[1.8] Variable scope in a Forge event

I am trying to use several different types of events (world tick, world load, and world save) to all work on the same data.  All my functions are in the same class, but for some reason, the variable dayCount seems to be a different instance for each function.  Here is my code.

public class TimeHandler {
private boolean flag;
public int dayCount;

public TimeHandler()
{
	this.flag = false;
}

@SubscribeEvent
public void incrementDayCount(WorldTickEvent event)
{
	if(flag == true && getTimeFromWorldTime(event.world.getWorldInfo().getWorldTime()) > 0)
	{
		flag = false;
	}
	else if(getTimeFromWorldTime(event.world.getWorldInfo().getWorldTime()) ==  0 && flag == false)
	{
		flag = true;
		++this.dayCount;
		ChatComponentText message = new ChatComponentText("Days elapsed since spawn: " + this.dayCount);
		Minecraft.getMinecraft().thePlayer.addChatMessage(message);
	}
	//System.out.println(getTimeFromWorldTime(event.world.getWorldInfo().getWorldTime()));
}

@SubscribeEvent
public void createTimeSaves(WorldEvent.Load event) throws IOException
{
	String pathToDir = FileIO.getMcDir().toString() + "/xpansion_data";

	System.out.println(pathToDir);

	byte[] dayCountBinary = {0};

	File testDir = new File(pathToDir);
	if(testDir.exists() && testDir.isDirectory())
	{
		String pathToDat = FileIO.getMcDir().toString() + "/xpansion_data/day_count.dat";
		File testFile = new File(pathToDat);
		if(testFile.exists() && !testFile.isDirectory())
		{
			dayCountBinary = FileIO.readBinary(pathToDat);
			CharBuffer cb = ByteBuffer.wrap(dayCountBinary).asCharBuffer();
			if(!StringUtils.isEmpty(cb.toString()))
			{
				System.out.println(cb.toString());
				this.dayCount = Integer.parseInt(cb.toString(), 2);
			}
			else
			{
				this.dayCount = 0;
			}
		}
		else
		{
			this.dayCount = 0;
			FileIO.writeBinary(pathToDat, dayCountBinary);
		}
	}
	else
	{
		testDir.mkdir();
		String pathToDat = FileIO.getMcDir().toString() + "/xpansion_data/day_count.dat";
		File testFile = new File(pathToDat);
		this.dayCount = 0;
		FileIO.writeBinary(pathToDat, dayCountBinary);
	}
}

@SubscribeEvent
public void saveDayCount(WorldEvent.Save event) throws IOException
{
	System.out.println(this.dayCount);
	byte[] dayCountBinary = toBinary(this.dayCount);
	String path = FileIO.getMcDir().toString() + "/xpansion_data/day_count.dat";
	FileIO.writeBinary(path, dayCountBinary);
}

private static long getTimeFromWorldTime(long time)
{
	return (time%24000);
}

public byte[] toBinary(int n)
{
	byte[] binary = {};
	if (n == 0)
	{
		System.out.println("n is zero");
		return binary;
	};
	while (n > 0)
	{
		int rem = n % 2;
		System.out.println(rem);
		binary[binary.length] = (byte) rem;
		n = n / 2;
	}
	return binary;
}
}

public class FileIO {
public static byte[] readBinary(String filePath) throws IOException
{
	Path path = Paths.get(filePath);
	return Files.readAllBytes(path);
}

public static void writeBinary(String fileName, byte[] contents) throws IOException {
	Path path = Paths.get(fileName);
	Files.write(path, contents);
}

public static File getMcDir()
{
	if (MinecraftServer.getServer() != null && MinecraftServer.getServer().isDedicatedServer())
	{
		return new File(".");
	}
	return Minecraft.getMinecraft().mcDataDir;
}
}

When I run this, I do get a chat message that tells me the correct number of elapsed days, but when I hit the escape key and the save event is fired (this triggers the saveDayCount function) the dayCount variable is now 0 again.  I don't know what I am doing wrong.