One night in one of the barracks in the Siberian gulag where R' Mendel Futerfass was, the people were lamenting their lives (their successful jobs, their families, etc.) that were taken away from them by the Communists. R' Mendel was the only one there not complaining about his situation. As a result, the people present expressed that he probably didn’t have much before he was exiled to the gulag and consequently he didn’t have much to whine about. R' Mendel responded that quite to the contrary, he did have a successful life prior. He had a good job, a wife and children. However, he said, “I am not crying about my lost career because my primary work is to be a servant of G-d, and that wasn’t taken from me. I used to serve him with my job I had before and today I am His ambassador here in Siberia.”
This idea is shown to us with Yosef Hatzadik, by whom it says ויהי שם בבית הסהר, Yosef was there in prison. That is to say, he was the same Yosef Hatzadik in prison as he was before he was sold. He did the will of Hashem regardless of where he was.
