Oprah Winfrey Hosts a Worldwide Marriage Encounter Couple

On her show this week, themed Married Couples and Love Stories, Oprah Winfrey had as her guests a Worldwide Marriage Encounter couple from Texas--Alton and Patricia Hassell. Oprah announced with exuberance "This is something that you can do!" and her audience of millions got a chance to see that married couples all over the world can have terrific marriages and communicate in a loving manner with one another on a daily basis.

Alton and Patricia Hassell shared that they had been writing love letters to one another for the last 27 years. Patricia commented that it is something that we will always do. Alton went onto explain that the concept had been introduced to them when they attended a Worldwide Marriage Encounter weekend. "At first it was hard to write every day, but then it became more natural," said Alton. Writing love letter to one another is such a part of their daily routine that they have 105 pounds of notebooks filled with them.

The Weekend

A Worldwide Marriage Encounter weekend begins on a Friday evening and ends on the Sunday afternoon. The focus during the weekend is in regards to communication between husbands and wives. Within an environment that is conducive to reducing the distractions, stress and tensions of the outside world, couples learn to focus on one another and their relationship. The weekends are not considered a retreat, marriage clinic, group sensitivity, or a substitute for counseling. Group sharing does not occur and couples are never asked to share during the weekend. They are an uncommon approach towards revitalizing marriages. The weekend is a time for couples get the chance to be alone together, to rediscover one another, and to center entirely on their relationship.