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Back in July, it was announced that Jill Duggar and Derick Dillard were headed to El Salvador to spend the foreseeable future serving the less fortunate. 

Their return was as abrupt as their departure, however, raising eyebrows.

Jill and Derick even took donations from fans to fund their new life, but just a few weeks later, they were back home in Arkansas.

The question on many fans’ minds now is a simple one: Why?!

Some claimed that life in Central America proved too difficult for the Dillards, who welcomed their first-born child Israel just six months ago.

Others believed Jill and Derick planned to scam fans out of their cash by accepting donations for work they never intended to complete.

Perhaps a combination of the two? It’s difficult to say for sure.

Now, however, some critics are theorizing that the Dillards assumed that they would be accepted (and funded) by the Southern Baptist Church.

That organization, along with the International Mission Board, rejected them due to their lack of qualifications, her family’s epic scandals, or both.

Several fans who made donations have taken to social media to ask the Dillards if their missionary work was ever affiliated with the SBC and IMB.

Not surprisingly, they have yet to receive a response.

Derick has dialed back some of the comments he previously made in which he implied that they had the full support of both organizations, though.

Dillard wrote on his Instagram account last month that he and Jill were "officially commissioned during the morning service today."

"We are so grateful for the support of our church fellowship Cross Church [the largest Southern Baptist church in Arkansas]."

He’s since clarified that the "commission" consisted of a group prayer session for which he and Jill were present, writing:

“We were commissioned to the mission field by our home church."

"The commissioning consisted of our pastor leading the congregation in praying for our family as we work on the mission field.”

Some have gone so far as to claim that the Jill faked her midwife certification as part of a last-ditch effort to be approved for service.

That may seem rather desperate (and it is), but without funding from organizations like the SBC and IMB, the Duggars would be SOL.

Essentially, they would only be able to permanently relocate to El Salvador at great personal expense (or with a lot of fan donations).

And unfortunately, it seems Jill and Derick didn’t get the okay before they went ahead and started requesting said donations.

Suddenly, that early return to Arkansas doesn’t seem so surprising.