The current mission trip of Jill Duggar and husband, Derick Dillard, will now involve offering marriage advice to the couples to whom they will be ministering. According to a recent email newsletter from Seekers of Souls (S.O.S.) Ministries, the pair will be sent off to a Latin mission through which they will offer assistance to their newly covered regions.
"It is SOS's privilege to introduce Derick and Jill Dillard to the Latin mission," the email update states. "They will come alongside Alex Lara, our Director of Missions for Latin America, to assist, preach, and engage the new regions. We have prepared, trained and now appointed them. Derick will focus on the men and young people, while Jill will focus on women and children ministry."
S.O.S. describes the man that the Dillard couple will be working with, Alex Lara, as an "indigenous missionary" who hails from El Salvador and has previously worked to share the gospel in his country and the surrounding regions.
The letter also states that baby Israel's parents are expected to aid in strengthening the relationship among married couples in the Latin world.
Nonetheless, statistics have pointed out that marriages in numerous parts of Central America last longer than those in the United States. Guatemala where Jill and Derick had been taking their Spanish classes, had a divorce rate of 0.3 in 2012, as reported by Divorce Science. Meanwhile, the CDC reported that the United States had a divorce rate of 3.4 during the same year.
In addition, the National Healthy Marriage Resource Center has stated that the faith of Latin American men and women could be a possible reason why divorce rates are low in their countries.
"Roman Catholicism is the predominant religion across the region and may contribute to marriage being highly valued by most Latin Americans," the NHMRC states.
In the finale of TLC's three-part special, "Jill & Jessa: Counting On,' Jill explained her plans of ministering to women. While the reality star became a Certified Professional Midwife (CPM) last year, she admitted that she does not intend to merely deliver babies while on a mission trip.
The 24-year-old mother said that she plans to use her midwifery knowledge and skills for the education of women, such as debunking erroneous pregnancy myths.
"One woman told me you're not allowed to eat cheese because the baby will come out with cheese," Jill said. "Old wives' tales are something that I'm going to be battling on the mission field."
While it is unclear whether the Dillard couple will remain in Guatemala for the next few months, they revealed that they have plans of leaving the country and moving on to a more isolated area in Central America.
