A Mother’s Day ceremony at a Langley, B.C., church was cancelled Sunday so that the congregation could instead mourn the loss of a member.

Pastor Philip Wheaton of Bethel Mennonite Church remembered Shelly Janzen as someone who “served God faithfully, quietly and gently.”

“We come here today and as we look at each other we shake our heads and we say, ‘why?’” Wheaton told his congregation. “How could this occur? Is this real?”

Meanwhile, on the other side of the Fraser Valley in Popkum, B.C., friends tried to make sense of the deaths of Shelly’s sister-in-law Laurel and 19-year-old niece Emily.

RCMP homicide investigators said Saturday that several members of one family, including the suspect, were found dead at crime scenes in Langley and Popkum.

Police have not named the killer or the deceased, but confirmed that a Facebook post is part of their investigation, which also included a four-hour standoff with a man who died after a fire on Thursday.

Earlier that day, Randy Janzen of Popkum apparently confessed on Facebook to killing his daughter Emily Janzen, wife Laurel Janzen and sister Shelly Janzen.

“I took a gun and shot her in the head and now she is migraine free and floating in the clouds on a sunny afternoon, her long beautiful brown hair flowing in the breeze, a true angel,” the post said.

“Then I shot Laurel because a mother should never have [to] hear the news her baby has died," the post went on.

“Then a couple of days later my sister Shelly because I did not want her to have to live with this shame I have caused all alone."

Family friend Brian Jones said he saw the post and went to Shelly’s home in Langley, B.C., to check on her. She didn’t answer her door, Jones says, so he went to police, who were already aware of the Facebook post.

Jones described Randy as a loving father, and said Emily’s painful migraines had consumed him.

Rocky Riobo, who says she knew Emily Janzen since childhood, also remembers how Emily’s migraines affected her life.

“She has this big booming beautiful voice and she couldn't sing anymore because it hurt so bad.”

Riobo says Emily’s father Randy was always there for his daughter.

“They were each other’s rock because of the whole situation,” she says. “That’s the weird part.”

Riobo remembers her friend as a “ball of light” and says “everybody loved her.”

With a report from CTV Vancouver and files from The Canadian Press