Women Who Inspire: Donna Blanchard Living a Missions Life
Cyndi Kay Green: Will you please introduce yourself to our readers and give us a little background information.
Donna Blanchard: My husband, David, and I were married on May 29, 1982 and will be celebrating 39 years of marriage in 2021.
We have three grown children and four grandchildren. Our oldest daughter, Becky, is a full-time missionary to Asia living in Indonesia. Our middle daughter, Christine, and her husband Sethry Connor are part of the Lead Pastors staff at a church in Loveland, Colorado. Christine and Sethry have four children Clara, Jadon, Hudson, and Charlotte. The youngest Blanchard, son Jon is a Welding Engineer in Houston and is very active in his local church. I enjoy the great outdoors, skiing, hiking, biking, and swimming. I am an avid reader, and I read at least 2 books a month, while starting an additional 3 books on the side.
I am the Co-Founder and Vice President of Victorious Christian Harvesters, as well as the Co-Director and a Professor at the International Harvesters Institute Bible School that I and David founded in 2001, located Nuevo Laredo, Mexico. I have been in the ministry for over 40 years teaching the practical word of God at women’s meetings, Pastor’s conferences, and youth events all over the world. I am also a “dream Interpreter” as well as training others to flow in spontaneous worship, by being the head of the worship department at the school in Mexico. (FAMILY PHOTO WAS HERE)
CKG: Can you give us a summary on your journey with Christ — from the time you accepted Christ, to how you started in ministry.
DB: I grew up in the small town in Western Kansas called Garden City. I was raised in a Catholic home with five brothers and two sisters. At the age of eight, I discovered that confessing my sins to a Priest was not working. I decided I would go straight to God and skip the middleman. I found that confessing my sins directly to God worked much better. At the age of 16 I went to a “Catholic – Protestant” church camp and met the power of the Holy Spirit and I have never been the same.
My freshmen year in college I was asking the Lord where I should go to complete my degree in Psychology. Being from Kansas I thought the choices were very limited. During one of my classes I noticed a young lady across from me that had a t-Shirt that read, “Emporia State University” as soon as I read that I heard the Lord speak to my heart that this was where I was to go the following year. I left class and went immediately to the counselor’s office to begin the enrollment process. I had no idea that my future husband was in the very city praying for the Lord to please bring him his wife.
I met David shortly after arriving however I was not interested in dating anyone, especially a guy who was looking for a wife, or so the rumor had it. We became friends and soon we were ministering together with teenagers, as David was the director of “Youth For Christ” in Emporia.
We knew that God had put us together and we were engaged and married 18 months after we met in May of 1982. We lived another four years in Emporia, where we had our two daughters, Rebecca, and Christine.
CKG: Tell us about Victorious Christian Harvesters and how it began.
DB: David and I had been taking teenagers on mission trips overseas for some time. We found it was so expensive and many young people were unable to take part due to the cost of an overseas mission trip. We wanted as many young people as possible to experience God in a different way, on a mission trip. Our Pastor in Emporia, Jim Kegin, suggested that instead of taking the youth to the other side of the world why not next door to Mexico. He had an elder in the church who had a contact in Mexico. It was much more economical to take a trip to Mexico than India. We contacted the missionary in Mexico and began to take teams for two weeks at a time into Mexico for a fraction of the cost of an overseas mission trip.
In 1985, after several trips to Mexico with youth teams the missionary contacted and asked David when he was coming back? David told him, “Next summer I believe,” but the missionary clarified and said, “No I mean to stay? We began to pray, and we felt the Lord was preparing us for our next assignment. After some time, the Lord spoke to David, “Go, you have much to learn in a short time”. It was January of 1986 when we packed all of our earthly belongings in the back of a farm truck and moved south to begin our work in Mexico.
We worked with a mission organization called, “Latin American Bible Church Mission.” David traveled 2 weeks out of every month with the founder all over Mexico. The primary call of this organization was to build churches throughout the jungles and desert areas of Mexico. We hosted mission teams of young people from all over America while we worked at LABCM.
I had our third child, Jonathan in 1987 and I was a stay at home mom during those first years of David’s training. In 1990 I began to work at the LABCM offices in computer database department two days per week. Our summer months consisted of back to back Mission Teams from the United States from June-July. The month of August we would pack up our family head north and speak at churches raising support for our work in Mexico. Often, I would be at a local Walmart somewhere buying school supplies for the kids upcoming school year that began as soon as we returned home. We would pull in town on late Sunday night and the kids would be off to a new school year the next morning.
