.
Zinzendorf returned to Herrnhut, followed shortly after by Anthony, who gave his same testimony to the Brethren that the Count had heard in Copenhagen. Two young men, Leonard Dober and Tobias Leopold volunteered themselves to travel to the West Indies and serve as missionaries. The Brethren decided that Dober would travel, and Leopold would remain in Herrnhut for awhile longer. .
After undergoing extensive training Dober and David Nitschmann, a carpenter, set out on foot for Copenhagen in August of 1732. They set sail in October of that year, Nitschmann employed as ship's carpenter, and landed in St Thomas in early December. .
Upon their arrival in St Thomas, the two Moravians were the guests of a planter. Two slaves served as contacts among the potential congregation; Anna and Abraham, the sister and brother of Anthony. Nitschmann supported the pair for four months with his carpentry skills. Dober was unable to find the clay of the necessary quality to employ himself as a potter. When Nitschmann, as planned, returned to Europe, Dober was employed as steward of Governor Gardelin's household and tutor of his children. Although the income was steady and sufficient for his needs, Dober found his duties occupied too much of his time to allow him to minister to the slaves. He resigned and found work as a watchman in town and on surrounding plantations. .
Dober's religious work among the slaves was hardly appreciated by the planters. There were extremely strict regulations monitoring the movements of slaves, and subsequently harsh punishments for relatively minor infractions. Rebellions among the slaves of St Thomas and St John were bloody and often resulted in the deaths of white planters. Mistrust and general wariness were extreme, and Dober's association with the slaves earned him much of the same treatment from the planters. .
In 1734, the French sold the island of St Croix to the Dutch West India Company.
