Those words were whispered by a young woman in response to a Bible college chapel challenge presented by a Muslim-background believer in a missions service, as he shared God’s message to Isaiah: “Whom shall I send, and who will go for me?” (Isa. 6:1-8) As a young single woman, Valerie Anderson did not feel equipped to take the gospel to the “10/40 window” Muslim world; but, if no one else would say “yes,” she “reluctantly” agreed to go—if God chose to use her.
Born to missionary-pioneer parents, Vernon and Darlene Anderson, Valerie was reared in her early years in the Philippines and Indonesia. She sensed God’s call on her life as a junior in high school; and, observing that many women were involved in teaching ministries, she majored in elementary education in college. Valerie’s parents had suffered the loss of an 11-year-old daughter to spinal meningitis while planting churches in the Philippines. Undeterred by this personal setback, they founded the “Things to Come” mission agency. Church planters who have gone out under this banner have established lasting works in several countries besides the Philippines, including Indonesia and Kenya.
So, with her upbringing and education, Valerie was specially equipped to do the work of a missionary, even as a single woman. Her first assignment was in the Dominican Republic, where she spent three years teaching primarily unchurched children in an international school that had a predominantly Catholic student body. From there, the Lord directed Valerie to Nairobi, Kenya, to teach grades 1-3 in an academy that consisted of a mixture of missionary children and international children of other religions. While there, Valerie devoted her vacation times to assisting in the work of the “Things to Come” ministry.
After a year in the states pursuing a Master’s degree in Curriculum and Instruction from the University of Missouri, Valerie followed the Lord’s leading to Senegal, West Africa—where, at last, she was able to minister in a Muslim world. She spent the next eight years at Dakar Academy, a school for both missionary and international students. Spending three years teaching grades 1-5, she rounded out her work there in administration as the Assistant Director of the Academy. From Senegal, this once cautious and “reluctant” volunteer accepted the call to Turkey, a country that at that time was 99% Muslim, with just 3,000 known, professing Christians in a population of 75 million. She served in Turkey as principal of a school from 2008 to 2012. On more than one occasion, she left what had become a comfort zone to follow her Lord’s leading deeply into the Muslim world. Every step of this “unchartered” journey was a step of faith, teaching Valerie to lean more each day on her guiding God, solely by faith. In her 30 years of overseas ministry, this once rather timid young lady returned to the states just once for a furlough.
Finally, Valerie spent three years in Tunisia, North Africa, teaching and coordinating a homeschool co-op for missionary children, before she returned home to Indianapolis to answer the need of a caregiver for her aged mother, whose health was failing. Having been in foreign countries for years, she did not have a car, so one of her first endeavors back in the U.S. was to find a reliable automobile. What to do?
Well, Valerie’s mother introduced her to Pete Wynalda, a retired Indianapolis policeman, who agreed to help Valerie find a dependable car. The whole process took some time, and, as the Lord would have it, in the course of finding a car, the casual friendship of Valerie and Pete became a friendship that was more than casual. In 2016, Valerie’s life-long journey—to that point, as a single person—blossomed in a beautiful marriage ceremony at the altar in the auditorium of Thompson Road Baptist Church.
Valerie’s mother was ushered into her Savior’s presence in 2024, and Valerie now works in the home office of the “Things to Come” mission here in Indianapolis. Her love of Christ is infectious, and her dedication to the ministry of church-planting missions is ongoing. She and Pete are an inspiring duo, and the vision that Vernon and Darlene Anderson had of planting “Grace” churches wherever and whenever possible continues through the ministry of many, including Valerie and Pete as well as a brother of Valerie—who once said that the work of “Things to Come” could not be thwarted even if he wanted it stopped. Missionaries starting churches and discipling believers, who in turn start churches, out of which come more disciples, who then start more churches. No one can reverse the ripple effect of churches starting churches world-wide, even if one should want to!
Valerie Anderson Wynalda can look back on a life well-spent, with no regrets that—as a junior in Bible College—she reluctantly but sincerely said “Yes” to the still, small voice during the invitation when the Spirit asked, “Will you go?”
“Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I: send me.” (Isa.1:8)
YOU and GOD 