Vicar Daniel & Rachel Heitshusen
My name is Daniel Heitshusen, and my wife Rachel and I are thrilled to be here at Hanover Lutheran Church for my Vicarage year and have been since Call Day back in April! Throughout July, we were touched by all the support and prayers we received from each of you as we sat in the hospital with our family member. It meant the world to us and made us even more excited to come and be a part of Hanover!
My dad is a Pastor, so I have lived all over the place. My younger brother, Ben, and I were born in Orlando, FL. We moved to Athens, GA, and then to Houston, TX in 2006, where I lived until going off to college at Concordia University in Seward, NE. It was at Concordia that I met my lovely wife, Rachel. She grew up in Joplin, MO and Carl Junction, MO (right outside of Joplin) her whole life. She has an older brother, Jonathan, who is married and has one son and another child who will be born any day now! Rachel and I met literally on day 1 of college, and I asked her out on day 4. We both graduated after 3 years with a B.A. in Theology, got married August 1, 2020, and moved to St. Louis to go to Concordia Seminary, where I am studying to be a Pastor and Rachel is studying to be a Deaconess.
Everyone else knew I would be a Pastor before I knew. I first knew I wanted to go into Church Work back in 2014 at a youth retreat put on by Concordia University in Austin, TX. But at that time, I did not know if I should be a Director of Christian Education or a Pastor. It wasn’t until my time at Concordia Seward that I knew I would be going to Concordia Seminary to be a Pastor, and it came down to the realization that everything a Pastor did, I wanted to do – I wanted to serve God’s people through preaching, teaching, administering baptism and the Lord’s Supper, visiting the sick and shut ins, and so on. And by the grace of God, I am here at Hanover for my vicarage!
Rachel has already completed all the coursework and the internship to become a Deaconess, and all she has left is to take a test. Once that’s done, she can be certified, graduate, and receive a Call. She first knew she wanted to be a Deaconess in high school after seeing a video about all that a Deaconess can do and thinking, “I want to do all of that!”
Rachel and I want to say again how excited we are to be a part of Hanover Lutheran Church for my vicarage! We are also so incredibly grateful for the house that you have for us, and for your help moving, and again for your prayers and support during our family member’s hospital stay. Thank you to each of you!