POOR VISIBILITY; LACK OF RADAR; AND INEXPERIENCED PLTS RESULT IN TFC PATTERN CONFUSION AT LAF; IN.

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AFTER COMPLETING A TRAINING FLT I BEGAN SETTING UP FOR MY RETURN TO ARPT. I HAD BEEN LISTENING TO THE TWR FREQ AND KNEW THE PATTERN WAS BUSY SO I RPTED WELL N OF THE CLASS D AIRSPACE. TWR TOLD ME TO RPT 2 MI N; R TFC RWY 23. WHEN I WAS APPROX 4 MI N; A CESSNA ACFT THAT INITIALLY RPTED 8 MI N AND INBOUND WAS DISCOVERED TO BE INBOUND FROM THE S; NOT THE N. ON INITIAL CALL UP THE CESSNA WAS TOLD TO RPT 2 MI N FOR R TFC RWY 23. SO UPON REACHING THE FIELD FROM THE S THE CESSNA ENTERED WHAT THE PLT THOUGHT WAS R TFC FOR RWY 23 WHEN HE WAS ACTUALLY FLYING R TFC FOR THE RECIPROCAL RWY 5. THE CESSNA FLEW THE WRONG WAY ON THE L DOWNWIND FOR RWY 23. FOR A VERY SHORT TIME BEFORE THE TWR REALIZED WHAT WAS HAPPENING AND VECTORED THE CESSNA N; INTO MY PATH. WE; MY INSTRUCTOR AND I; SPOTTED THE TFC AND DID NOT NEED TO TAKE ANY EVASIVE ACTION. AFTER PASSING THE TFC I RPTED 2 MI S; TO WHICH THERE WAS NO REPLY. AT 1 MI N THE TWR ASKED ME FOR A POS RPT. I RPTED 1 MI N TO A REPLY OF 'ROGER.' I COULD NOT REQUEST A TURN ONTO DOWNWIND DUE TO FREQ CONGESTION. TO AVOID OVERFLYING THE FIELD MY INSTRUCTOR TOOK THE CTLS AND WE MADE A STEEP TURN TO ENTER THE R DOWNWIND WITHOUT CLRNC. TWR CALLED SHORTLY THEREAFTER TO ASK IF WE WERE ON FINAL. THE POOR VISIBILITY COUPLED WITH THE WAYWARD CESSNA COULD EXPLAIN THE TWR'S INABILITY TO FIND ME. THE USE OF RADAR COULD HAVE PREVENTED THIS SIT BY VERIFYING THAT THE CESSNA WAS S; NOT N; AND THAT I WAS DANGEROUSLY CLOSE TO THE ARPT. UNFORTUNATELY; THE ARPT IS NOT EQUIPPED WITH RADAR. THIS EQUIP WOULD BE VERY BENEFICIAL AT SUCH A HIGH VOLUME TRAINING ARPT.