BRENTWOOD, Tenn.: A Brentwood doctor and his wife are boxing up their belongings and either giving them away or selling them off as they prepare to move to Haiti for full-time mission work.
The Tennessean reports Dr. David Vanderpool and his wife, Laurie, plan to serve the medical, educational and spiritual needs of the people there.
They are closing LaveMD, a practice that does aesthetic treatments such as fixing varicose veins and liposuction, and have a May 10 date set to close on the sale of their home.
Laurie Stallings Vanderpool says she and her husband, who have participated in several mission trips over the years, are “being promoted to something really grand.”
“I’ve been giddy since September, when we made the decision to go,” she said.
The Vanderpools said they have dreamed about retiring to mission work since they were high school sweethearts in the ’70s in Texas. Now, with their youngest child in college, they thought the time was right to go.
“It’s sad that it shocks people,” said Cheryl Reed, a friend who has been on several trips with Vanderpool’s Live Beyond medical mission nonprofit.
“They make us think,” Reed said. “They’re so bold, so courageous.”
David Vanderpool says he is living his Christian faith.
“Here we are, the most affluent country and we’re obese,” he said. “Go two hours off our border and 80 percent of the children don’t get enough food.
“We spend money on ourselves,” he said. “We’re Pharisees.”
At a recent fundraiser he told stories about the desperation in Haiti, including that of a starving mother who killed her infant so the baby wouldn’t starve to death.
“Can you feel the gut-wrenching poverty that would make you kill a baby?” he asked those who had gathered.
“Why does this happen?” he said. “Many ask, `Why does a good God allow this to happen?’
“I have another question. Why do good Christians allow this to happen?
“Go into all the world,” said Vanderpool about Jesus’ Great Commission in Matthew 28. “He said, `Go.’
“Jesus left the ultimate gated community,” Vanderpool said. “He was the star of heaven, there at creation with all the riches of heaven.
“He left that,” he said. “He became poor so we could become rich.
“How can we live any differently than that?” -AP
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