Hawaiian soldier killed in Iraq had been considering religious life

Published: 2006-01-13

HONOLULU (CNS) -- Family and friends said a U.S. soldier from Hawaii who was killed in Iraq on Christmas Eve felt honored to serve her country but that she also was contemplating a different kind of service -- religious life. Sister Susan John Kraus, a Daughter of St. Paul, said Sgt. Myla Maravillosa was thinking of joining her order. She said it was clear from her e-mails that Maravillosa "was growing in her spiritual life" and that "her relationship with the Lord had really deepened." In one of those messages, written just before she went to Iraq, the soldier admitted to being "scared a little bit." However, "God has been inviting me to remain in him," Maravillosa wrote. "If I remain in him, he will see me through and carry me home." Maravillosa, 24, was an interrogator for the U.S. Army Reserve's 301st Military Intelligence Battalion based at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Md. She had only been in Iraq since Nov. 20 and was the second female U.S. soldier to be killed there.

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