Today we’d like to introduce you to Harryson & Sheena Prophete.
Hi Harryson & Sheena, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
Our story follows the boy meets girl, girl and boy fall in love and they live happily ever after storyline, but like in every successful love story, there’s more to it than that.
We met through serving in our own respective churches that collaborated for an event, we spent 5 years really getting to know each other, and like in every girl’s dream, we got engaged in front of the Walt Disney World castle on the 4th of July during the fireworks show, where thousands of strangers cheered us on when she said yes. We have now been together for over 20 years and have two beautiful children.
Seems perfect right? Well, it wouldn’t be a true fairytale, without a villain, and the one in our story goes by the name of “sickness.” A true “bad guy” putting our “in sickness and in health” vows through the hardest test. We believe that every marriage has a “villain” that can creep up, but by only working together it can be defeated!
In 2014 Minister Prophete was diagnosed with end-stage renal failure that led to multiple surgeries ending in 3 flat lines, a week in a medically induced coma, 2 organ transplant rejections and close to 50 surgeries. Sheena stood by every minute and refused to leave his side, but she had to endure the uncertainty of possibly being a widow and a single mother of two. Holding on to our faith, we got through it as one, knowing that we could not do this alone.
Today, by the grace of God, we have defeated our villain and are managing well. Our union has not only grown stronger through this adversity, but our battle has given birth to our life’s purpose, which is to see that all other unions learn to become “one” and succeed in the fight of their own “villains”.
With this purpose in heart and mind, we became certified marriage mentors and created Love Works Mentoring, a mentoring service to provide new and established couples with the tools they need to make love work and stand together as a unit. (We must credit the people that we believe are God-sends to this cause, Androcles and Mechell Duran also Jenniffer Chierico.) We know through experience that it is not easy learning to become “one”, and life will have crosses to bear and challenges to face, but we are honored to have guided more than 350 couples through their love story, whether through one on one sessions, panel discussions, officiating weddings or small group gatherings, we make sure that they are well equipped to defeat whatever “villain” that comes their way.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
From the start; this is something, to be honest, we never saw ourselves doing. We felt compelled, obligated, “called” to this mission. We knew nothing about business, nothing about servicing people outside of the church grounds and never imagined guiding others while sometimes struggling ourselves. Not to mention not wanting to get in to the messiness of other peoples lives, but our faith drove us to understand that God can take any mess and make it a masterpiece. This out weighed our own doubts and hang-ups, leading us to become not only educated, but truly live a marriage that others hoped for. We realized that we where our biggest obstacle and once we came into alignment with one another there was nothing we couldn’t do!
Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Love Works Mentoring?
We are a marital mentoring service, which specialize in facilitating growth through education within the courting, engagement, and marriage journey by using psychological, social science and faith based tools. We operate as a husband and wife team and service all clients virtually.
One of the groups of people we mentor are courting and engaged couples. With poor dating habits and divorce rates at all time highs, there is an increasing reluctance to make the commitment, but there shouldn’t be! Marriage is one of the most rewarding things in life and all it takes is the proper guidance and education to make sure you are well equipped with the tools needed to overcome adversities. Research has shown that 76% of married couples say they wish they had pre-marriage education. And that is because it is so crucial to the success of a marriage that you know what you are getting into and how to handle all possible obstacles before you take the leap. You wouldn’t go zip-lining without a harness or helmet would you? Or build a house without a proper foundation? So why would you take vows for marriage without the necessary preparation?
The other group of people we work with are married couples. As is natural in any long-term relationship, you may be experiencing some turbulence. You would be surprised at how far a guided sit down and evaluation of your circumstances can help to patch up small holes in the relationship and even make you fall in love all over again. Here are some interesting statistics:
1) Couples who do not receive marital education are more likely to see their problems as typical and unsolvable.
2) 41% of divorced couples say that the lack of marital education contributed to their divorce.
3) Couples are 31% less likely to get divorced if they get some sort of marital education.
You still oil up a working car right? Your marriage is the same and deserves the same care and attention for long-term maintenance.
Most of the engaged couples we counsel also request Minister Prophete to Officiate there weddings which is also a service we provide. We also make ourselves available for speaking engagements, panel discussions and marriage conferences.
What has been the most important lesson you’ve learned along your journey?
The biggest lesson we have learned in this journey is that it takes two willing parties to make love work. It seems simple enough, but it is far more complicated than most people realize. In a world that priorities “me over we”, marriage has been devalued and is no longer sacred and this dismissive view of marriage can severely damage the potentiality of growing in hardship together. “For rich or for poor in sickness and in health, forsaking all others” becomes a suggestion and no longer is understood as a sacred vow before God. Both need to be on the same ship heading in the same direction or they will inevitably end up as two separate ships just passing by one another in the night. But as long as both are willing, there is hope.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://marriagementoring1.wixsite.com/loveworksmentoring
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/prophete_queenshee?igsh=b3dieDZoOXd4dGdy
