Indiana Partners Annual Meeting Set |

The Indiana Partners of the Americas Annual Meeting is set for November 5 at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Indianapolis. The meeting will start promptly at 11 AM and conclude in time for those interested in the International Festival to zip out 38th Street to the Indiana Fairgrounds.

Two Long-time RS Partners Visit Indiana in October |

Former RS Companheiros President, Lucia Helena Ferreira Araujo Lima, and long-time Companheiros member, Lisete Menna Barreto Dias, visited Indiana for eleven days in October. Their first stop was Lafayette, where they visited schools and met with Partners members.

Nara Finco visits Indiana |

RS Companheiros Board member, Nara Finco, arrived in Indiana on October 20 to make a partnership visit before traveling on to Arkansas to attend a Partners Leadership Workshop (in Fayetteville) and the annual meeting of Partners of the Americas (in Little Rock).

Opportunities Available! |

If you are looking for an opportunity to participate in Partners events, here are a few that will be a great deal of fun.

Each Day is a Gift |

A 92-year-old, petite, well-poised and proud man, who is fully dressed each morning by eight o'clock, with his hair fashionably coifed and shaved, even though he is legally blind, moved to a nursing home today. His wife of 70 years recently passed away, making the move necessary.

Indiana Partners Annual Meeting Set |  

The Indiana Partners of the Americas Annual Meeting is set for November 5 at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Indianapolis. The meeting will start promptly at 11 AM and conclude in time for those interested in the International Festival to zip out 38th Street to the Indiana Fairgrounds.

President Leslie Barratt has called for a Board meeting at 9 AM to precede the Chapter meeting at 11 AM.

The meeting will feature reports by four Youth Agriculture Exchange students and two from the Youth Ambassadors Program. You won't want to miss the excitement and enthusiasm of these reports.

Another feature will be reports on the latest Nurses Exchange. Following the exploratory trip to Rio Grande do Sul by Kathy Kaiser and Anthony Roberts, several Anderson College students explored aspects of health delivery there. Hear these reports at our meeting!

Other exciting exchanges which will be presented include a report on a a visit by two ESL teachers and possibly others.

Always an important feature of the Annual Meeting is the election of new Board members and Officers.

President Leslie will summarize her year and review the unexpected events which cost us the services of Lilya Wagner and catapulted a reluctant, but willing, Leslie Barratt into our top position! Leslie, herself, spent several weeks in Rio Grande do Sul early in the year and helped smooth the way for several projects.

Come any time after 8:00 AM to enjoy hearty refreshments and conversation with friends from around the state.

"Hear it only at our Annual Meeting", as TV announcers claim for their presentations.

How To Get There
The church is located at 615 West 43rd Street, not far from the Butler University campus. Probably the simplest directions are: from 38th Street turn north on Clerendon Road (East edge of the northern part of Crown Point Cemetery) and then right on 43rd Street

More information, including a map of the campus at: www.uui.org/visit/uuimap.php

Two Long-time RS Partners Visit Indiana in October |

Former RS Companheiros President, Lucia Helena Ferreira Araujo Lima, and long-time Companheiros member, Lisete Menna Barreto Dias, visited Indiana for eleven days in October. Their first stop was Lafayette, where they visited schools and met with Partners members. A highlight of their Lafayette stop was a meeting with the Homemaker's Extension program that Norma Singley arranged. Lisete showed a DVD about the Viva Vila Project in Alegrete, which the Homemaker's Extension helps to support. Lafayette hosts were Mathew and Terra Hicks and Sallie and Brian Fahey.

On October 14 Lisete and Lucia Helena departed for Kokomo, and met Hal Roepke, who then transported them to Muncie. After meetings with Chris Ely, director of the TESL program and Linda Hanson in the English Department of Ball State University, they visited Muncie schools and cultural areas. They toured Forest Park Elementary School and talked with Don Peslis about the Character Counts Program in Anderson. In Muncie, they were hosted by Hal and Judith Roepke and Martin and Mary Catherine Limbird. A last treat was shopping for Halloween tricks and treats for their schools in Brazil.

Their final Hoosier city was Indianapolis, where they were hosted by Carol Forbes. Partners member Carol Tharp Perrin organized their visit to the Capitol City, which included participation in the Indiana Teachers of English to Speakers of Other languages (INTESOL) conference on October 21.

