young Christian evangelist is sent to distant colony on another planet to preach to the resident aliens 
 starts out in present world, scifi aspect does not emerge for a little while 
 the colony is run by a mysterious corporation and the staff are curiously sanguine and lacking in curiosity for a team of engineers on a distant planet 
 many interesting phenomena are referred to, the rain, the whiteflower crops, the Oasans and local fauna, but our human team and our author both seem uninterested in exploring them 
 conversion of local populace goes extraordinarily well, but the pastor's faith is challenged in the face of his wife's updates from an apparently increasingly chaotic Earth. 
 some nice ideas - not a whole lot of development of them or of the characters 
 (view spoiler)[Oasan's hunger for Christianity appears to be based on the inability of their bodies to heal from any injury, they expect from bible reading that the Jesus technique could help... (hide spoiler)]