Here is my story:

    Frank Albert Mashburn, Jr. is my full name. I was born in the old Baptist hospital in Jackson, MS on April 28, 1965. We were living in Raymond, MS at the time. We moved to Arkansas for about a year and then moved back to Raymond and stayed there for a short time. Next, we moved to Vicksburg, MS and that is where I live today.

    I am a member of Westminster Presbyterian Church in Vicksburg where I am a Deacon. I was raised in a Christian home. When I was in the third grade, My teacher would have daily Bible readings, I would go to Church and hear about God, and my family would tell me about God. My sister told me about how I could put my faith in Jesus (God’s son who was sent to earth to reach us and to take our sins to the cross). All I had to do was to talk to Jesus and ask him to come into my life and cleanse me from every bad thing that I had done. You see Jesus has already died on the cross for us and has taken the punishment that we deserved with him. But He didn’t stop there, He arose from the dead and won the battle over death. After I talked to Jesus and asked him to forgive me for my sins, I know now that when Satan accuses me of the bad things that I have done, Jesus tells God that he died on the cross for those very sins. God then looks at Jesus’ record instead of mine and He will let me into Heaven some day. Jesus lived a perfect life while on earth and so He is the only way to Heaven. God created the world and everything on it. Don’t you love being able to read a book and to go to the end of it and see how it turns out? You can do that with the Bible. It tells you that if you are not on God’s side in the end times that you will be on the loosing side.

    I graduated from Warren Central High School in 1983. Then I went to Hinds Junior College in Raymond, MS and graduated from there in 1985 with an Associates Degree in Drafting and Design Technology. In 1985 construction almost came to a stand still, so finding a job in my field was almost impossible. I went to work at Cooke, Douglass, and Farr Architects in Jackson, MS in 1986. I ran blueprints and errands for them full time. That job lasted a year. I had a car payment that I had just started and so I needed to find a new job fast. I then went to work for another Architectural Firm (J. H. & H. Architects) doing the same thing. That job lasted a little more than a year. A friend suggested that I start doing Freelance Drafting, so I did that for a few companies. It was hard to find work to do. Another friend told me that Marathon LeTourneau was starting to hire workers. I interviewed with them in 1990 and got the job. They build offshore jackup oil rigs. I started there using a drafting table and then my boss sat a computer on my desk and told me that when I was ready to use it, I could start. I finished the project that I was working on and started using AutoCAD on the computer and never went back to the drafting table. I would learn the basics and then I would read about a shortcut and use it. There are 100 ways to get from point A to point B with AutoCAD. I helped them build one oil rig from 1990 to 1992 and then they closed the plant. I was out of work for a year and a half. I did a few freelance jobs during this time. I would go to interviews and there would be 50 people trying for the same job. In the Fall of 1993, I went to work at Cooper Lighting (working with ManPower Temporary Services) digitizing parking lots into the computer. I did this for about nine months and that job ended. Then I went to work at Atlantic Technology digitizing all of the roads along the Mississippi River. This lasted about four or five months until ManPower called me back and said that Cooper Lighting had called and they had asked for me to come back to work for them. I left the job I was at and went back to Cooper Lighting. This job was in the Engineering Department in New Product Design and it lasted about nine months until I found out that LeTourneau, Inc. was opening back up the plant, so I went back there to work in 1995 and that is where I am today. This was building the World's Largest Offshore Jackup Oil Rig. Then we got a contract to build two more just like it. I went back to using AutoCAD and this time I had more responsibility because I was helping set up computers and loading software. This got to where it was taking me away from my drafting time and people were calling me to come to their desk to help them with AutoCAD problems. So my boss and his boss worked on getting me a new title: CAD Support. I enjoy helping people learn new things and troubleshooting computer problems. To sum all of this up, I will say this: When I was in college studying drafting, I wanted to draw house plans and I did not want to do mechanical drafting. I found out that it is hard to make money at drawing house plans and I have done a lot of mechanical drafting, but now I have gotten a job that I enjoy and have found my place in supporting CAD operators. The Lord works out things in His timing for you if you put your Faith in Him.

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