Sometimes, Joseph Fielding found himself unfavourably compared to Heber C Kimball. On a fortnight's preaching in the country in mid-October 1837, he observed that "as I was following Elder Kimball, people would rather have seen him, yet they were mostly kind." Still struggling with his personal trials in January 1838, Joseph wrote that he had laboured much, "but I seemed as nothing in my own eyes and but little in some of the people's eyes. One, not a brother, said if they had had Mr Kimball before they would have had a better congregation and more members.".