Heidi S. Swinton is an award-winning author and screenwriter whose works include the PBS documentaries American Prophet; Sacred Stone; Sweetwater Rescue; Trail of Hope; and America’s Choir. She is the author of President Thomas S. Monson’s official biography, To the Rescue. She has served on the Relief Society general board and as a member of Church writing committees. She served with her husband, Jeffrey C. Swinton, as he presided over the England London South Mission (2006–2009) and as he directed the Laie Hawaii Temple Visitors Center (2016-2018); they are the parents of five sons, four living, and have 13 grandchildren.

Brady C. MacKay is a retired U.S. Special Agent for the Drug Enforcement Administration. His career spanned 24 years serving throughout the world, conducting all types of drug enforcement operations. With his family, he spent many of those years working and living in Thailand and China. He is a certified linguist in Mandarin Chinese, Thai, and Lao, along with many dialects of those languages. Brady currently works as a director of corporate security. Brady served in the Thailand, Bangkok mission and always knew he would return to Thailand. Upon arriving there for work, with his wife and children, they quickly realized their paramount reason for being sent to Chiang Mai, Thailand was for the Lord’s purposes. Brady and his family were the only foreigners for most of the six years there with the missionaries and the native members of the church. He served as the district president over an area that included the northern half of the country. His life in Thailand was quite the dichotomy—he would work in the jungles on drug interdictions and then oversee the affairs of the church on weekends. Brady and his wife, Hollee, are the parents of five children. He currently serves as a member of the high council in his stake. Brady is a true American patriot but more importantly, a dedicated member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

Laurel Thatcher Ulrich was born in 1938 in Sugar City, Idaho. She graduated from the University of Utah in 1960 with a BA in English. That fall she moved with her husband, Gael Ulrich, to Boston, Massachusetts so he could begin graduate work at MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology). During the next ten years, while engaged with her growing family, she worked with a dynamic group of Mormon women to produce a popular guidebook to Boston (a fund-raising project for their local congregation) and helped to found a Mormon feminist newspaper. Exponent II (now a magazine available in print or on-line). Taking one course a semester, she completed an MA in English at Simmons College in 1971.

Yahosh Bonner was born the fifth of eight children in Las Vegas, Nevada. Yahosh comes from an accomplished musical heritage. He currently is a cohost on BYUtv’s Family Rules. He also is the Athletic Director at American Heritage School. In addition, he is a recording performing artist. Yahosh has shared the stage with Gladys Knight, Steven Sharp Nelson from The Piano Guys, Alex Boyé, and many others. Yahosh's love of music is rooted in his faith. He looks forward to sharing the gift of music “to bring the spirit into every performance." Recently, he stared in the movie called Green Flake, which is an award-winning film to hit the stores soon! Yahosh currently runs his own YouTube channel and encourages all hip hop, R&B, and music lovers to subscribe.

See the surprising results of a new survey investigating how, where, and when Americans pray.

There has been heated speculation about what it will mean to have a Mormon in the White House. Because Mormons believe their “president” — the head of their Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints — is God’s prophet on earth, will a Mormon president of the United States be bound to obey whatever this man says? Again, Americans do not seem much astir about such things. Even so, with these concerns laid aside, many voters might not recognize an often undervalued feature of the faith: How it might help a Mormon lead in the Oval Office. This possibility arises from the emphasis the faith places upon patriotism, civic duty and morality in government — American government in particular.

During BYU's Homecoming opening ceremonies, students were shocked when David Archuleta took the stage to sing his first hit single "Crush" and "Glorious," which was featured in the Church's movie Meet the Mormons.

Presidential religious lives are, for the most part, rather unremarkable--just like the majority of Americans they represent. As the 2012 presidential race, and especially the Republican nomination, dominate the news, the religion of the sometimes-frontrunner Mitt Romney continues to be an issue for many Republican voters. Americans have a hard time imagining a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, a Mormon, as President. Yet Mormonism is, perhaps, the most American of all religions, founded by an American citizen and based on a sacred text that tells the story of God's work in the Americas. As many question Romney's religious heritage, it would be enlightening to look at eight presidents whose religious lives have troubled and fascinated Americans, or whose faiths may surprise us even today.

MR says: How and where do you spend most of your time? Check out how you compare with the rest of America.