Hi, new to Cleric/spell casting. Thanks for the help.

In the spell slot section it says I can prepare 3 cantrips and 8 spells at level 3. Plus even more I get for free that don't count toward that total. But between each long rest I can only use 4 level 1 or 2 level 2 spells.

Is this correct? If so, that's nice to have so many to choose from! (I kept adding them and felt like I was doing it wrong.)

Hi whats your name.

It is correct that you can choose/prepare more spells than you have spell slots.

Spell slots is only how many times you can use them.

Remember that if one of the one you prepare is a ritual (like identify and detect magic) you can spend 10min + casting time in minutes to cast them without spending a slot.

Cool. Thanks.

Also, while you can prepare different spells each day, that's not true of cantrips: you don't prepare them, you know them.  So at first level, you learn 3 cantrips; these are the only cantrips you can use, until you reach a level where you can learn a new cantrip (e.g. level 4 and level 10).  Note: some cleric domains (like the Grave domain), give you a specific bonus cantrip.