How does the heat get there?

Convection is the process by which the heat from the interior of the star is placed on the surface.

A cross section of the sun looks like this:

The radiation (heat) from the core is transferred to the intermediate layers of the sun's interior. In the upper layer 124,000 miles deep, convection brings the heat near to the surface.

If using a telescope with proper light shielding, it is possible to observe the surface. Besides the sunspots, one can see that the surface is not smooth. The surface of the sun appears much like a vigorously boiling pot of water. This appearance is due to areas of the sun's surface having differeing temperature. The diagram below demonstrates:

With convection, hot less dense gas that is heated within the star, rises through cooler denser gas. On the surface the heat is radiated outward to space. When the heat is given up, the gas cools then begins the trip back into the star. The convection of the heat from within provides the temperature on surface, which allows us to see the star. Without convection, stars would be devoid of form, at least visually.