25th ID spouses get spiritually fit

By Vanessa Lynch, U.S. Army Garrison-Hawaii Public AffairsMay 17, 2011

25th ID spouses get spiritually fit
(Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL

SCHOFIELD BARRACKS, Hawaii - An evening of prayer and laughter filled the Post Conference Room, here, during a spiritual dinner for spouses of deployed Soldiers, May 4.

About 30 spouses from 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, and 3rd BCT, 25th ID, gathered to pray for loved ones downrange and to gain insight on how to make it through the next few months of deployment or redeployment.

"Our goal tonight was to encourage the spouses spiritually, so that they would feel confident and hopeful about the return of their Soldiers," said Chaplain (Capt.) Ronaldo Pascua, rear detachment chaplain, 2nd BCT. "We just don't pray out of routine. We truly believe God hears our prayers."

The 2nd BCT "Warriors" will be redeploying, here, beginning in June, and for Maggie Marcelli, the reunion will have a different meaning.

"This will be the first time we will get to live together as man and wife," said Marcelli, who married Staff Sgt. David Marcelli, 225th Bde. Support Battalion, 2nd BCT, during his rest and recuperation in January. "I'm just looking forward to having a sense of normalcy and being able to do things with him."

Lei were given out to the members of a prayer group. The group meets every Wednesday to lift up all the names of the deployed Soldiers in prayer.

"Some days you can be on a high, while on others, you are in the pits of despair," said Chaplain (Lt. Col.) Jose Rodriguez, deputy chaplain, U.S. Army Garrison-Hawaii. "If you feel like you cannot get through this deployment alone, well, you cannot. Join a group and pray together, and you will find strength."