Today was Mr. W's funeral, I told L. that I'd help teach her Friday classes so that she could attend. Mom went with L. to help translate - I felt it was important that she go.
Classes went well. After we did the "inventions," we used the remaining time to have a Q&A session with the students. This was most interesting. Many had good questions, but a few asked us if we were Christians and went to church, to which we said yes. The spirited discussion then turned towards science and the existence of God with a few of the students. They spoke pretty good English and had keen interest in these matters. They felt that people created God in their minds, that the mind can make the fake become real. We suggested that the mind can also make the real become fake, and that scientists can have as much of an anti-God bias cloud their research as those who have a God bias cloud theirs. We talked about intelligent design and "design inference" that point to the evidence for God or some kind of cosmic intelligence or deity. (L. and Mom returned toward the end of the second class)
We talked about the funeral while we had our lunch. Mom had never been to a secular, much less "Party" funeral. About 200-300 people went and packed themselves standing up in a small room in a rather lavish funeral home. A few people gave some words of tribute. Most everyone bowed before the closed, with the glass top, casket, but Mom and L. didn't.
One of L's former students came up to talk with her privately. She was at the funeral, so it was thought that she might want to talk about it. We spent some time talking and thinking about her before she came up. It turned out that she was burdened by a relationship she had with a former XM English teacher, a colleague of L.'s from last year. He'd taken advantage of her, apparently, leading her to believe that he was interested in maintaining a relationship. L. counseled against it, since he was known to have a "relationship" with several other coeds and possibly was one of the reasons he was not asked back to teach this year. In any case, L. was able to spend some time encouraging her and praying with her. Hopefully, this will open up opportunites for more discussion in the future.
