© NICHOLAS VREELAND
PTOLEMY TOMPKINS is the author of seven books, including The Divine Life of Animals and The Modern Book of Dead. In 2012, he collaborated with Dr. Eben Alexander on the phenomenal worldwide bestseller Proof of Heaven, and coauthored its sequel, The Map of Heaven, as well. For just under ten years he was an editor and writer at Guideposts and Angels on Earth magazines. His writing has appeared in numerous other magazines as well, including the New York Times Magazine, Harper’s, and Time. He appears in the 2014 film Monk with a Camera, which chronicles the life of his stepbrother Nicholas Vreeland, the first Westerner to become abbot of a Tibetan Buddhist monastery. He is also the author of The Beaten Path, a book which chronicles his adventures growing up with a Buddhist for a stepbrother, and explores the differences between Buddhism and Christianity. He lives in Nyack, New York, with his wife, Colleen, and two of his three stepdaughters.
© BRITTANY BEDDOES
TYLER BEDDOES was born in Provo, Utah. He studied criminal justice and journalism at Utah Valley University. He joined the Spanish Fork Police Department in Spanish Fork, Utah, in 2006. While a member of the police department he was awarded an exemplary service award for his part in investigating a quadruple homicide committed by Joshua Boren in January 2014. He was also recognized by the mayor of Spanish Fork and the United States Congress for his involvement in the miraculous rescue of Lily Groesbeck from the Spanish Fork River on the morning of March 7, 2015. He currently resides in Elk Ridge, Utah, with his wife, Brittany, and their two children, Gracie and Gunnar.
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