From: BBtJ.org  (Bring Back the Joy) Mark & Virginia Lane Bolzern 149 Rainbow Drive, #4971 Livingston, TX 77399-1049 USA	To: All Our Friends, and those who will be!
	Here are some pictures from the Walkathon. To the left: the group Virginia led, plus Linus LeFever, director of CBC happened to be walking by on the right. Below to the left: everyone walking the path into the Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs. Below: a prayer group at work. We apologize for the small print used in the letter on the other side. We have so much to share that we thought you might prefer a smaller font rather than deleting any information. Let us know what you think.

BBtJ.org  October/November 2003 Newsletter

Dear Friend,

Thanks for the positive comments we received from many of you regarding our initial newsletter sent just over a month ago.  We have so much to tell you about our lives and our visions.

Many have asked "what is your goal in attending Charis Bible College (CBC)" and "how come you have a Texas address if you still live in Colorado? "  One friend became so impatient for an answer to the latter that she actually called us. The two answers kind of tie together. We wanted to learn more about the Lord and our relationship with him. We were drawn to CBC, which teaches practical application of scripture. We didn't particularly want more religion or theology. The big question was: commute or sell our house? God told us to become debt free and portable with minimal living expenses. We have not completely achieved any of these yet but are well on our way. As you know, we sold our house and live in "Bussie." Our mailing address in Texas collects mail for RVers (Escapees) and forwards it as directed. This way, we don't have to change our mailing address every time we move our RV.

Currently we do not feel we are called to pastor a church, but we know we are called to a ministry of sharing with others. So far God has given us a name for our ministry, which is "Bring Back the Joy". While many ideas are in play, we're not sure yet what all BBtJ.org will encompass. We look forward to God’s leading as we become ready for each stage he has in mind. Our assignment at this time is to learn all we can from school, from volunteering for the Helpline at Andrew Wommack Ministries, and serving in other ways as God brings them up to us. Using a neat course (video and teaching aids) the school provides, we are also teaching "Discipleship Evangelism" to some people we met recently. The premise is to disciple people, get them saved, and also provide them with enough knowledge and relationship to stay the course. In other words to disciple them to the point where they can responsibly disciple others. We consider it irresponsible to excite people with the truth, get them born again, and then leave them to flounder without sufficient knowledge and an appropriate support system of peers. Imagine, God invented the original multilevel program, people discipling people.

We hope everyone will keep sharing with us as we continue this journey. Our September newsletter included information and donation request for our Missions Fund. The purpose of missions trips are to do good in other countries while getting students out of their comfort zone into completely different environments where their commitments can be challenged and much can be learned. We thank everyone who prayed, donated, corresponded, or responded in any way. We were happy to hear from you. To date, the mission fund has received approx $35,000 to fund the students' missions trips. Of this, the Bolzerns received over $500 from our correspondents. From this and other activities, Mark & Virginia have earned all the mission points we need to go on one mission trip to Cuidad Victoria in northern Mexico where we will be working with Bobby Crow and World Missions Outreach. Even so, as a community effort, we will continue to help raising money so all the students can go on the trips, and so that we can give whenever and wherever God directs us to. Praise God, this is only the beginning!

The October 15th Walkathon in the beautiful Garden of the Gods was a blast. What a wonderful setting for a "Prayer Walk!" We had about 180 students and staff walking and praying in groups. Both of us were asked to lead separate groups. We each went armed with a sheaf of prayer requests we had received. All who responded in any way with prayer requests, donations, or just comments were prayed for, and for many who didn't. If you've noticed any changes or divine interventions in your life, please let us know. There are already many testimonies, and we'd like to hear and perhaps share yours too.

Prayer requests sent in ranged from World Peace to family problems to personal health and finances. One of the members of Mark's group was concerned about being able to walk to even the first stopping point because of pain in the feet and ankles. The group prayed for her; she not only walked the entire course but also was charging ahead in the lead most of the time. The daughter of one of the students is afflicted with Spinal Bifida. She insisted on attending the Walkathon and after going quite a distance with her crutches, she was tired and ready to give up. Two second year students were about to carry her. Instead another student said stop, and prayed for her. She exclaimed that she could feel something going on in her spine. Although not all her physical symptoms are gone, she received renewed energy and completed the walk on her own. Her mother said she knew it was God because her daughter had never walked so far in her life. The course was over a mile long and hilly.

During the walk, a number of visitors to the park asked our teams what they were doing. In some cases they were prayed for and in others they joined the team in their walk. For a finale, there was a man standing at the gate with a brace on his leg and look of pain on his face. One of the students walked by and he smiled. Another was friendly and opened a conversation. He was waiting for his family to return from their walk as he was in too much pain to walk with them. Linus LeFever and several of the students asked if they could pray for him and he said yes. Even before the prayer was completed he started shouting "I'm healed." He was last seen walking swiftly down the path after his family. If you doubt any of this, we invite you to join us for the upcoming Spring Walkathon so you can see for yourself what God will do then. How wonderful it is to already see confirmation in our own lives of Mark 16:20. There were many more testimonies, but unfortunately we just don't have room.

Several of you have asked what classes we are taking during this first term. Right now we have New Testament Survey, Making of a Minister, Discipleship/Evangelism, Bible Covenants, Living in Abundance, and New Testament Church Planting. As electives, we both are taking Media and Ministry, Counseling I, and CBC Systems. Interaction Groups meet once or twice a week to discuss specific topics.

When we first moved, we had limited access to the web. We were unable to connect from our bus through the sprint cellular antenna that served the area. Mark has now been able to set up his network so we can connect through our phones. It isn't as fast as we had become used to. However, it does the job. Its So nice not to have to go to Kinkos every time we wish to do email. Virginia is continuing to post to her Journal on the web, Virginia's Views should resume in the near future. The text in blue above are internet links for more information in the web version of this newsletter. Those of you that don’t have internet capabilities, please consider it again. $9.95 a month unlimited use connections are available, as is free email you can keep forever with spam control.

People ask if we like it in Colorado Springs. Naturally, we miss our former life and friends in Aurora, and in Anchorage too. There’s a saying that if you liked it in the last place you lived, you will like it in the new place. It's a good principle to live by. It's an attitude of mind. This is a beautiful area. The weather has been great so far. Someone commented the other day how friendly it is; that people actually say hello in the grocery store. So....It's great here!

As always, we love each and every one of you. If you'd like us to pray for or with you about something, be sure to let us know.

God Bless!  Mark & Virginia