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Currently there is one missionary family on assignment from Wesleyan World Missions working in Brazil: The Enszes. A short biography is included below.

The Enszes -
Tom was born in the Deep South, in Alabama. At the time Tom’s father worked with the military as an engineer in Huntsville. Since Tom’s father was connected with the military and transportation, there was much moving around, including the following states: Florida, Connecticut, Virginia, South Dakota and Maryland.

In a glorious display of Tom’s intellectual acumen he was able to cram a four-year Bachelor of Arts degree into only 6 years at Oklahoma Wesleyan University in Bartlesville, OK. At Bartlesville the call to missions was confirmed and an irreversible decision was made to serve the Lord on the mission field. After two short-term missions experiences in Africa, Tom went on to study at Asbury Theological Seminary.

At Asbury another life changing decision was made. After almost three years of study Tom was able to see over the pile of books required for reading and see the woman that the Lord had set apart for holy matrimony. Tom picked himself up off the floor and was never to be the same again.

Grace’s cravings for Chinese food began at an early age. Born to missionary parents on the Island of Taiwan helped to satisfy those cravings for a good many years. Raised under the influence of her godly parents also created other longings. One of those was to know God and serve Him with her life. Such a place to discover that was at Asbury College, in Wilmore, KY, where Grace majored in Speech Communications. But attending a Christian College was not enough to know God’s word deeply so Grace went the Asbury Seminary focussing on the Old Testament. There, two events dramatically changed her life. One was attending a missions conference where God spoke to her heart about surrendering all of her meager plans for a bigger vision of reaching people with His love in another culture. The other event was meeting a handsome young seminarian that also had a call to missions and a similar craving for Chinese food. Tom and Grace married upon completion of their Masters of Divinity degrees.

Birmingham, Alabama, became their first place of ministry at Springdale Wesleyan Church. For several years they co-pastored and waited for God’s direction. While praying one day for missionaries in Brazil, Grace sensed God’s nudge toward that country. As days passed without sharing that interest with anyone, Wesleyan World Missions approached them about going to Brazil. They accepted.

After a year of language study in São Paulo, Brazil the Enszes joined the work in Manaus, Brazil, the largest city in the state of the Amazon. Tom and Grace began their teaching ministries. Added to this were the new duties of parents. Anna (1993) was soon joined by Hudson (1995) and later by Gwendolyn (2000). Grace finds her time balanced between teaching her children, teaching at the seminary, taking part in various women’s ministries and keeping her family supplied with a steady diet of Chinese dishes, which the whole family enjoys.

Seniority on the Brazil field is not hard come by, nor titles difficult to acquire. After 5 months in Manaus Tom found himself as the Director of the Bible College. Through a number of unusual circumstances Tom was elected as the vice-superintendent of the Amazon district the following year. Tom and Grace lived for 6 months in Fortaleza, Ceará in which time Tom was placed as the superintendent of that pioneer district.

Today some of those titles have fallen away and as of 2000 Tom was chosen as the mission director of Brazil and they live in Manaus, Amazonas. Travel is a big part of the work of a mission director in Brazil because it is so HUGE. We now have works in 4 of the 27 states with plans to spread to two more. Tom and Grace love the ministry and the people of Brazil and feel that God has great things in store for the Wesleyan Church of Brazil.