Jill Duggar and Derick Dillard recently revealed that they will not be returning to the mission field in Central America. The couple made it seem as though it was their decision not to go back, but now it’s being alleged that they were fired by SOS Ministries, the religious organization they partnered with for their long-term mission trip.
As People reported, Jill Duggar and Derick Dillard recently announced that they were terminating their nonprofit family ministry , which they initially formed so that they could accept donations to fund their mission trip. The Counting On stars have removed the big “Donate” button from their website, and they’ve revealed that they will no longer be asking fans for donations.
“Beginning this month, we are discontinuing Dillard Family Ministries and will no longer be accepting donations through this organization,” reads a post on the Duggar family website .
Jill Duggar and Derick Dillard were vague about why they decided to abort their long-term mission trip, saying only that a “number of circumstances” played into their decision.
“Through a number of circumstances, and guided by much prayer and counsel, we are discerning the Lord leading our family’s full-time ministry back to the United States for the time being.”
However, a commenter on the Previously TV website claims that the couple had no choice in the matter. The 19 Kids and Counting forum on Previously TV is a popular online destination for Duggar fans and critics who enjoy discussing the family, and occasionally posters with inside information about the Duggars will share some juicy tidbits of gossip about them. A member of the forum recently revealed that she spoke to someone who was employed by SOS Ministries at the time Jill and Derick were working there, and this unnamed employee informed her that the organization decided to cut ties with the couple for a number of different reasons. One issue was allegedly that Jill and Derick were struggling to learn Spanish.
“They give you X amount of time to at least become conversational in the language and take the classes… and if you can’t do it… you can’t serve,” her post reads. “The Dillards had MONTHS AND MONTHS of language classes that other people usually complete in a matter of weeks and they usually complete those in the States and not in the actual country where the language is spoken.”
According to Us Weekly , Jill Duggar’s husband admitted that he was finding it difficult to learn the language during a 2015 episode of Counting On . Derick revealed that he only knew 136 Spanish words while he and Jill were living in Guatemala and taking Spanish classes. As reported by Entertainment Tonight , Jill had her own Spanish teacher who came to the house she and Derick were residing in. However, Jill’s lessons were constantly interrupted by her young son, Israel.
The Previously TV forum poster also wrote that SOS Ministries was unhappy with Jill and Derick for painting El Salvador in such a negative light. SOS was allegedly afraid that the couple’s numerous comments about gang violence in the country and their fear for their lives would scare others away from working for the Christian organization. As the Inquisitr previously reported, Jill talked about the possibility of a thief cutting her finger off to steal her wedding ring during one episode of Counting On .
“She said that the exposure for SOS to have their ministry and mission on Counting On was also not very great because Jill made it seem like she was moments from rape and murder at all times and Derick was walking through the fire on borrowed time and it hurt SOS more than helped them. Instead of focusing on how safe the environment was for Jill and Derick because of how much the ministry spends to ensure that it’s safe for their missionaries… the Dillards AND TLC chose to focus on what COULD happen… anywhere in the world. “
The insider goes on to say that there was one final straw that made SOS Ministries decide to cut ties with Jill Duggar and Derick Dillard: the negative publicity stemming from Derick’s transphobic remarks about Jazz Jennings.
[Featured Image by Duggar Family /Facebook]