One day in a prayer meeting the Lord spoke to David through a vision. He saw all of Mexico covered with ocean waves, and when the waves left, they did not leave foam on the beaches they left big black Bibles all over, with large gold crosses on them. The Lord spoke to him to get out His Word and it will not return empty or void without accomplishing what He sent it to do. David ask the Lord how many Bibles do you want me to get out? The Lord responded, “How many souls to you want to see saved?” David responded, I am not Billy Graham, or T.L. Osborn but I would like to win ONE MILLION SOULS for your kingdom. Then the Lord responded, “Then get ONE MILLION BIBLES FOR ONE MILLION SOULS. In 1992 we felt the Lord moving us once again. We were grateful for the training we had received from LABCM; however, we knew in order to fulfill the vision we had to move in another direction. We met with the founder and shared the vision, he along with Lester Sumrall, Pastor Billy Joe Daugherty, and Marilyn Hickey all confirmed that it was time to step out the make the vision a reality.
David and I founded Victorious Christian Harvesters in 1992 from our garage. I had found a photo of a hand with wheat in it and we had a graphic artist make it into our logo that symbolizes our name, “Victorious Christian Harvesters”. ONE MILLION BIBLES FOR ONE MILLION SOULS, was our goal and we never looked back. That first year we saw 4,595 people give their lives to the Lord and we gave out 5,5120 Bibles to those without. We continued to host mission teams from all over America as the Lord made it clear that we were to continue to host teams. These teams helped make the results of that year possible. That was a far cry from One Million, but we were on our way.
CKG: Tell us about the Bible school and it’s beginning.
DB: In 1997 David and I had been praying for confirmation on the next step. David was praying on a piece of property when he found a square rock. As he picked that rock up the Lord spoke to him and said, “Jesus is the Cornerstone that came to destroy the works of the devil. So, you too will raise up nationals to destroy the works of the devil.” Then the Lord said, International Harvesters Institute.” He knew the Lord had given the name of our school with that word. We began construction on the International Harvesters Institute located in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico in 1997. We opened its doors in September of 2001. Upon beginning the School, the Lord spoke to David saying, “2001 you have only just begun”. We took that to mean we are now truly making disciples. We lived ate and breathed the vision of “One Million Bibles for One Million Souls”. That was our mission for 27 years from 1992 to 2016 when we, to the Glory of God, reached the goal of One Million Bibles for One Million Souls.
In 2010 the Blanchard’s formed a national movement in Mexico called INVASION where thousands of young people are trained in effective evangelism. It was in great part because of this movement that VCH reached the Million Bibles, Million Souls mark. Since the INVASIONS began, they along with their teams have trained over 43,004 people from 5,482 churches from all over Mexico, how to effectively share their faith. Those trained are still actively sharing their faith today and making disciples in the local church. Both Donna and her husband are ordained ministers fulfilling the call of God on their lives.
CKG: How can people attend the Bible school? Is it available online?
DB: The International Harvesters Institute in Nuevo Laredo Mexico is a two-year program for day students and 3 years for night students. We have students from all over Mexico and occasionally we have students from the U.S. attend as well. We also offer our Bible School online with state-of-the-art technology. We are currently offer classes by Zoom during the day, due to COVID.
CKG: What are the aspects of your Missionary Training program?
DB: Missionaries receive 1,400 classroom hours of biblical studies and 500 hours of practical training. They also are involved in our local food outreaches, children’s ministry, mission trips and evangelism outreaches like INVASION. Americans who have interest in becoming Full-Time Missionaries in Latin America can apply on line at our webpage www.vcharvester.org Once they graduate they are fluent in Spanish and are prepared to be a part of the full-time staff of VCH upon their applications acceptance.
Our graduates from Mexico, upon graduating, who feel called to be a missionary to Mexico or aboard, are offered and begin their journey in ministry with the opportunity to live in the communities of remote villages with our Pastors or other contacts.
CKG: Please share an instance of God’s Miracles in your missionary work.
DB: As you read the life of Jesus it seemed as He went on His way, there were people whom He would encounter at a time of great need in their lives. He would be at the right place at the right time and minister the love of our Father God in many ways.
That has happened to me many times. I would be in the right place at the right time and God’s love and compassion would be demonstrated in such a natural way, that even though it was a supernatural miracle it was simple the Father manifested through one of His children.
