Why Pakistan? I am being called here. There is no way I would have been able to coordinate what has been done so far without God’s divine intervention. The day this all became possible was the same day I felt the most discouraged. My father told me I need to find any other location on the globe because Pakistan was just impossible with our current circumstances. I clenched my teeth and nodded my head. He left, and I just could not think of anything else to do to change his mind.

I bowed my head and prayed, God, I surrender this trip to you. Only you can make this possible. I cannot do this alone. You are in control. If you want me to go, you can make it happen. If not, then you have something better planned for me. A few minutes later, my father walked back into the room and said we can take the clinic to them.

"This moment is the clearest encounter I have ever had with surrender."

I still believe that the Pakistan clinic will not come to be because of my will. This is all God’s plan. He can make the impossible possible. He can make a small group in a tiny town in Michigan start a chain reaction that will revolutionize mental healthcare in Pakistan and potentially all of South Asia. If something happens that ends this trip, I am confident Christ will lead us in another direction greater than anyone can imagine.

A Crisis in Mental Health

While I was in Pakistan, I met with a girl suffering from depression, anxiety, and suicidal ideations. She made it clear that her family does not know. But who could she tell? And despite common sense, it is a good thing she didn’t tell her family—because what could they do? If you had a daughter struggling with mental health, you would seek help from therapists or psychiatrists. But what if you do not have therapists or psychiatrists?

In Pakistan, there are only 0.19 psychiatrists per 100,000 people, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). If a girl tells her mother she has depression, the most her mother can do is tell her to go to sleep and hope things will be better the next day. But depression—or any other mental health disease—is not that simple! The brain undergoes physical changes, and some people cannot simply walk out of that with a little bit of time.

Empty the Safe Houses!

A current ministry in Pakistan is buying people out of slavery. They house former slaves and sexual assault survivors in miniature apartments. I was able to personally tour another apartment they are building to house more people they save from slavery.

Specifically, they told me the story of a man someone in the UK bought from slavery. He lived in a small apartment for a few weeks and then tried to commit suicide. The most they could do for him was send him to a safe house! It merely covers and delays the symptoms without treating the underlying problem.

"My vision for this trip is to empty the apartments. Empty the safe houses!"

I envision my team helping these former slaves and sexual assault survivors become thrivers with functional lives instead of just trying to survive in an apartment. If we can impact this generation, the entire country could exponentially improve its global reputation.