Just as a mother gently comforts her children, so Paul, Silvanus and Timothy spoke gently to the Thessalonian believers. (See: [[rc://en/ta/man/translate/figs-simile]])
The words "labor" and 'toil' mean basically the same thing. Paul uses them to emphasize how hard they worked. AT: "how hard we worked" (See: [[rc://en/ta/man/translate/figs-doublet]])