The 19 Kids and Counting family bid a tearful goodbye to daughter Jill Duggar Dillard, along with her husband Derick and son Israel, as the family left on Sunday for a mission trip overseas.
Lots of tears were shed and sobs were audible in a video clip of the 19 Kids and Counting gang as they wished Jill and Derick well and prayed together as a family before Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar packed them up and drove them to the airport.
Michelle Duggar posted the video to the Duggar family website.
It wasn’t too long ago that Derick Dillard shared that he and Jill were called to be missionaries overseas. Though the 19 Kids and Counting family hasn’t said where overseas the family will serve, sources believe it may be Nepal.
“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. We were prepared for the possibility of it being years before our family would be able to make a move of that magnitude. It’s something we’ve prayed about together in an effort to seek God’s plan for our lives in His service. 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. Before us we had a choice to make that would undoubtedly change the trajectory of our lives forever,” Derick wrote on his and Jill Duggar’s blog.
It’s plain to see in the video that Jessa Duggar Seewald had an especially hard time letting go of sister Jill Duggar as the two hugged after the family prayed together. She is no doubt sad that Jill won’t be on hand when she and hubby Ben Seewald welcome their baby into the world in November.
The 19 Kids and Counting patriarch Jim Bob Duggar had a hard time saying goodbye to Jill and Derick’s baby boy Israel. The baby will likely change a lot before the family sees him again. Jim Bob did say that he and Michelle will likely travel to visit them overseas in the coming months.
This mission trip comes at a good time for Jill Duggar and Derick Dillard. Jill is admittedly one of brother Josh Duggar’s sexual molestation victims. She appeared to be taking the reliving of the incident in the media much harder than sister Jessa Duggar when the two appeared on TV for an interview with Fox’s Megyn Kelly a few weeks ago. Perhaps getting out of the U.S where most everyone recognizes her will be helpful to Jill.
Jill Duggar and Derick Dillard "Are So Excited" to Begin Their Mission Work With Baby Israel–Take a Look! http://t.co/Br3Y5PGfk4
— E! Online (@eonline) July 6, 2015
The 19 Kids and Counting family will undergo a huge adjustment having Jill Duggar living so far away. Up until now the only member of the family to leave Arkansas was Josh Duggar. In light of the media’s coverage of his sexual molestation scandal, he and wife Anna Duggar and their children have now moved back to Arkansas.
It will be interesting to see if TLC resumes airing 19 Kids and Counting episodes this fall. If so, do you think they might send a camera crew overseas to film at least some of what Jill and Derick are doing as missionaries?