On one such occasion I was working in the pharmacy of one of our medical clinics. One of the missionaries came to me and said that she needed me to come immediately to the dentist area of the clinic. I wasn’t told what the emergency was but as I walked into the large room that we had partitioned off for consultation rooms, I could sense death. My eyes then focused on the far end of the room and I saw two doctors, one nurse and the dentist form Mexico City, standing over a young mother on the floor. They had been preforming CPR with no results for 25 minutes. Rita, the young mother, had a severe reaction to the Novocain and her heart stopped beating. As I walked up to her body lying on the floor, these words of authority came our of my mouth as I pointed at her and kept repeating, “This is not the day that you are going to die, today is not the day you will die. Do you hear me young lady?” As I was still speaking the nurse took her pulse again and shouted, “I have a pulse!” I told them to sit her up on a chair. She looked dazed as she looked around at us. She told us that she was in a beautiful garden filled with the most brilliant flowers she had ever seen, and the fragrance was amazing. Rita had a glimpse of heaven! I later found out she had three small children waiting at home for her. Thank you Jesus! His power was present to restore life!
On another medical clinic we had an eye doctor who had shared that he really wanted to see God move on this trip. A woman came who needed to see the eye doctor. Upon examination the Doctor stated that she had glaucoma in one eye and a cataract in the other. She told us that she had cataract surgery only for one eye but could not afford to have the surgery for the glaucoma. I translated for the doctor and hold him what she had said. He looked at me and said, “She must understand the severity of situation. She must have surgery done immediately or she could lose her eyesight,” as he handed her anti-bacterial eye drops.” I told the doctor; did you hear what she said? She does not have any money for the surgery”. He looked at me and said, “What are we going to do about this”. I looked at him and said, “We are going to pray, and watch God move”. I told him, “Doc, you are going to pray, and I am going to translate!” He looked at me and turned to the woman and put his hands on her eyes and said a simple prayer over her eyes, asking God to restore each area of her eyes, as he knew what she needed. When he removed his hands from her eyes, to his surprise the woman told him she could see perfectly from both eyes. She held up the eye drops and ask me, “What do I do with this? I don’t need it now do I?” She handed it back to the Doctor. He had tears in his eyes as he had just witnessed a miracle right before his eyes.
CKG: Do you think miracles happen more in locations where people aren’t saturated with the availability to take care of things themselves? For instance, in the states, we are very rarely far away from a store, a job, or some way to get assistance, but in the remote areas of some countries, they have no way to get needs met other than having absolute faith.
DB: Yes, however a life of faith is for everybody. Hudson Taylor, the great missionary to China came from a well to do family, yet the closer he walked with the Lord the greater his desire to win China for God grew. He determined he would learn to live by faith, only telling God his needs. He moved to a poor area of city where he was studying medicine. He spent his days studying medicine and his nights working at a clinic. He received a meager income that did not pay all his expenses. He could have asked his family for the needed funds, yet he was determined to learn to live by faith before he left his home country. He reasoned I must learn to be completely dependent on God here in my own country, so when I travel to the dark continent of China, I will have already proven God’s faithfulness. There were many times it required great self-control and obedience to the voice of the Lord. Yet time and time again, God was faithful.
So, to answer the question yes and no. You see lessons can be learned if the student is a willing pupil no matter where you live. Yes, because the simple people in third world countries tend to have childlike faith and receive upon hearing. They do not have anything to fall back on. We must choose to fall back on God every time! Don’t get me wrong there is nothing wrong with having the comforts of life but a fast from them every now and again is a good thing.
CKG: Share an instance of God answering a prayer in your life.
DB: In 2002 we had a terrible tragedy take place. My, and husband and I were traveling back from another part of Mexico from Evangelism Training Seminar, when we received a call from our administrator that there has been a fatal accident just outside of Monterrey that involved one of our two 15 passenger vans. Our Summer Interns and our Missionary Staff were heading back from a ten-day mission trip from Mexico City. Just outside of Monterrey the left rear tire blew out on one of the vans and it went out of control and flipped three times. Our two daughters along with eight other people were in that van. David and I made the necessary preparations and immediately headed towards Monterrey, three hours south of us. We were in contact with the US consulate who knew exactly which hospital each of our team members were taken to.
