>When I put in the mask (999) 999-9999 when it was still a string, the number (for example) 6052802087 would come out as (05) 02-87. I looked at examples of it working correctly and they were in numeric. Once I changed it to numeric, the mask worked correctly. I found that to be a little odd. I guess there was probably a better solution.

If you work with strings you should use @R for formating
If you talk about Textboxes put R in format property.
If you use TRANSFORM() function use TRANSFORM([6052802087],[@R (999) 999-9999])
The same is valid for reports, put @R (999) 999-9999 in Format property.