Mesiras Nefesh and the snow

Nowadays we don't often hear about modern-day examples of מסירת נפש.  The most recent stories we hear usually come from the Holocaust, Siberia, or communist Russia.  Sometimes we hear about keeping Shabbos in the early 1900s in America.  But rarely do we hear about true מסירת נפש in contemporary America.
This does not nearly compare to the מסירת נפש stories from those terrible times in Jewish history.  But still, it's something to learn from...
Yesterday and today, as you know, there was a huge snowstorm in the Northeastern USA.  Here in Massachusetts, we were one of the states that got it the worst -- I don't know exactly how much snow fell here, but perhaps something like 2 feet.
This morning, my mother woke up us girls by pointing out the מסירת נפש that my father and brother had by getting up this morning to walk to shul in the snow (while we peacefully slept late in our warm, cozy beds).  Nearly all of the snow had fallen on Shabbos, which meant that they needed to walk literally in the snow without any shoveling or plowing in order to leave the house.  (As a side point, the Eruv was down due to the storm as well.)  Once they reached the street, it wasn't as bad because the streets were being plowed (and they were able to walk in the middle of the highway(!) since Massachusetts had a driving ban for most of the day -- driving was punishable by a year in jail plus a fine or something!). But the temperature outside was below freezing and walking through snow is wet and cold!  So after walking in the snow in our driveway, they must have walked to shul with their pants wet and their boots filled with snow... then davened in shul... then walked back... and by the time they got back, walking through our driveway wasn't any easier -- because at that point, trust me, so much more snow had fallen that you couldn't even see their footprints from when they left the house for shul.
When my father and brother got back from shul, my brother (who is several inches taller than me!) said the snow was up to his knees, and in some places much higher.  They said the walking wasn't so bad, they didn't really get wet, and it was just walking down our driveway that was difficult... But I still can't imagine that I would've been so good to do that (and to not even complain about it afterwards!). I barely survived supervising my younger siblings outside for a few minutes this afternoon when they went outside to see how high the snow was :-).  And they walked to and from shul 3 times over Shabbos!
Again, this doesn't compare to a real מסירת נפש story.  But I must say I'm impressed by my father and brother and all the men like them who went to shul this Shabbos without a word of complaint.