Let Me Tell You About Where We’re Going

I guess the cat – or Thunder family future travels – is out of the bag. We are officially going to Niger!
This is the fulfillment of our separate lifelong dreams and shared calling. We are completely excited to finally have a specific place in mind and a little scared of the unknown. There is a scary aspect to moving a family of 4 to a country you only recently figured out the location of. The best way to still these fears is by leaving those insecurities in the hands of our God.

A second way to still these uncertainties is by utilizing the resources at my fingertips to learn more about this new, exciting place we are going. So with a little research I have found some facts about this new-to-us place, and I would like to share them with you all.

Location:

Niger is a landlocked country located in west Africa, right in the heart of the Sahara dessert. I could describe where it is all day long, but to make things easier for any visual learners out there, here is a picture:

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niger

One misconception I had about Niger was that it is also Nigeria, which is not the case. If you look at the picture, Nigeria is the country directly below the big green country of Niger. So misconception debunked: Niger and Nigeria are not the same place.

A second misconception I had was that Niger, and many other African countries, are very small. When looking at a map it could be easy to assume this, depending on your mapmaker and perceptions of size, but Niger is actually just less than twice the size of the state of Texas. For those of us living in the United States, me especially, that seems huge!

Because the country is largely located in the Sahara, one of the biggest natural disasters are droughts. Most of the population can be found in the southern fifth of the country, where there are more opportunities for agriculture and pasture land.

Another fun fact: Niger is one of the hottest countries in the world, and as I sit here thinking about going out into the below-freezing Wisconsin winter, I am beyond excited about a lot of warmth in my future.

Tune in next time to learn more about this remarkable country we are going to!

-The Thunders

Revelation 5:9 - "And they sang a new song, saying, 'worthy are You to take the book and to break its seals; for You were slain, and purchased for God with Your blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation.'"

All written facts on this post were derived from the CIA World Factbook