Shift into 2nd gear.
Loosen the two 13mm bolts that hold the shifter to the floor. Loosen only a turn each.
Look CLOSELY at the stop plate ear sticking out of the middle of the black shift housing on the right side of the assembly, i.e. passenger side.
You have been having a difficult time getting into 1st/2nd, so we are going to open up the "gate" just a tad. When we adjusted the stop plate, we moved the ear on the right side of the stop plate towards the driver's door to make sure that you could never accidentally engage reverse from 3rd gear.
With loose bolts as per above, move/rap the gearshift-that-is-in-2nd gear towards the drivers door just a bit. You WILL SEE the stop plate move sideways towards the passenger door hopefully no more than a mm.
Test for gears after you snug the 13mm bolts.
Pleeeeze report back.
Your Appetite Commemorative Three Arm 1600 Pressure Plate says "hi, I have 8,184 additional miles and am loving the rural west."
Colin