Janet Crowell and Jere Scott lived nearly parallel lives.

They both divorced their first spouses and grieved the deaths of their second.

And they both had never dated online — until about three years ago when, after hearing a radio commercial, both logged onto eHarmony.com.

"Dating was the farthest thing from my mind," said Crowell, 60, a retired schoolteacher and mother of two who grew up in Kalihi and lived in Mililani before meeting Scott.

At first Crowell didn't cast her net far enough, limiting responders to just Hawai'i.

But after a weekend of no matches, she decided to open up her search to include single men living outside the Islands.

That's when Scott's profile appeared.

"I had not given any thought to marrying again," said Scott, 72, a retired pastor from Alaska. "I had been through seven years of caregiving for my wife, who was dying. I was still healing from that. The thought (of remarriage) just wasn't there."

So no one, not even the couple, expected what happened next.

On March 2, 2004, the two connected via e-mail and hit it off instantly.

Nine days later, Scott proposed over the phone.

And on April 9, 2004 — just one month after "meeting" online — the couple, who had never physically met until that morning, were wed at Blaisdell Park with a pastor and two witnesses. They walked across the street and had dinner at Gyotaku Japanese Restaurant.

"I always joke that I got off the airplane and saw this gal standing by the baggage carousel. I thought she looked nice and asked her, 'Hey, do you wanna get married?' " Scott said, laughing.

What changed their minds about remarriage?

"It had to do with faith," Scott said. "A lot of faith."

Call it divine intervention.

"God said it was time to start moving on," said Scott, when he signed up for eHarmony.com. "Then when her name popped up, the Lord said, 'That's her.' There was no question about it."

It may have been their strong faith that first drew them together, but what sealed the deal for them was their compatible senses of humor and a passion for life.

"I didn't want somebody who was old, cold and about to fold," Scott said, laughing.

They've had a lot to do. After the wedding, the couple, who both attend First Presbyterian Church, went to work on remodeling Crowell's Mililani home.

They sold it in June, just days before their first mission with their church to AIDS-stricken Swaziland in southern Africa. That mission — their first together — changed their lives.

"We were really deep in our faith to begin with ... but (the experience) did bring us an appreciation for what we already have as American citizens," Crowell said. "It really broadens your horizon of the world. We came back wanting to go back again."

Six months later, the couple, who live part time in Hawai'i and part time in Alaska, spent three weeks at an orphanage in Chittagong, Bangladesh. Scott built classrooms and taught woodworking while Crowell helped the schools with their curriculum.

They're passionate about helping the people they've met on these missions. Their Salt Lake apartment is packed with photo albums, mementos and gifts from their travels.

A 14-year-old boy in Chittagong sent the couple a carving he had made with the penknife Scott had given to him last year. On it he wrote, "Grandfa (sic) come again Bangladesh. I miss you." They keep that on a table in their living room.

"On my first mission, I couldn't help but see everything as, 'They don't have this' and 'They don't have that,' " Crowell said. "But now I come away with what they have. They have so little, and yet they are rich in their joy, their hope and their appreciation."

When they're not traveling the world, they're doing everything together. They love to try new restaurants and read at home together. And they're faithful fans of Japanese romantic and historical dramas on TV.

"You seldom see one (of us) without the other," said Scott, whose recent knee surgery has hardly slowed him down.

Last week the couple left for a two-week trip to Europe to follow in the footsteps of Paul the Apostle. Then they'll fly back to Alaska for a few months before heading to Swaziland and to another African country, Malawi, for three weeks. In October they're going back to Bangladesh.

"Our friends still shake their heads at us," Scott said. "They're always amazed by what we're doing and where we're going.

"The Lord works in mysterious ways."

Reach Catherine E. Toth at ctoth@honoluluadvertiser.com.