Our Missionary: Valerie Stonebreaker
Valerie Stonebreaker first became interested in missions while teaching at Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Elementary School in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Along with her students, she supported the work of Lutheran Bible Translators through prayer and chapel offerings. After changing careers and moving to Turlock, California, where she joined Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Valerie once again felt the call to missions. In December 1997, she became a Volunteer Missionary with LCMS World Mission in Dapaong. Valerie served as teacher for the children of three career missionary families through June 2001, From September 2001 through June 2009, Valerie served as an LCMS World Mission volunteer missionary, working with the Lutheran Church of Togo (l'Eglise Lutherienne du Togo, L'ELT) and the Lutheran Theological Center (CLET). Her various service opportunities included teaching English in the local high school as well as at the Theological Center, working with the youth in the Dapaong Lutheran Parish, teaching English to children in a local orphanage school, working with Lutheran Church leaders in translation needs, and continuing to build and strengthen relationships with many young people with whom she worked. From time to time, she helped fill needs in teaching new missionary kids.
In June 2009, LCMS World Mission withdrew its missionary presence from Togo, and Valerie could no longer serve with LCMS there. Desiring to remain in Togo, she took a teaching position at an international school in the capital city of Lome, where she taught an English preschool class in a predominately French School.
Now returning to Togo as a Lutheran missionary called by the Lutheran Church of Togo, Valerie will work with the Lutheran Church and the Lutheran Theological Center. She will serve the Lord and the Lutheran Church of Togo in various ways, including teaching English, working with Lutheran youth, working with the wives and children of seminary students, and serving in the Theological Center Library.