The van had landed on its roof and crushed the front passenger, Jonathan Lomeli, a VCH staff member, was killed on impact. Three other people were thrown from the van. Malori Smith, Bethany Bosarge, and our oldest daughter Becky. Malori was killed instantly and Bethany, passed away two days later. Becky had severe head trauma. Our middle daughter, Christine, crawled out of the back of the van in search of her sister. What she witnesses was like a war zone. She found her sister on the highway with her head opened up, not breathing. She began to pray over her sister. At first nothing happened, then she prayed with in the spirit and Becky began to mover her eyelids. The first, in a long line of miracles for Becky.
My husband was on the phone with the officials trying to get more information on the details of the accident. I remember Christine called me in shock. She had been praying over everyone, I held the phone close to my ear as she and I prayed over Malori, Bethany, Jonathan, and Becky. It was a lot to take in for a 17-year-old and I was still 3 hours away. Christine asked the ambulance attendant if her sister was going to make it? He told her, “no,” as they loaded Becky into the ambulance.
David and I arrived at the “Civil Hospital” in Monterrey. That is the hospital with a morgue in the basement. They had taken Malori, and Jonathan there and because they believed Becky would not make it, they took her there as well. Three hours later we walked into the dirty halls of one of the poorest hospitals in Monterrey. David and I walked in and were escorted to a room filled with people on hospital gurneys. The doctor took us to where Becky was. Her hands and feet were tied to the bed to prevent her from getting up. Her skull was still exposed and there was blood all over her. David asked the doctor what he was planning on doing with our daughter. He looked around at the room filled with injured people and said, “She may be bleeding internally, we will observe her overnight.” When my husband heard those words, the Sprit of the Lord spoke to his heart. “If you do not get your daughter out of here tonight, she will be dead by morning.” He repeated to me what the Lord had said, and I looked at him and said, “Let’s get going then!” In Mexico you cannot move a patient from one hospital to another until you pay the hospital bill and you also must find an ambulance service to transport the patient.
On our drive to Monterey we had been praying and we believed we should pray over the ones who did not make it. Maybe they would come back to life. We had to try. So, when the Holy Spirit spoke to David, I looked at him and told him that I would take care of the bill and find the ambulance to transport Becky you go pray over Malori and Jonathan. David headed downstairs with the father in law Jonathan, Pastor Armando Castillo and with our administrator from Nuevo Laredo Guillermo Dominguez to pray life back in Malori and Jonathan. After I paid the bill found an ambulance another forty minutes had passed. They allowed me to ride with Becky to San Jose Hospital. This was the hospital designated for foreign officials, it was even approved for our president should he need one during his visit to Mexico. That being said it was one of the best hospitals in Monterrey. Becky arrived just in time. Her spleen was ruptured, and she had lost a lot of blood as she had been bleeding internally for almost four hours. Miracle number two.
A leading plastic surgeon was headed to another hospital when he heard the word that some Americans had been in a tragic accident and some of the parents where in his hospital. There was a young man from the team with severe lacerations from his lip around his ear and up into his scalp. Dr Daniel took a look at Chris and then Becky and decided to take care of them. Becky had just come out of surgery for her spleen and they immediately started the repair of her scalp lacerations. This plastic surgeon took six hours, the doctor painstakingly sowed Becky’s forehead and scalp back in place.
We were spared two daughters in critical care as Chris had traded places with Christine in the van just moments before the accident or else she would have been injured as well. Chris Kelly’s injuries were not life threatening thank God.
The next morning the neurosurgeon, Dr. David, came to my husband and I to tell us the prognosis. She had a broken jaw on one side and other side was fractured. Becky’s head injuries were very severe. The head trauma had left her with 9 spots of blood on her brain. The doctor shared “She will be at worst a vegetable or at least a paraplegic. I have seen thousands of cases and I must tell you your daughter will never be the same.” My husband and I looked at him and we said “We have another Doctor on call. His name is Jesus, and He will pick up where you leave off, you just do your best and He will take care of the rest.”
Each day David was busy with the other interns and their families, the extraditing of the bodies to the USA, the treatment of the others in the hospital, among other things. I stayed with Becky every day. We prayed over her brain lobes every day. I would have a quiet time, Bible time with her everyday as if she were awake. I spoke over her as she lay in a medically induced coma. I looked into her eyes and quoted Isaiah 61:1 over her. “The Spirit of the Lord is upon you Becky, for He has anointed you to bring the good news to the poor, to comfort the broken hearted.” Becky woke from her coma and was able to answer questions. She was able to move her legs and her left arm. The doctor was amazed and hopeful. He told us Becky would need to be in intensive care for two months and physical therapy for two years, but that we should prepare ourselves, that she would never be normal. BUT GOD! To make a long story short, 16 days after the accident Becky was released from the hospital. Thirty days later she was back at Bible College at Christ for the Nations and nine months later she was smuggling Bibles into Vietnam! To God be the Glory!
