From the mission field: Preparing to deploy

Marie Lowitz gives a presentation on her upcoming missionary work to attendees of the Beautiful Feet Conference at Concordia University Wisconsin, Mequon, Wis., in November 2025. (Maggie Leimkuelher)

Daniel and Marie Lowitz recently completed their LCMS missionary training. They will move to the Dominican Republic (DR) in 2026 to serve in the LCMS Latin America and the Caribbean region. In a recent newsletter, they wrote about their preparations for deployment. That article, edited for this space, is provided below.

November has been a month filled with blessings, joy and action! To start off, we were able to go back to our college, Concordia University Wisconsin, Mequon, Wis., and present at CUW’s Beautiful Feet Mission Conference on the topic, “Faith on the Move: From Campus to the Caribbean and Beyond.”

This was an incredible honor because Marie had attended the Beautiful Feet conference three times as a student. Not only that, but Marie reconnected with Chelsea Irwin, an LCMS missionary in the Czech Republic who had guided Marie’s short-term mission team during a trip in 2023.

After presenting in Wisconsin, we headed back to St. Louis for the final phase of training at the LCMS International Center. It was such a joy seeing familiar faces and discussing all the adventures since the last time we saw one another. This phase was very informative as we focused on saying goodbye to loved ones, reconnecting with the missionaries in the DR, and receiving resilience training for the transition and on the field. A moment that stays with me happened during our final phase together. During Evening Prayer, we recited the Lord’s Prayer together, aware that in just a few months, we will all be scattered across the world. We knew we would be saying that same prayer in different languages yet still connected as one family in Christ.

Language classes have officially begun for Marie, and Daniel will begin in December, with both their weekly hours gradually increasing. The classes so far have been such a joyful time. Marie’s Spanish teacher was very determined to help her roll her r’s. However, upon trying multiple times, each time sounding worse than the last, they spent about five minutes laughing together before moving on.

The next phase of our preparations includes working on getting our Dominican visas so we can deploy in April. We had a few hiccups along the way, but now we’re well on our way to sending in all our paperwork on time with minimal stress.

Thank you so much for your partnership with us as we serve the Lord together.

Learn more about the Lowitzes and their missionary service at lcms.org/lowitz.

Posted Jan. 9, 2026