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Farmer’s Wife Becomes Evangelist
A pattern was set up in which Mrs. Sype concentrated on tent evangelism during the
summer; then, when the weather became too cold for the tent, she conducted meetings
in a school house or in the homes of interested people.
Although her hard work was usually rewarded with noticeable success, there were
times when all her efforts did not produce immediate, visible results. In Taloga she experienced difficulty. While her ministry continued to attract new converts at Putnam,
Taloga proved strongly resistant to the Biblical truths that the young minister was
presenting. After preaching 26 sermons and making 41 visits, Mrs. Sype decided that
since no significant interest had been shown, she could close the Taloga meetings and
still be clear before God in the judgment. She said of Taloga that the entire neighborhood appeared to be convinced but not converted. Therefore the Sypes went on to
Meno, Oklahoma, for meetings early in 1904. It is clear from her letters of the period
that reverses did not prevent Minnie Sype from being joyful in the Lord’s service.
Sometimes Logan assisted Minnie in the meetings. When he was there he supervised
pitching the tents, conducted song services, offered prayers, and helped to look after the
children. With this welcome support Mrs. Sype preached, prayed, and visited, engaging
in the strenuous work of evangelism. Other times Mr. Sype had the children with him
at the Oklahoma farm when he needed to manage the property. After her marriage,
Minnie’s sister no longer could care for the children.
As a precursor of today’s mobile homes, Mr. Sype built a house on a wagon bed; it
could be moved on wheels to the meeting sites, allowing the family more conveniences
than a tent. Mrs. Sype was excited that the family could be housed together this
way.(Sype, Life Sketches, 85.) When the children were with her, she had ingenious,
practical ways of caring for them. She cooked simple, nourishing meals. During meetings little Anna was sometimes put down to sleep behind the pump organ on the platform in easy view of her parents’ watchful eyes.
In Meno Mrs. Sype’s evangelism produced an increase in church membership from 5
to 29. Others had begun keeping the Sabbath but were not yet members.
The ordained minister who was sent to baptize the new converts at Meno, Elder A. E.
Field, was impressed that a 75-year-old man had given up his tobacco and was worshiping
on Sabbath. Such visible evidence of the Spirit’s work constituted a large part of Minnie
Sype’s “pay” for arduous labor for which she received meager monetary remuneration.
Mrs. Sype enjoyed organizing a young people’s society to help make the church a
pleasant and profitable place for youth. A less pleasant, but all too typical, event
occurred at Meno when a minister of a mainline denomination opened verbal fire on the
Adventists. Because Minnie handled the situation with wisdom, the preacher stopped
his attack when he observed that his actions were advancing the cause that he opposed.
In his report at the Annual Meeting of the Oklahoma Conference in 1904, the president reported concerning Mrs. Minnie Sype’s work that she had held two successful
meetings, bringing approximately 42 people to full acceptance of Adventist teachings.
Fifteen were added to the Putnam church, and from the meetings near Meno 25 took

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