success). It brings forth relief if not celebration.
As we were commissioned for our mission journey, we prayed to be blessed with courage, mercy, compassion, strength, and love for all those we would encounter. A well-meaning friend remarked, “Why not just send the money?” But I can tell you with certainty: there is a vast difference between writing a check and walking alongside Siza, Noreen, and Happiness—three Zulu care workers who daily face economic oppression, hunger, illness, poverty, and systemic prejudice.
To witness their resilience and faith in the midst of such hardship moves us beyond sympathy to something much deeper—an embodied mercy, compassion, and love that cannot be acquired secondhand.
During a previous visit, Happiness told us, “It’s us who know the patient and family and the problems. We can’t sleep at night thinking about them. It makes me grow and opens my eyes.”
Her words ring true for us as well. Our eyes have been opened. Our hearts have been changed. This, too, is the fruit of answered prayer.
Once again, the theme of our trip could easily be summed up in two words: Answered Prayer. And those answers began unfolding even before we left home—sometimes without us even realizing it.
I often tell the team that we travel like pack horses. Our luggage is filled with wound care supplies, acetaminophen, triple antibiotic ointment, and other medical necessities. Before we arrived, Jane Ashburner, the Palliative Care Nurse Manager, shared that the care workers had been arguing over who would receive the last three tubes of antibiotic cream. Imagine our amazement when we realized that the very last donation we had made the previous year had stretched just long enough—lasting until our return. If that isn’t an “answer sent directly from heaven,” I don’t know what is.
Each year, I’m entrusted with $500 to take Nurse Jane shopping for medical supplies. During one visit, I met a patient who was experiencing a burning sensation in her legs—a common side effect of anti-retroviral medications used to treat HIV/AIDS. I asked about the “blue gel” they typically use to ease that discomfort. Happiness, one of the care workers, quietly responded, “We’re out of stock.”
To know that I would be accompanying Jane to the pharmacy later that week felt truly beneficent and benignant. She finds such joy in filling carts with Ensure, blue gel, medications, and whatever else is needed. And in that moment, we knew—we were part of a provision that mattered deeply.
Pastor Kyle’s compassion was evident in his prayers for each patient he visited, his interactions with the staff, and his care for our team. He took two local pastors out to lunch and followed up with a letter to them.
His embracing these missions is a wonderful development for me. The partnership started between my employer, Lifetime Care Hospice and Zululand Hospice in 2003. Lifetime Care was bought by Rochester Regional Health in 2018 and they showed no interest in the partnership. A few friends and I were able to continue our support because our Administrative Assistant, Barb Kingsley collects the funds raised and wires them. The church hosts our fundraisers and people shop and donate. However I did not have people traveling with me witnessing the need and the work since 2014 until this year. I no longer wonder if the partnership will survive me. I’m 80 years old and overflowing with gratitude for Pastor Kyle and the four women from Rush UMC who have walked the paths of the Kwa-Zulu Natal.
"When painful realities assume a human face to whom we can put a name and to whose story we can listen, a meeting of human hearts takes place. Such heart encounters possess the power to uncover the more compassionate dimensions of our natures… They do not so much need the skills of our hands or the knowledge of our minds as they do the compassion of our hearts,” wrote Trevor Hudson in A Mile in My Shoes: Cultivating Compassion.
One of the greatest blessings of this year’s mission was the diversity of our team, which allowed for a wide and meaningful range of outreach. While some team members were out visiting patients, others provided much-needed IT support and helped implement updated accounting practices. There was also no shortage of work to be done in the resale “Charity” shop—an essential source of ongoing support for Zululand Hospice.
And then, of course, there was the orphanage.
We were grateful for the opportunity to visit MusaweNkosi, a children’s home that holds a special place in our hearts. Each visit deepens the meaning of scriptures like Psalm 82:
“Give justice to the lowly and the orphan; maintain the right of the poor and destitute! Rescue the lowly and the needy.”
The orphanage continues to face challenges. The Department of Social Development has expressed concern over how MusaweNkosi staff allocate their limited resources. Yet, in the face of these tensions, the commitment of the staff to care for the children remains steadfast—and our support continues to be both needed and deeply valued.
Government officials have urged the orphanage to focus on improving the facilities and access road. However, the staff remains deeply committed to serving the poor and vulnerable in the surrounding community. They believe their limited resources are best spent on direct support—providing job training and essential care. One of the key leaders, Papa Jobe, has even planted a church at a local school in response to the community’s request for strong, biblically grounded teaching.
During the team’s visit, the 28 children at the orphanage welcomed them with joyful song and dance—a celebration filled with energy and warmth. Two team members even joined in, bravely stepping into the rhythm of the moment.
The orphanage has also expanded its outreach to a nearby area called Nseleni, where 35 children are now welcomed after school for a nourishing meal, music, games, and help with homework—a vital ministry of care and consistency.
There is no doubt that Rush UMC’s mission to South Africa was marked by answered prayers. As is so often the case with trips like these, the blessings flowed both ways. The team members received just as much—if not more—than they gave.
Thank you for your prayers that we would be a blessing. We are rich and strong, good and holy, by answered prayer.