On October 22, Lisete and Lucia Helena managed to fly back home in spite of Hurricane Wilma. Character Counts in Indiana.

Nara Finco visits Indiana |

RS Companheiros Board member, Nara Finco, arrived in Indiana on October 20 to make a partnership visit before traveling on to Arkansas to attend a Partners Leadership Workshop (in Fayetteville) and the annual meeting of Partners of the Americas (in Little Rock).

Nara has worked in a public school that had a very well known Language Center also open to the community. She also belongs to CIAPLEM, an association of all the associations of foreign languages - the only one in Brazil. Another association she is involved in is BPW - Business Professional Women, a non-profit organization founded in Switzerland in 1930, which defends women's rights and promotes their personal and professional development.

Her eleven-day visit in Indiana took her to Indianapolis, Terre Haute, and Lafayette. In Indianapolis, Nara stayed with Jane McCaslin. She visited schools and participated in the annual meeting of Indiana Teachers of English as a Second Language (INTESOL). In Terre Haute, Nara was hosted by Indiana Partners Board member, Suzy Fletcher and Deb Barnhardt. In addition to discussing leadership development, Nara met with retired women in business and spoke to classes of language students and future language teachers at Indiana State University. In Lafayette, she had more opportunities to meet Partners members, language teachers, and women in business.

If you are looking for an opportunity to participate in Partners events, here are a few that will be a great deal of fun:

1) Volunteer at our Partners booth at the International festival on November 3, 4, 5, or 6. You can volunteer by emailing Andres LeLong at aglelong@comcast.net.

We need people to staff the booth. Here is the schedule and the slots still open.

Nov 3 – Thursday
Shift 1
Shift 2   Glenn Pratt

Nov 4 – Friday
Shift 1   Leslie
Shift 2

Nov 5 – Saturday
Shift 1   Leslies Croatian Student (girl) & friend
Shift 2
Shift 3   Hal & JudyRoepke
Shift 4

Nov 6 – Sunday
Shift 1   Glenn Pratt
Shift 2
Shift 3   Andres Lelong
Shift 4

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Shift 1    10:00 am - 12:00pm
Shift 2    12:00 pm - 2:00 pm
Shift 3    2:00 pm - 6:00 pm
Shift 4    6:00 pm - 9:00 pm

2) Host a Brazilian Youth Ambassador (high school student) for January and February. Make this student part of your family by contacting Leslie Barratt (LeslieBarratt@indstate.edu) or Jhani Laupus (jhani@comcast.net).

3) Help with the administration of the Youth Ambassador Program (emailing families, getting paperwork sent to Brazil, etc.). If you are interested, contact Leslie Barratt (LeslieBarratt@indstate.edu) or Jhani Laupus (jhani@comcast.net).

4) Host a one-week Brazilian Youth Ambassador (high school student) in January. These students are only with us for one week. This year, we have 4 boys and one girl. Contact Hal Roepke (hroepke@comcast.net) for more details.

Here are pictures and some info on the kids coming to Indiana for a week, starting 20 January 2006.

As he maneuvered his walker to the elevator, I provided a visual description of his tiny room, including the eyelet sheets that had been hung on his window.

"I love it," he stated with the enthusiasm of an eight-year-old having just been presented with a new puppy.

"Mr. Jones, you haven't seen the room; just wait."

"That doesn't have anything to do with it," he replied. "Happiness is something you decide on ahead of time. Whether I like my room or not doesn't depend on how the furniture is arranged, it's how I arrange my mind. I already decided to love it. "It's a decision I make every morning when I wake up. I have a choice; I can spend the day in bed recounting the difficulty I have with the parts of my body that no longer work, or get out of bed and be thankful for the ones that do."

Each day is a gift, and as long as my eyes open I'll focus on the new day and all the happy memories I've stored away. Just for this time in my life.

Old age is like a bank account. You withdraw from what you've put in.

So, my advice to you would be to deposit a lot of happiness in the bank account of memories. Thank you for your part in filling my Memory bank. I am still depositing.

Remember the five simple rules to be happy:
1. Free your heart from hatred.
2. Free your mind from worries.
3. Live simply.
4. Give more.
5. Expect less.