Another Prayer Circle Cambodia ride is in the books! I’ll admit that I was a little anxious leading up to the ride, specifically because there were only three people riding this time. The night before, I was out walking Bullet and God reminded me of Ecclesiastes 4:12 “Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.” It quickly became my mantra for the prayer ride, we are a strong strand!
(Dennis, myself, Joseph, Stef, Joseph’s nephew, and Savun)
Our first day started with us riding out to visit with Stef’s friend, Joseph, a Khmer pastor who has a school with 120 students in a province about 2.5 hours southeast of Phnom Penh. We had a great time of prayer with Joseph and his senior pastor. Joseph’s wife is pregnant and staying in Phnom Penh, with her family, so please keep them in your prayers as they become new parents. From there, we rode to the Vietnam border and prayed at Bivet (header photo). This town was FULL of construction, dusty and half built. We stopped to pray at the border - for good trade between the two countries as well as better fellowship. (Cambodians aren’t the biggest fans of the Vietnamese since the Khmer Rouge.) We then stopped to grab a coconut before continuing on our way.
(Stef, local grandma and her grandson, me)
This coconut stop was one of the highlights of the trip for me. As soon as we pulled up to the little stall, the men sitting and having coffee and smoking started talking about us in Khmer. This is pretty typical - foreigners on massive dirt bikes is big news! Dennis made a comment in Khmer, basically, along the lines of, “I speak Khmer.” This got the guys super excited and they invited us to sit with them. From there, Dennis explained that we were going around praying for Cambodia - for good business and relationships. I was trying to follow along in Khmer, but I was distracted by something with my boot. I look down and the man sitting next to me was playing with my boot buckle! I started joking with him and took off my boot for him to try on! This kicked off the most intense inspection of my person. He inspected my boots, my body armor, my Cambleback, my Chesty-mount Go Pro (that was a little alarming but having body armor helped) and finally my industrial earrings. The entire time, the guy is only speaking to Dennis, which makes sense from a cultural point of view. Finally, the man informed Dennis that I must be a ក្នេងស្ទាវ (gangster)! Dennis did some saving face on my end and I think the conversation ended with him agreeing that I’m American and a girl and things are a little different for American girls then Khmer girls. And I learned a new vocab word! From there we continued on to our destination for the night. Stef and I got to try river lobster for the first time and it was pretty good!
(Waiting for the ferry crossing)
While the first day was filled with beautiful Khmer people, day two was filled with beautiful Khmer countryside. We did three ferry crossings, which was a complete blast since most of the “ferry” was just two boats with a couple of boards across the middle. It was definitely a new skill set for myself and Stef. We road true duck farms, fishing villages, and along floating villages. We stopped and visited with kids who told us they enjoyed “showering” over “swimming.” (Again, Khmer language cracks me up.) We saw a ton of water buffalo and we pushed ourselves hard. It was a really long day! I’ll admit it, I probably pushed myself a little too hard. I ran low on water. Was riding with my motorcycle boots rolled up to my knees to attempt to save my shins from heat rash. We did some pretty rocky terrain, which means my little 3/4 Honda Degree bottomed out more than a few times. We pushed through lunch so I was starving by the time we stopped a Kep Coffee for super late lunch and fellowship.
(Brian of Kep Coffee and Dennis)
Kep Coffee is a peaceful, resting stop on the coastal town of Kep. It all the times I’ve been there, I’ve never actually gotten coffee there, but I can testify that their cinnamon rolls are AMAZING! The owners, Brian and Savvy, are a Christian, Khmer/American couple with four kids that they jokingly refer to as “free staff.” They are missionaries completely funded by their coffee ministry with a mission to bring peace and direction to those who are lost and end up physically or spiritually at their coffee shop. It was great catching up with them and praying for them. I definitely can’t wait to go back for another cinnamon roll again soon.
(Stef and I enjoying some late Khmer New Year’s decorations)
On the third day, we took off from Kampot and headed to Sihanoukville. When I was a tourist in 2015, we flew into the airport there before heading to Kep, but I honestly don’t remember much about it. On the way there, I could feel my prayers shifting. I found myself praying for things in Cambodia that I’d never thought about or things that I had struggled to make sense of in prayer seemed to be so simple. It was a weird-in-a-good-way sort of prayer time.
(My favorite animal - the water buffalo!)
Has anyone else experienced something like that? I’m just curious. I feel like it was the equivalent of when you have a crazy good / deep journaling session and you think to yourself, “man if my great-grandchildren ever saw this prayer journal they are going to think their great-grandma was nuts.” Kind of feeling - but for prayer. Not journaling. Does anyone else ever have thoughts like this?
(The team in Sihanoukville)
When we got to Sihanoukville all I could think was, “man what a miserable place.” Traffic, trash, construction. You could have paid me to stick around longer than we did to pray for the restoration of the city and its beaches. From there we headed home. The first part of the afternoon was great - I saw my first rubber tree plantations and was happy to be back in nature. Then we heard the familiar crack of thunder and we knew what was about the happen.
(When in doubt, stop, wait for Dennis and take a selfie.)
For the next four hours, we battled heavy rain and crazy highway traffic to get home. I’ll admit, I was pretty terrified. This was the only time in a prayer ride, where I stopped praying for Cambodia and just focused my prayers on safety for Dennis, Stefanie, myself and the cars, trucks, motos around us. That mantra of we are a strong strand definitely came in handy and we all made it safe and sound home.
(Dennis and Stef practicing their ‘Jenna’ smiles. I’m not giving them any tips.)
Overall, it was a great trip. I did get some minor heat rash, so I’ll be looking for new riding pants when I head home to the States this summer. It was so much fun to have Stef with me on this ride since she has been one of my closest friends here in Cambodia. Plus, we got to share a room the whole time so we were constantly laughing at each other during our nightly debrief sessions. She is such a great rider and totally crushed it. Dennis has been our coach for months so it was great to have him lead us on this trip. He put up with our jokes and always had a kind word of encouragement and a spare tool to help us fix something along the way. But bottoming out on the second day with the Mermaid bike was a good reminder that at some point I will outgrow my Degree and maybe praying for a better motorcycle is in my future - not yet, but it’s coming.
(Map of our route.)
That’s a wrap. We rode 587.8 miles over three days. One border crossing of prayer. This ride was the final series of four rides in total covering the entire border of Cambodia in prayer. I couldn’t have done it without all the love, support, prayers from all of you. I hope each of you knows I carried you with me in my heart and prayed for you while riding. Thank you so much for praying for Bullet and myself. I definitely felt the support from all over. Please continue to keep those we encountered in your prayers.
(Your favorite Cambodian missionary pretending to tan on a ferry.)
For additional photos, here’s the whole album.