Under a Baobab Tree

Dr. Dean had a successful dental practice in a small town in Texas. He and his wife responded to a call to become full-time missionaries after many weekend trips to South Texas to do dental clinics in Mexico. They were unsure if his profession as a dentist could even be used on the foreign mission field, but learned the Foreign Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention had requests from five countries around the world for a dental missionary. The need in West Africa seemed to be the most pressing. He spent a decade following God's leading. He went expecting to continue practicing dentistry but learned it would be necessary to be open and willing to assume many different jobs. Their country of Upper Volta, which would be renamed Burkina Faso after they arrived, was a former French colony. Learning French would require a year in France. Arriving in Africa more language study would be needed, as well as building his clinic and dealing with roadblocks along the way. The Deans went as dental missionaries. They were unable to just blend in and were always on display. This story deals more with strangers living in a strange land than with being a dental missionary. Portions are intensely poignant about the life of the people in Burkina and others are amusing about learning to adapt to a new and different culture. There are episodes of rejection that made them question their calling followed by many affirmations from the Burkina people.