During Becky’s stay in the hospital we were able to lead 7 surgeons to the Lord and minister to many other families who were going through difficult times as well.
Six months after the accident we took Becky back for a checkup in Monterrey. They took a new set of MRIs. The doctor looked at the results and said, this is what a normal brain looks like. No evidence of brain trauma. This is what you call a miracle! It took six months for Becky to finish the dental repair from the accident, to be completely weaned off anti-seizure medicines, and for the scar repair on her forehead. Looking at her today, you would never know what happen to her in 2002. She is the founder of a ministry that works in Asia called, “Wings International.” She and her team help children in underdeveloped countries find “Wings to fly and Shoes to run!” Becky is the biggest answer to my prayers and to many people’s prayers that I have ever seen!
CKG: How has COVID affected your mission trips to Mexico? Do you see it changing in the near future?
DB: To tell you the truth about COVID, yes who has it not affected, but to what extent? At first it was a major inconvenience as, we were only weeks away from the graduation of the IHI. We asked the parents what they wanted us to do. They all wanted their sons and daughters to be home with them during the pandemic. So, we transitioned to online class with ZOOM and finished up the semester. We cancelled the May graduation, with plans to hold graduation services in the fall. We had three City-Wide Evangelism Training Seminars, “INVASIONS,” planned for Holy Week that had to be cancelled. When we finished the Online classes, we had our staff take a week from their duties. No one left campus but we increased our prayer time.
On May 21, tornado – like winds hit Nuevo Laredo and tore off the roof of our three-story multipurpose building. We had two days to repair the damage before the next storm hit. While my husband and other staff were repairing the roof, a widow came by and ask my husband for the old plywood we were going to throw away. He asked why she wanted that old plywood? She told him her roof was so bad the rain was pouring inside her house. David told her that we would put a completely new roof on her home. That sweet woman started our “Matthew 25:40” ROOF/HOMES project for widows and single mothers. Some homes were in such bad shape we could not put new roof up as the walls would not support a new roof. While we sent out teams to repair roofs, also increased our prayer time together with one-hour prayer 3 times a day.
COVID hit Mexico hard and many jobs were lost. Without any government help, the people were desperate. We began to purchase large amounts of bean and rice and we went out distributing food door to door and praying for the people. We led many people to the Lord and since then we have formed many home groups were discipleship is taking place. We had mission teams scheduled for the month of June who had to cancel because of COVID, yet we did not stop. God kept us very busy ministering to His lost sheep.
We believe the mission teams will return as the fear of COVID is overpowered by the faith of the church.
We are holding a tent meeting during the first week of November with a medical clinic during the day. People are still in need of medical attention for other things besides COVID.
CKG: What are the biggest challenges that face missionary work, other than COVID?
DB: The challenge? That the church will not delay, that she will rise to her place. That she will look up to where the real source of life is, look to the fields of the world that are ripe for harvest and get out there and do something! The challenge must be met with perseverance. Things did not get like they are overnight, and it will not be repaired overnight, but when people in every nation have a heart change, made possible by a total surrender to Jesus, the challenge will be met!
John 4:35
“Lift up your eyes and look on the fields, that they are white for the harvest.”
CKG: What inspires you?
DB: WHO rather – Jesus I aspire to be like Him! I have a very long way to go but the Holy Spirit is such a great helper I am sure I will continue to conform to His image. My Father is a great encourager and with his discipline I learn from His correction.
CKG: Is there anything else you would like to share with our readers?
DB: Many times, I have been asked when I felt the call of God to go to the mission field. I never had felt called to the mission field. I simply told God I would go anywhere and do anything He needed me to do. If I were to marry, I knew I would be called to where my husband was called. So, the moral of the story is, just be obedient.
CKG: How can our readers get in touch with you for missions, Bible school or donations?
Victorious Christian Harvesters
P.O. Box 450108 Laredo, Texas 78045
(956)727-0059
www.vcharvesters.org
Victorious Christian Harvesters
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