DES MOINES, Iowa — For Pastor David Sixtos-Villa, it’s been a time of dealing with an un-imaginable tragedy. A family in his congregation lost two of their children in an accident on icy roads near Perry on Thursday.

Walter Gavidia, 13, and Daisy Gavidia, 15 were both killed in the accident. Their older sister Edlyn, 17, was seriously injured and is still in the hospital.

There will be a vigil for the Perry High School students Saturday night at 7 p.m. in front of the school.

“Jesse, (Fuentes) their mom, Edlyn, Daisy, Walter, and their step father Orlando, all came into our congregation,” said Sixtos-Villa. “They were very active kids that love the Lord, we’re helping out the family. Jesse is devastated. She is speechless at this moment about what happened she still doesn’t understand.”

The family has been with their pastor at the ICU with Edlyn.

“Recovering’s a very slow process, we’re all trusting in the Lord for our faith in God,” said Pastor David. “There’s hope, we just need her to get better all your prayers, all your support, encouraging words are helping her, we need all the prayer that we can get from our city and our nation.”

Pastor Sixtos-Villa’s church located inside the United Methodist Church at Franklin and Merle Hay in Des Moines will hold a vigil for the family at it’s regular Sunday services this week.

The past couple of days the Pastor has heard the question, why?

“Life is so mysterious, death is so mysterious, a lot of times we question, we don’t understand,” said Sixtos-Villa. “But the word of God says that God is not a god of confusion. He’s got a purpose and a lot of times things happen and right now we don’t understand.”  

A GoFundMe account has been set up to help the family.