Santa Fe and Woodland Park

We drove to Santa Fe after leaving Sedona, staying at a Comfort Suites.  I mention the name because our first room was dark, smelled bad, and the closet door was broken, so we went back to the front desk, and they gave us a different room...upgraded with no extra cost, which was nice.  They were pleasant about it, and the hotel was mostly empty so there were extra rooms available!

The next morning we headed to downtown Santa Fe to see San Miguel Mission, which is known as the oldest church in America.  It was built in 1610 and was impressive to see.  Well worth the $1 to go in.  We are so blessed to be able to worship freely in our country.  As I stood in this old church with such a deep history, I could not help but imagine people filling the seats to worship God.

Sanctuary of San Miguel Misson

Altar in church

After leaving Santa Fe we headed into northern New Mexico through some pretty intense weather.  Winds between 40-60 mph and fog, mist, and freezing rain.  Not. fun.  Getting into Colorado was a relief.  We had the worst time finding a decent place or any place to get lunch so we pulled over at a rest area and dug out some yogurt and fruit to eat.  We then drove through the southern side of Colorado Springs and up to Woodland Park CO to stay for 2 nights.  The elevation there is close to 8500 ft. and we both felt it as we unloaded the car and climbed up and down the stairs to our room.  It took Joel one evening to adjust, but by morning I was feeling a bit dizzy, nauseated, short of breath, etc.  Still we were dressed and out the door by 7:20am.  We were there to visit Charis Bible College, hopefully see Andrew Wommack (founder), and attend the healing school worship that afternoon.  Nothing was going to get in my way! 

 

We were able to hear Andrew speak the first two hours of classes, and then listen to two other teachers we were familiar with.  We ate lunch with a young woman from Montana, so we had something in common with her, and she turned out to be part of the worship band.  We attended the service, and afterwards we went up for prayer.  I did not experience anymore healing of the symptoms that make themselves known, but all the altitude sickness symptoms left immediately and I had no trouble after that.  It was a very interesting and exciting time for us to be at the school.  Andrew is not often there, but he was, and Joel was able to share his healing story with him.  You see, it was Andrew Wommack that we were listening to on the internet that amazing night three years ago when Joel was instantly healed.  I watch the Healing School livestream almost every Thursday, so it was great to be there for worship and prayer.  Thank you God!

Charis Bible College

worship center

 

View of Pikes Peak from Charis Bible College

 We had been seriously considering going back to a Bible College (we attended The Lutheran Bible Institute where we met) and Charis in CO was where we were looking at.  But we believe that God closed that door for us to go there.  His plans are always best, but sometimes it still takes effort to walk away from a closed door and not question His plan.

We spent our last night in Woodland Park shopping at an organic store and a grocery store to stock up for the trip home.  Nice little town nestled in the mountains.....a little short of oxygen, but nice little town!  We would head down the mountain the next morning, as we had another adventure of a different kind waiting ahead.