“There are the two curses of Spain, the bulls and the priests,” Ernest Hemingway once wrote. Two of the most potent traditions in Spain, bullfighting and religion still account for most of the festivals celebrated across the country. Add food to that, and you’ve probably got them all covered.

But despite religion’s prominence in the history and culture of Spain, two Australian missionaries say religion as ‘tradition’ has pushed the real Jesus from the scene.

Michael and Tania Snowdon are in their early thirties. Along with their 14-month old son, Will, they are two of the 18 CMS missionaries sent out into the world for the first time, landing in Madrid this week and heading to Valencia.

But unlike most Australians getting off that plane, they’re not there to watch a bullfight or to laze on the beaches. They’re there to reintroduce Spanish youth to the real person of Jesus.

“In Spain, the grandparents of people our age were under a dictator who imposed Catholicism on the country,” says Tania. “So people were suspicious of Catholicism because it was trying to control them. But at the same time, they were suspicious of anything that wasn’t Catholic because it wasn’t Spanish. To be Spanish is to be Catholic.”

“The next generation became very private about their beliefs. So there are heaps of people under 30 who, though they hold to the traditions and join in the celebrations and the festivals, they’ve never had the chance to hear that Jesus is a real person and that he died for their sins,” she says.

“There’s this rich Christian history that has been mixed so much with tradition that Jesus has been forgotten.”

Mike tells a story relayed to him from the Bishop of the Church they’ll be working at in Valencia, painting a picture of how religion is viewed in Spain right now.

“There’ve been cases of people wanting their babies to be baptised, who will get dressed up, go to the doors of the church and take a family photo outside. Then they’ll go to lunch to celebrate, but they won’t make it inside the church to actually ‘do’ the baptism.”

“We’re really passionate to see the younger generation meet the real Jesus so they can hopefully bring him back to their families too,” says Mike.

Mike and Tania may have only left this week for Spain, but the road to becoming Spanish ‘misioneros’ has been long: 10-years long, in fact.

The idea of becoming a missionary for both Mike and Tania surfaced after university and didn’t leave. Both did a ministry apprenticeship working with youth, and both ended up at Moore Theological College, where they met. After getting married three years ago, they started the formal process of signing up with mission agency, CMS and began discussions on where they could end up.

Western Europe had been on their hearts for some time, says Tania.

“We went to a CMS summer school and heard from some of the Western European missionaries. It sounded like ministry was hard – they were feeling really isolated, like the continent had forgotten Jesus. We were struck to pray more for those missionaries and for that region.”

Also playing on their hearts was the possibility of working near another missionary family, to be encouraged by each other and share in the struggles.

Missionary work in Western Europe often feels more isolated than other parts of the world because the work is so slow, postulates Mike.

“Not only are people not Christian, but they think ‘our country’s been there already – religion is in the past’. They think they’ve heard it all before, and they don’t need it.”

So Mike and Tania will be working alongside two other CMS missionaries, John and Jodie Lovell in Spain. They’ll be based in the same church, but the Snowdons will have the goal of ministering to the young people of Valencia. They’ll work with the three local universities in the first instance to do this.

“The dream would be to meet a young person interested in Jesus and read the Bible with them. Just doing life with them, in church, in Spain,” says Mike.

But he knows that even that dream is probably a long way off. Mike and Tania will spend the first three years of their time in Spain learning the language, immersing themselves in the culture and finding out what makes Spanish youth tick.

The road to missionary life can be frustrating and require much patience, as Mike and Tania have learned in the last 10 years. The last six months in particular have thrown challenges for the couple, as they finish up their study at CMS’ St Andrew’s Hall and prepare to leave.

“Life has felt quite ‘bit-sy’ – like the to do list is too massive to move your life to a different country, and the goal you’re heading towards is too abstract,” says Mike.

“I still can’t really comprehend what it’s going to be like landing in Madrid, let alone getting to the stage where I’m actually talking to a young Spanish person, in Spanish!”

Tania says they’ve felt unsure and have questioned who they are and why they’re doing what they they’re doing, in the many months of waiting and praying for the right place to go.

“We kept coming back to God’s sovereignty and reminding ourselves that where we go isn’t really the point – it’s about Jesus and his glory, wherever you are. So we’re learning to trust God, even in the midst of unknowns.”

Mike and Tania are on Facebook posting regular updates and sixty seconds videos, like this latest one below: