At the beginning of April, 45 Members of Parliament (MPs) took the 5-day journey with one of our teams through our Trauma Counseling program.

MP Garang Mawien testified that he learned a lot in this five days of training with our team. "I have learned how to build trust," Mawien said. "I have also learned that unforgiveness keeps us in prison [and] I realized that for a long time I have been in that prison." He thanked our team for helping him and his fellow MPs find freedom from that self-imprisonment.

MP Garang Kuol Mabior shared with us the promise he made to himself to use the training to become "an ambassador of peace" to his constituencies.

One of the most inspiring testimonies came from MP Madelena Agar. Following the loss of her husband, she had to grieve without community due to her late husband's relatives blaming her that she hadn't done enough to save him while he was sick.

The accusations of Madelena's in-laws left her hurt and traumatized, but through the training she was able to forgive everyone. It takes a lot of courage to openly share such personal struggles and to seek God’s love. It's very exciting to hear how God has healed her from the pain and isolation she had been experiencing.

MP Angelina Ibrahim let us know how rare training comparable to ours was to find. She speculated that it couldn't even be found in universities and that if it could it would be expensive and often unattainable. Through the training, Angelina said she has been blessed to learn how to forgive others and herself.

Assembly Speaker Achol William Amoi - for the Northern Bahr El Ghazal State Legislative Assembly - awarded Favor a certificate of appreciation and requested the training be brought to the remaining 55 MPs who hadn't participated in this training. She further encouraged the MPs present for the training not to keep the teaching to themselves but to share it with their communities.

We thank God for the hearts of these leaders who have been transformed by the power of forgiveness and we pray this continues opening more doors for the Good News of Jesus to be shared!