InstagramBye, America!
19 Kids and Counting's Jill Duggar, 24, husband Derick Dillard, 26, and their 2-month-old baby son Israel are leaving their home and their families in rural Arkansas and moving overseas to embark on a Christian mission.
Dillard, who recently left his job at Walmart, revealed the news on the family's website on Friday, about a month after TLC pulled all episodes of Jill's family's popular reality show off its schedule amid resurfaced molestation allegations involving her eldest sibling Josh Duggar, 27. He and Jill are also asking for donations from the public to help fund their long-term trip.
Dillard said the two planned to begin their mission in July. He did not reveal where they are headed but did include a photo of himself on a rocky mountain with an unidentified man. The pic's filename contains the word "Nepal." Dillard had previously done missionary and humanitarian work in the impoverished country, where more than 8,500 people were killed in an earthquake in April.
Dillard had spent two years as a Christian missionary in Nepal. Jill's father Jim Bob Duggar, 49, served as one of his prayer partners. He spearheaded his courtship of her and flew her there to see him.
"Since we first began our relationship, it has always been our goal that Jesus Christ might be glorified as we serve others through family ministry, by whatever means that might be," Dillard wrote. "God has put a desire in our hearts to serve Him internationally for longer than the typical short-term mission trip, but we didn't know yet how God would fulfill that desire in us."
"Earlier this year God brought about an opportunity much earlier than either of us was expecting. Several months ago a new opportunity arose for us to serve God on the mission field," he said. "After much prayer and seeking Godly counsel, we realized that taking this opportunity and moving overseas in order to serve is the best option for our family."
Dillard said he and Jill shared their plans with their families earlier this year and that he told his manager at Walmart about it in May.
"We don't expect this new adventure to always be easy," he wrote. "But God never promised that following Him wouldn't have its challenges."
Among the family members they are leaving behind is Jill's 22-year-old sister Jessa Duggar, who is expecting her first child with husband Ben Seewald, 20.
Earlier this month, Jill, a student midwife, and Jessa came forward as two of Josh's five female victims, speaking to Fox News about the incidents and forgiveness.
"When this happened, when my dad and mom sat down with us and shared what happened and Josh asked us to forgive him, we had to make that choice that I think everyone has to make," Jill said. "And my dad explained to us, he said, 'You know there's a difference between forgiveness and trust'...Josh destroyed that trust at the beginning, and so he had to rebuild that. And so I think when…he asked us to forgive him, that was the point of rebuilding."
Josh, meanwhile, may be headed home to Arkansas. He had recently lived in Maryland with his pregnant wife Anna Duggar and their three children and resigned from his Washington D.C.-based job at the Family Research Council in the wake of the molestation allegations. Earlier this month, moving trucks were seen at their home. The family has not commented.