UPDATED: Family, Friends Grieve Over the Deaths of Jean and Scott Adam

(Updated at 1:37 p.m.): On Tuesday afternoon, Torgerson shared with Santa Monica Patch his thoughts about .

"They're an extraordinary couple, a wonderful part of our community," the pastor said. "Jean had been my dentist, so I got to know her that way."

The couple was highly active in the church, and two sons of Jean attended St. Monica Catholic High School.

They were "very supportive of St. Monica's, and over these last years, they took our mission—'to form loving disciples who will transform this world'—and did," Torgerson said.

(Go here to read more reactions from friends of Jean and Scott Adam, and to read the statement issued by their family.)

The pastor said that, after working hard all their lives, Jean and Scott decided to "make a difference" in their retirement.

"Retirement for them was relaxed, but they went to the far-flung corners of this world and visited the poorest of the poor," bringing Scripture to them, he said.

He added that the Scripture that was read during Mass on Tuesday morning says, "if you're faithful, you'll win the crown"—and, according to Torgerson, "that's what they did."

"They died doing what they wanted to do," he said.

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(Updated at 12:29 p.m.): The Rev. David Guffey, a priest who is in residence at the church, reflected on Jean and Scott Adam at the 12:10 p.m. Mass on Tuesday.

He told the congregation, which had gathered for the regular daily service, that "we do so today with special feelings of sadness and sympathy."

He said the news was "tragic," and that Torgerson is "working with" the grieving family of Jean and Scott Adam.

A funeral and a memorial service are pending, Guffey said.

Guffey noted that, last weekend, parishioners had lit a candle in the hope that the couple would return home safely.

"We pray for their eternal rest, and for their family and friends," he said.

Torgerson said Tuesday that Jean and Scott were "faithful people" and that Jean sang in the church choir, according to City News Service.

"They were people that worked hard all their lives and decided in their retirement that they wanted to do something to make a difference in this world,'' he said.

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Family and friends of Jean and Scott Adam are mourning the deaths of the parshioners, who were killed by Somali pirates early Tuesday. At the church's morning Mass, Monsignor Lloyd Torgerson said the parish was heartbroken at the news, according to The Associated Press.

The couple had been on a voyage around the world, distributing Bibles.

The Bibles, which numbered in the thousands, had been donated to Jean and Scott Adam through grants and gifts. They referred to their effort to distribute them as "friendship evangelism."

A "wonderful turn of events have occurred as a result of this endeavor," the couple wrote on their Web site, SVQuest.com.

"They loved the experiences they were having with the people they were meeting and the places they were going," Scott Stolnitz, a longtime friend of theirs, told CNN. "We asked them once if they ever looked forward to living on land again, and they both, believe it or not, said no.

"They were not proselytizing evangelicals," he continued. "They were using their Bible mission as a way to break the ice in the Christian community, particularly in the Pacific."

"This is all of our worst nightmares," Stolnitz told the Los Angeles Times.

Stolnitz said the 70-year-old Scott Adam was laid-back, had a dry sense of humor and earned a theology degree later in life, after retiring as a film executive. Jean Adam was a retired dentist, according to CNN.

"She wore her heart on her sleeve," Stolnitz said.

He added that, even though Jean Adam often got seasick on boats, she wanted to be with her husband and decided to sail with him.

"The Quest started an 'around-the-world' trip in mid December of 2004 after sailing her to the States from New Zealand in 2002," the couple wrote on their site. "This is planned to be an eight or ten year voyage."

The couple was aware of the dangers of piracy, friends told the Los Angeles Times. They said Scott had considered shipping the boat instead, but later decided not to after learning that a rally of yachts was headed to the Arabian and Red Seas.

Ten days ago, Jean and Scott said via e-mail that, in an effort to avoid being located by pirates, they would be out of communication for almost two weeks, according to BBC News.

"They basically had said, 'We're not going to be in communication for 10 or 12 days because we know this is territory where there could be problems and we don't want pirates or other people to know our location,' " said Robert Johnston, a professor who taught Scott at the seminary he attended.

According to St. Monica's Annual Reports, Jean and Scott Adam donated money to the Partners in Mission effort benefiting . They donated to the effort's campaigns in 2008-09 and 2009-10.

If you knew either Jean or Scott Adam, or both of them, you are welcome to share your thoughts and reflections about them in the comments box below.

Editor's note: The author of this article is a parishioner at St. Monica's and previously served as a member of the church's Communications Committee.